Understanding your home costs
The true cost of owning a home in Australia
Your mortgage repayment is usually the biggest number in owning a home - but it is far from the only one. Once settlement is done, a whole set of ongoing costs starts arriving at different times, in different places, and at very different frequencies.
HOLD brings those costs together so you can see what your home actually costs you each week, month, quarter and year - instead of tracking them across a dozen apps, inboxes and spreadsheets.
What counts as an ongoing cost of owning a home?
Most ongoing homeownership costs in Australia fall into a handful of groups:
- Mortgage repayments (principal and interest, or interest-only)
- Council rates - usually charged quarterly
- Water and sewerage - billed by the local water authority
- Strata or owners corporation fees (apartments, townhouses and some unit titles)
- Home and contents insurance
- Utilities - electricity, gas and internet
- Maintenance and repairs
- Special levies when they arise (strata properties)
Why it is so easy to underestimate
The trap is that these costs arrive on different cycles. Council rates come quarterly. Strata might be quarterly too. Water can be quarterly or monthly. Electricity and gas are often monthly. Insurance is usually annual. Mortgage repayments are typically fortnightly or monthly.
When you only look at any one of them in isolation, the total is hard to see. Adding them into a single view is the whole reason HOLD exists.
A simple way to think about your annual cost
A useful first step is to list every recurring home cost and convert it to an annual figure, then divide by 52 for a weekly view. This is exactly what HOLD does automatically - but doing it once by hand is a good way to sanity-check the number.
Council rates, strata and water are often the costs people forget to annualise because they land quarterly and feel smaller than they are.
Apartment vs house
Apartments and townhouses usually carry strata or owners corporation fees but lower external maintenance. Houses usually have no strata but higher maintenance and grounds upkeep. Neither is automatically cheaper - they just cost money in different places.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to own a home in Australia per month?
It varies widely by property type, location and loan size, but most homeowners have a mortgage repayment plus several hundred to a few thousand dollars a month in rates, water, insurance, strata and utilities. HOLD adds all of these into one monthly figure so you do not have to estimate.
What ongoing costs come after settlement?
After settlement you can expect council rates, water, insurance, utilities, and strata or owners corporation fees if applicable, plus maintenance. Your mortgage repayments also begin (or continue) shortly after.
Is the mortgage the biggest cost of owning a home?
Usually yes, but not always. For apartments with high strata fees, or for homes owned outright, the non-mortgage costs can be a larger share than people expect.
Last reviewed: 19 August 2026
