Comparable sales are recent settled sales of properties close enough in location, type, size and condition to the one you want that their prices tell you what the market pays. To analyse them, pick three to six genuine matches, adjust each sold price for the differences in land, condition, position and timing, then read the adjusted figures as a range, not a single number.
An asking price tells you what a vendor hopes for. A price guide tells you what an agent thinks will bring buyers through the door. Neither is evidence. Sold prices are, and the way you treat them before you make an offer is the single most useful habit an investor can build. It is also most of what a buyers agent is doing when they tell you a property is worth chasing or not, and it sits at the centre of our buyers agent service.
This guide is the method, a worked example you can copy (with invented numbers, clearly marked), and the due diligence checks that have to sit around it.
Where can I check comparable sales prices?
It depends on the state, and since 1 October 2026 the answer in Victoria has changed.
Victoria. Every residential property an estate agent advertises for sale must now have a Property Price Statement, which replaced the Statement of Information. It has to include the agent’s selling price or a range of no more than 10%, the three most comparable sales with address, key features, date and price, and the suburb median. For properties sold after 1 October 2026 the agent must also publish the final sold price in that statement and keep it online, free, for at least 18 months, with limited exceptions (Consumer Affairs Victoria). That is a free, agent-prepared comparable set for every listing. Treat it as the seller’s side of the argument and check it, but use it.
New South Wales. The NSW Valuer General publishes bulk property sales information free, as weekly files by local government area (NSW Valuer General). It is raw data, not a report, but it is the primary record.
Other states. Sales history comes from the land titles office or from commercial data providers that license it, and the portals show sold listings where the agent reported the price. Expect gaps: some vendors and buyers withhold prices, and some sales never had a public campaign.
Whatever the source, two cautions apply everywhere. Recent sales take time to reach public records, so the newest evidence is often a phone call to the selling agent rather than a database row. And where a source shows both a contract date and a settlement date, use the contract date, because that is when the price was agreed.
The method, step by step
1. Describe the property you are pricing, in writing
Before you look at a single sale, write down the subject property: land size, bedrooms and bathrooms, car parking, dwelling type, age and construction, condition, street position (quiet street, corner, main road, backing onto something), aspect, zoning and any overlays. This sounds pedantic. It stops you choosing comparables that flatter the price you already want to pay.
2. Pull a wide set of sales
Start wide: the same suburb and the immediate neighbours, the same dwelling type, the last six to twelve months. In a fast market you will narrow the window; in a thin market you may need to widen it and adjust for time. In a capital city, a couple of kilometres and six months is a sensible first frame, and anything outside it has to earn its place.
3. Cut it to genuine matches
A sale earns its place only if a buyer choosing between the two properties would plausibly have looked at both. That usually means:
- the same dwelling type (a townhouse is not a house with a smaller garden)
- similar land size, within about 10 to 15% for houses where the land carries the value
- the same micro-location: same side of the main road, same school catchment if that drives demand, same kind of street
- a sale, not a transfer between related parties or a mortgagee sale, unless the subject is one too
Three good comparables beat ten loose ones. If you cannot find three, say so and widen the time window rather than the definition.
4. Adjust each sale towards your property
No comparable is identical, so you move each sold price to where it would have landed if that property had been yours. The adjustments that matter most for investors are:
- Land. Price the difference in square metres at a land rate drawn from vacant or near-vacant sales in the area, not from the overall price per square metre of houses.
- Condition. If the comparable has a renovated kitchen and bathroom and yours does not, deduct roughly what it would cost to bring yours to that standard, using a builder’s quote rather than a guess.
- Position. A main road, a corner with traffic, or a block backing onto a rail line usually sells for less. Estimate the gap from pairs of sales that differ mainly on position.
- Bedrooms and layout. An extra bedroom is worth what local buyers pay for it, which varies widely by suburb.
- Time. If prices have moved since the comparable sold, adjust for the movement. Prices can rise or fall, so this adjustment can go either way.
5. Weight by how much you had to adjust
Add up the size of every adjustment on each sale, ignoring whether it was up or down, and express it as a share of the sold price. The sale you had to adjust least is the one that tells you most. A sale that needed adjustments worth more than about 10% of its price is weak evidence, however close it looks on a map.
6. Read a range, then set your limit before the campaign does
The adjusted prices give you a band. Your walk-away price comes from that band plus your own numbers (rent, holding costs, the return you need), and it is set before you speak to the agent about price. Writing it down is the part most buyers skip.
A hypothetical worked example
Every number in this example is invented to show the arithmetic. These are not real sales, and the adjustment amounts are illustrations, not market rates for any suburb.
The subject: a three-bedroom house on 600 square metres, original condition, on a quiet street. The land rate assumed for the example is $600 per square metre.
| Sale A | Sale B | Sale C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Description | 3 bed, 650 m², renovated kitchen and bathroom, quiet street | 3 bed, 590 m², original condition, main road | 4 bed, 610 m², original condition, quiet street |
| Sold price | $820,000 | $735,000 | $790,000 |
| Sold | 4 months ago | 2 months ago | 1 month ago |
| Land adjustment | 50 m² more: minus $30,000 | 10 m² less: plus $6,000 | 10 m² more: minus $6,000 |
| Condition adjustment | Renovated: minus $60,000 | None | None |
| Position adjustment | None | Main road: plus $35,000 | None |
| Bedroom adjustment | None | None | Extra bedroom: minus $40,000 |
| Time adjustment | Market up 1%: plus $8,200 | Market up 0.5%: plus $3,675 | Market up 0.25%: plus $1,975 |
| Adjusted price | $738,200 | $779,675 | $745,975 |
| Gross adjustments as share of sold price | 12.0% | 6.1% | 6.1% |
Reading it: Sales B and C needed the lightest adjustments, and they put the subject between about $746,000 and $780,000. Sale A needed the most adjustment, so it carries the least weight. Its lower figure is still useful as a warning that the renovation discount might be larger than assumed, which is exactly the number to firm up with a builder before making an offer.
