What a $1.5m Sydney house costs to live in each year
$8,531 to $8,557 a month, all in. On a $1.5 million house, $7,381 of that is the mortgage repayment. The other $1,150 to $1,177 is council rates, water, electricity, building insurance and the commute, the part almost nobody models, worked out here for Miranda, Hornsby and Blacktown.
Buyers work the repayment out to the dollar. They check it against three lenders, model it at two more interest rates, and know what it does to the household budget in a way they can recite. Then there is a second line, further down, usually rounded, often labelled something like other. It arrives every year whether or not anyone wrote it down, and the three scenarios below work it out in full for three suburbs with nothing but the property changing.
The coloured end of each bar, $13,800 to $14,120 a year, is the part that never arrives as a single quoted number.
Why the price only drives the repayment
The $1.5 million in the headline is a framing device. It sets the mortgage repayment and nothing else, and it is not attached to any of the properties below. The running costs are mechanical. Council rates are calculated from the land valuation issued by the Valuer-General. Building insurance is priced on what it would cost to rebuild the house. Water and electricity follow use and a fixed daily charge. The commute follows distance. Not one of the five takes a purchase price as an input, which is why two houses that sold for the same amount can cost quite different amounts to live in.
The five running costs, and why each one gets missed
Building insurance
Every insurance figure in this article is a modelled estimate, not a quote. It is the least predictable of the five and the one most worth checking against a real premium. Buyers assume it scales with what they paid. It scales with rebuild cost instead, which follows floor area, construction, finishes and the risk the site carries, so there is no reliable percentage of purchase price that produces it. Across the scenarios it runs from $1,850 to $2,300.
The commute
Nothing debits it. Rates, water, electricity and insurance each arrive as a bill and prompt the household to notice them. The commute leaves in fuel, tyres, servicing and depreciation, a little at a time, so it rarely enters a spreadsheet. It is also the cost that moves most with distance, and here it runs from $5,395 to $6,570. The model applies the Australian Taxation Office rate of 91 cents per kilometre to straight line distance and tapers trips as distance rises. Road distance in Sydney runs about 1.34 times straight line within the commuter belt, so every commute figure here understates the real drive.
Council rates
The one running cost people do think about, because it comes up at inspections and in listings. It is driven by a number most owners have never looked up, the land valuation, which is public and is the figure the council multiplies. The New South Wales figure is the ordinary residential rate calculated from the property’s land value using each council’s rate in the dollar, plus any base amount, subject to any minimum. It is not the same statistic as the Queensland minimum general rate and the two are never compared on this site. Across the scenarios it runs from $1,261 to $2,000.
Water and sewerage
Its shape surprises people more than its size. A large part is a fixed access charge that arrives whether the house is occupied or empty, so using less water moves the bill by less than most households expect. Here it runs $1,548.
Electricity
The electricity figure is an estimate, not a bill. It prices the Australian Energy Regulator's benchmark usage for a 3 person house in the suburb's climate zone at the 2026-27 default market offer caps for the local network. The default offer is a ceiling, and many retail plans sit below it, so a household that shops around will usually pay less. As with water, the daily supply charge is paid before any power is used. Here it runs from $2,715 to $2,891.
Scenario 1, Miranda
A four bedroom house in Miranda, Sutherland Shire, 20.9 kilometres from the city centre in a straight line. The Valuer-General's benchmark land valuation for a house on Gosby Ave, Miranda is $1,250,000, with a date of valuation of 1 July 2025.
- Building insurance, estimated
- $2,300, 16%
- Commute, modelled
- $5,395, 39%
- Council rates
- $2,000, 14%
- Water and sewerage
- $1,548, 11%
- Electricity, estimated
- $2,715, 19%
- All in, with the repayment
- $102,528
$13,958 a year in running costs, or $1,163 a month, which is 15.8% of the annual repayment. The largest of the five here is the commute and the smallest is water and sewerage. Add the $88,570 repayment and the house costs $102,528 a year all in, or $8,544 a month.
Council rates work out as $1,250,000 × 0.00159997, which is $2,000.
Scenario 2, Hornsby
A four bedroom house in Hornsby, Hornsby Shire, 21.5 kilometres from the city centre in a straight line. The Valuer-General's benchmark land valuation for a house on Clarke Rd, Hornsby is $1,340,000, with a date of valuation of 1 July 2025.
