CGT property valuation in Sydney and across NSW

Homes and vacant land across Sydney and NSW

We value houses, units, townhouses and vacant land for capital gains tax across Greater Sydney, from the City of Sydney and Parramatta to Blacktown, Penrith, Campbelltown, Sutherland Shire and the Northern Beaches. We also value across the rest of New South Wales, including Newcastle, Wollongong and the Central Coast. The value can be at today’s date or at a past date.

Sydney has older terraces, freestanding houses, townhouses and apartments side by side, and each is valued from sales of comparable properties close by, around your date. For a unit or townhouse in a strata scheme, the valuer looks at the lot and what comes with it, such as a car space or storage, along with the building and sales of comparable lots nearby.

Your NSW land value is not a CGT valuation

Each year the NSW Valuer General values land across the state as at 1 July, for land tax and council rates. That land value covers the land only, without the home or other buildings on it, and it is fixed at 1 July, which may be years from the date your accountant gives you.

A CGT valuation answers a different question: what the land and the home together were worth on your date, judged from sales evidence around that date.

CGT situations we value NSW property for

• A home that became a rental. If you first rented out your home after 20 August 1996, and a later sale would only be partly exempt, you are generally treated as having bought it on the day it was first rented, at its market value then. See home that became a rental.
• An inherited property. If the person who died acquired it before 20 September 1985, or it was their home just before they died and was not being used to earn income, its market value on the date of death generally becomes your cost base. Probate in NSW is granted by the Supreme Court of New South Wales, but the valuation date stays the date of death, whenever the report is prepared. See inherited property.
• A transfer to family. A gift, or a sale to someone you are not dealing with at arm’s length (often a family member) for more or less than market value, is taxed as if the property sold for its market value on the date of the transfer. Stamp duty on these transfers is assessed separately by each state or territory revenue office: in NSW that is transfer duty, administered by Revenue NSW. See family transfers.
• Any other past date. A retrospective valuation values the property as it was on the date your accountant gives you, using sales from around then.
• 30 June 2027. From 1 July 2027 the 50 per cent CGT discount is generally replaced, and a value at 30 June 2027 may help split a later gain between the old and new rules. The law also allows for a government-set apportioning method as an alternative, but it has not been finalised yet. A valuation at 30 June 2027 is prepared after the day, and the ATO has said clients should not get one before then. Register free now.

Fees for NSW property

Fixed fees cover standard houses, units, townhouses and vacant lots. Commercial, rural and development property, and anything likely to be worth more than $3 million, is quoted before anything is booked. So is unusual property that is not a house, unit, townhouse or vacant lot, and every transfer to family.

How a Sydney valuation works

1. Send a request with the address, the reason and the date your accountant gives you.
2. We confirm the valuer, the fee and the timing in writing. Nothing is booked or charged until you accept.
3. The valuer works from sales evidence around your date and the records you send. An inspected valuation adds a visit to the property.
4. You receive a PDF report, reviewed and signed by a property valuer, ready for your accountant.

Records that help with a past date

For a past date the valuer relies on records of the property as it was: the contract and settlement statement from your purchase, plans and approvals for any renovation, photos from around the date and old sales or rental listings. For a strata lot, strata records of any major works help too.

Older council records may carry the name of a council that has since merged or been renamed. Notices and approvals issued under the old name are still useful evidence.

Outside NSW we also value in Melbourne and Victoria, Canberra and the ACT and Darwin and the Northern Territory.