What does a property manager cost? A landlord's guide to management fees

Handing a rental property to a property manager takes the day-to-day work off a landlord's plate, but it is not free, and the fee structure can be confusing at first glance because it is rarely a single number. Understanding the separate components — and roughly what each commonly costs — makes it much easier to compare proposals from different agencies.

The core cost is the management fee, generally charged as a percentage of the weekly rent collected rather than a flat dollar amount. The national average sits at approximately 7.5% of weekly rent, and most capital cities commonly land somewhere between 6% and 8%. Across the country as a whole, the full range is wider, roughly 5% to 15% of weekly rent, and where a specific property falls within that range depends on the state, whether it is in a metro or regional area, and how competitive the local property management market is.

On top of the ongoing management fee, most property managers also charge a separate letting fee whenever a new tenant is placed — commonly calculated as one to two weeks' rent, with an average around 1.4 weeks' rent per new tenancy. This fee is not charged continuously, only when the property changes tenants, so a property with a long-term stable tenant will generally see far fewer letting fees over time than one with frequent turnover.

Beyond the management fee and letting fee, most agencies also charge for a handful of additional, situational services — things like lease renewal administration, attendance at a tribunal hearing if a dispute arises, and advertising a vacancy to find a new tenant. None of these apply every year, but when they do come up, it is worth having them itemised in your management agreement rather than discovering them for the first time on an invoice. Once all of these components are added together across a typical year, landlords commonly end up paying somewhere in the range of 9% to 14% of their annual rental income to property management overall.

One detail that is easy to overlook when comparing quotes: property management fees, like most services in Australia, are subject to GST. A quote that looks cheaper than a competitor's can sometimes simply be excluding GST while the other includes it, so always confirm whether the percentage or dollar figure you have been quoted is GST-inclusive before comparing agencies side by side.

The figures above are general 2026 market ranges reported across the Australian property management industry, not a quote for your specific property, and actual fees depend on your state, your property's location, and the individual agency. This article is general information, not financial advice. Getting an itemised, written fee schedule from more than one property manager is the most reliable way to compare what managing your rental will actually cost — our directory lists Australian property managers by area if you are ready to start comparing.

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