- Building insurance, estimated
- $2,150, 16%
- Commute, modelled
- $5,494, 40%
- Council rates
- $1,893, 14%
- Water and sewerage
- $1,548, 11%
- Electricity, estimated
- $2,715, 20%
- All in, with the repayment
- $102,370
$13,800 a year in running costs, or $1,150 a month, which is 15.6% of the annual repayment. The largest of the five here is the commute and the smallest is water and sewerage. Add the $88,570 repayment and the house costs $102,370 a year all in, or $8,531 a month.
Council rates work out as $1,340,000 × 0.00075531 plus a $781 base amount and $100 in the council's special rate, which is $1,893.
Scenario 3, Blacktown
A four bedroom house in Blacktown, Blacktown City, 30.2 kilometres from the city centre in a straight line. The Valuer-General's benchmark land valuation for a house on Allen Rd, Blacktown is $760,000, with a date of valuation of 1 July 2025.
- Building insurance, estimated
- $1,850, 13%
- Commute, modelled
- $6,570, 47%
- Council rates
- $1,261, 9%
- Water and sewerage
- $1,548, 11%
- Electricity, estimated
- $2,891, 20%
- All in, with the repayment
- $102,690
$14,120 a year in running costs, or $1,177 a month, which is 15.9% of the annual repayment. The largest of the five here is the commute and the smallest is council rates. Add the $88,570 repayment and the house costs $102,690 a year all in, or $8,557 a month.
Council rates work out as $760,000 × 0.001581, which is $1,202, lifted to the council's $1,261 minimum.
What these figures do not include
There is no maintenance allowance in any total above, no pool running cost, no garden or lawn service, no appliance replacement and no body corporate, which applies to units rather than the houses modelled here. There is no gas, internet or phone, no land tax, because a principal place of residence is exempt, and no emergency services levy where a council bills one separately.
A single year also hides that the running costs rise every year. Rates move with the council's annual decision and with revaluation, insurance premiums have outpaced inflation for most of the last decade, and water, power and fuel all drift. A fixed-rate repayment does none of that, so the share below widens over the life of a loan rather than holding.
The running cost against the repayment
On a $1.5 million purchase with a 20% deposit, the loan is $1,200,000. At 6.24% over 30 years the annual repayment is $88,570, the same in every scenario because the price is the same.
| Scenario | Suburb | Running costs a year | Share of repayment | All in, with repayment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Miranda | $13,958 | 15.8% | $102,528 |
| 2 | Hornsby | $13,800 | 15.6% | $102,370 |
| 3 | Blacktown | $14,120 | 15.9% | $102,690 |
That is arithmetic on a stated assumption, not a recommendation. The rate is the Reserve Bank's published figure for outstanding owner-occupier variable housing credit at 31 July 2026, and a different rate, deposit or term moves the repayment and the share. Part of every repayment is principal, which the owner keeps as equity, so the all in figure is cash out rather than money spent. In the first year about $74,482 of the repayment is interest. Nothing here is a view about whether a purchase is affordable.
Sutherland Shire rates and a suburb picker → Hornsby Shire rates and a suburb picker → Blacktown City rates and a suburb picker →
Work out what your own suburb costs to live in
The running cost calculator covers every Queensland and New South Wales suburb on the site. Put in your own loan amount, interest rate and term and it sets the repayment beside council rates, water, electricity, insurance and the commute for the suburb you are actually looking at. It is free and needs no sign up.
It opens on Miranda, and you can change the suburb. Its starting assumptions differ from the household above, including the number of commuting days and how electricity is priced, so the figure it shows first will not match this article until you set them to suit you.
Know the land value? Enter it in the calculator and the council rates line is worked out from it, using the council's own rate in the dollar, with the working shown. To compare two suburbs side by side instead, use the free report.
Method and assumptions
Household held constant. Two adults and one child, one earner driving to the city centre three days a week, a four bedroom detached house. Nothing about the household changes between the scenarios. Only what the property forces changes, which is the land valuation, the council, the distance, the insurance and the climate zone.
Mortgage repayment. 6.24% over 30 years with a 20% deposit, principal and interest, on the $1.5 million in the headline. Source, Reserve Bank of Australia Statistical Table F6, lending rates on outstanding owner-occupier variable housing credit at 31 July 2026. The price is hypothetical framing and is not a figure for any suburb named here.