A fourth sale on the same street at $910,000 would be checked and, if it turned out to be a neighbour buying next door, set aside as an outlier rather than averaged in.
Where comparable sales mislead
- Asking prices and price guides used as if they were sold prices.
- Suburb medians used as a valuation. A median describes the mix of what sold, not what your property is worth.
- Old sales in a moving market, unadjusted.
- Ignoring condition because two properties share a land size.
- Missing sales. Off-market sales and withheld prices mean the public record can be thin exactly where competition is strongest. That is one reason comparable work matters more off-market: there is no campaign to reveal the price, so the evidence is all you have. Off-market buying can mean less competition and better terms. It does not guarantee a lower price, and property values can fall after you buy.
Comparable sales are one of four due diligence checks
A sound price on the wrong property is still the wrong purchase. Comparable sales answer “what is this worth?”. Three other questions need answering before you commit.
Market. Is there durable demand in this location? Look at population change from the ABS, the employment base, committed infrastructure, and how much new supply is approved nearby, because a concentrated pipeline of new dwellings can weigh on both rents and values. More on how we assess a suburb before a property.
Financial. Can you hold it through a bad year? Model net, not gross, yield: council rates, land tax, insurance, strata, management, maintenance and vacancy. Then stress it: higher interest rates, a month or two without a tenant, a large repair. House Finder does not give lending or tax advice, so take the model to your broker and your accountant.
Legal and contractual. Have a conveyancer, settlement agent or solicitor review the contract and title before you are bound: easements, caveats, encumbrances, unapproved structures (the liability can pass to you), zoning and overlays such as heritage or flood, and any special conditions.
Vendor and transaction context. Why is the owner selling, and on what timeline? A vendor who needs certainty by a date may value a clean contract and a fast settlement as much as price. Understanding that shapes the offer. More on negotiating an off-market purchase.
A simple risk matrix
Score each line 1 (weak) to 3 (strong) before you make an offer. Anything scoring 1 needs an explanation you would be comfortable defending.
| Factor | What to check | Where to check it |
|---|---|---|
| Demand | Population change, employment mix, committed infrastructure | ABS regional population; state and council announcements |
| Supply | Approved and under-construction dwellings nearby | Council development applications; state planning data |
| Price evidence | Adjusted comparable range, weight of the evidence | The method above |
| Financial resilience | Net yield after costs, buffer under higher rates and vacancy | Your own model, checked with your broker and accountant |
| Legal | Title, easements, zoning, overlays, approvals | Your conveyancer or solicitor |
The traps the matrix is designed to catch are familiar: buying on a headline rather than data, borrowing to the limit because recent growth felt permanent, and buying a high gross yield in a town or suburb whose demand rests on one employer.
How a buyers agent uses comparable sales
This is daily work for us in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. Before House Finder recommends an offer, the property has been priced against adjusted comparables, the evidence has been weighted, and the client has a limit written down. When we buy off-market, that analysis is what stands in for the price discovery a public campaign would have provided.
If you want to check whether a buyers agent works this way, our list of questions to ask a buyers agent includes asking to see how they priced a recent purchase. And if you would rather have the work done for you, see our buyers agent service or book a strategy call.
About the author. Simon Loo founded House Finder, a buyers agency acting for property investors only. Simon was named Buyers Agent of the Year, Residential Investment, at the Australian Buyers Agent Awards 2026. This article is general information. It is not financial, credit, legal or tax advice and does not take your circumstances into account.
FAQ
What are comparable sales in property?
Comparable sales are recent settled sales of properties similar to the one you are assessing in location, dwelling type, land size, configuration and condition. Valuers, agents and buyers use them as the main evidence of what the market will pay, after adjusting each sold price for the differences.
Can I check comparable sales prices myself?
Yes. In Victoria, every property advertised by an agent must have a Property Price Statement listing the three most comparable sales and the suburb median. In New South Wales the Valuer General publishes free bulk sales data. Elsewhere, sales history comes from the land titles office, data providers and sold listings on the portals.
How many comparable sales do I need?
Three good comparables are usually enough, and they are worth more than ten loose ones. If you cannot find three genuine matches, widen the time window and adjust for market movement rather than loosening the definition of a match.
How recent should comparable sales be?
As recent as the evidence allows. Six to twelve months is a common starting window in capital cities, narrowed in a fast-moving market. Older sales can still be used if you adjust them for how prices have moved since, in either direction.
How do you adjust comparable sales?
Move each sold price towards your property: price land differences at a local land rate, deduct the cost of bringing your property to a better comparable’s condition, allow for position and bedroom differences, and adjust for time. Then give the most weight to the sales that needed the smallest total adjustments.
What is property due diligence beyond comparable sales?
Due diligence also covers the market (demand, supply, infrastructure), the financials (net yield, holding costs and a stress test), the legal side (title, easements, zoning, approvals, contract terms) and the vendor’s circumstances. Check the financial and tax questions with your broker and accountant.