Land valuations. NSW Valuer-General, Typical residential land values, benchmark properties valued at 1 July 2025. Base dates differ by council: Sutherland, Hornsby and Blacktown all strike their 2026-27 rates on 1 July 2024 values, so for those three the rates line applies the current rate in the dollar to a later valuation than the council uses, and reads as indicative rather than as the calculation the council itself performs. Each figure is one named benchmark property from the residential table. That table also lists higher density development sites at several times the value, and those were not used. No land valuation here is derived from a sale price, and no purchase price, median or capital growth figure appears anywhere in this article.
Council rates. The New South Wales figure is the ordinary residential rate calculated from the property’s land value using each council’s rate in the dollar, plus any base amount, subject to any minimum. It is not the same statistic as the Queensland minimum general rate and the two are never compared on this site. Waste collection, separate charges and levies are excluded.
Building insurance. A modelled estimate produced from property characteristics and risk exposure. It is not a quote and it is the figure most likely to differ from what a specific household pays.
Commute. Modelled, not measured. Straight line distance to the city centre at the Australian Taxation Office rate of 91 cents per kilometre, with trips tapering as distance rises. Road distance in Sydney runs about 1.34 times straight line within the commuter belt, so this understates rather than overstates. It prices one commute, not all household driving.
Water. The typical residential bill for the relevant retailer, combining a fixed access charge and usage at roughly 190 kilolitres a year.
Electricity. An estimate. Annual usage is the Australian Energy Regulator residential benchmark for a 3 person house in the suburb's climate zone. It is priced at the AER Default Market Offer 2026-27 residential flat rate tariff caps, including GST, for the local network, Ausgrid 33.1372 cents a kilowatt hour plus 166.2289 cents a day, and Endeavour Energy 33.7273 cents a kilowatt hour plus 185.135 cents a day. No controlled load, solar or gas is modelled.
Frequently asked questions
What does a house cost to live in per year in Sydney?
On a $1.5 million purchase with a 20% deposit, the three scenarios in this article come to $102,370 to $102,690 a year all in. That is a $88,570 mortgage repayment at 6.24% over 30 years, plus $13,800 to $14,120 in council rates, water, electricity, building insurance and a modelled commute. It excludes maintenance, and anything the property itself adds such as a pool or a body corporate.
What are the hidden costs of owning a home?
The five worked through here are building insurance, the drive to work, council rates, water and electricity, which come to $13,800 to $14,120 a year across Miranda, Hornsby and Blacktown. None of them are concealed. They go unbudgeted because none arrives as a single quoted number the way a repayment does. Beyond those five, this article models no maintenance, no appliance replacement, no pool, no garden service and no body corporate.
Is the purchase price what drives council rates?
No. Council rates are calculated from the land valuation issued by the Valuer-General, not from what was paid for the property. Two houses that sold for the same amount can carry different land valuations and therefore different rates. The same is true of the other running costs. Building insurance follows rebuild cost, water and electricity follow use and a fixed daily charge, and the commute follows distance. The purchase price only enters through the mortgage repayment.
Why does the order of the costs change between suburbs?
Because each follows a different input. The commute follows distance, so it moves most between suburbs. Council rates follow the land valuation and the council, insurance follows rebuild cost and risk, and water and electricity barely move within one retailer or network. Across the three scenarios here the commute runs from $5,395 to $6,570, while water runs $1,548. The insurance and electricity figures are estimates rather than quotes or bills.
Is the whole mortgage repayment a cost?
It is cash out every month, which is why it is counted here, but not all of it is spent. Part of each repayment is principal, which reduces the loan and stays with the owner as equity. In the first year of this loan about $74,482 of the $88,570 is interest and the rest is principal. The running costs, by contrast, are spent in full.
Cite this data
Data sources
NSW Valuer-General land valuations. Council rate in the dollar, base amount and minimum from each council’s 2026-27 budget or revenue policy. Water from the relevant retailer’s 2025-26 residential pricing. Electricity usage from the Australian Energy Regulator residential benchmarks and prices from the AER Default Market Offer 2026-27 final determination. Reserve Bank of Australia Table F6 for the lending rate. See data sources and methodology.
The same costs are worked through for Brisbane in What a $1m Brisbane house costs to live in each year, on the same method and the same household, using Queensland land valuations. The two are not compared against each other, because the rates figures are different statistics.
For the mechanism behind the rates line, see how council rates are calculated. Average council rates by city are at Sydney.