"Homeowners expected to spend an average of $26,883 on their home sale, but the real cost is more than 3x that much," according to a new report by Clever Real Estate. "Sellers report spending an average of $81,918 to sell their home — up 22% from the $67,245 they spent on average in 2025."
The report's author, Jaime Dunaway-Seale, recently appeared on the Mortgage Research Network Podcast to discuss a separate Clever study on the housing markets where buyers have the most negotiating power.
Of course, only a fraction of that nearly $82,000 is real estate agents' commission. Read on for a breakdown of the costs an average home seller faces.
Home Sellers' Costs Breakdown
Here are the detailed average home sellers' costs for those who listed their homes in the last three years. It's those who have sold most recently who have seen costs jump 22% over the last year.
- Repair costs: $27,649 — Getting the home in shape to market or fixing issues raised by buyers.
- Agents' commission: $27,448 — The seller's agent's commission, which often includes the buyer's agent's commission, too.
- Closing costs: $11,147 — Ancillary fees, property taxes, transfer tax, escrow fee and other costs necessary to close a real estate transaction.
- Concession costs: $9,914 — Price reductions and goodies thrown in to sweeten the deal, such as carpets, drapes, furniture or appliances not on the listing. Also financial incentives such as covering the buyer's closing costs or paying for mortgage rate buy-downs.
- Moving costs: $3,013 — An unhelpful average because these vary hugely depending on how far one's moving and the level of service required of the moving company. Occasionally, it could be just a U-Haul rental or the loan of a truck.
- Marketing costs: $2,747 — Things like the cost of staging the home, a professional deep clean, professional photography, and other marketing expenses not covered by the agent.
As the balance of power shifts from sellers to buyers, those selling must make themselves more financially attractive than their competitors. For example, if one doesn't fix one's home's defects, the buyer's likely to move on. The take-it-or-leave-it days are largely gone in most markets.
Which of these confuses home sellers most? Closing costs, says Yahoo! Finance.
A Shocking Closing
"Sellers expected to spend just $26,883, meaning the real cost was more than three times what they anticipated," says the Clever report. "Had they known the true cost of selling their home ahead of time, 69% would have made different decisions."
Forty-six percent of sellers say their costs were higher than they were expecting. And nearly one in four had to go into debt to cover them.
Agents' Commissions
The real estate agent's commission rivals home repairs at the top of the list of home sellers' costs. Clever reports it averages 5.46% of the sale price, broken down as 2.7% to the buyer's agent and 2.76% to the seller's agent.
Readers may be surprised by that because the National Association of Realtors reached a court settlement in 2024 in which it agreed to change the arrangement by which sellers' agents split their commission with buyers' agents. In theory, sellers can insist that buyers pay their own agents' fees.
However, that's not worked out in practice. In May 2025, we asked, "So, what happened next?" And we answered our own question: "In many cases, next to nothing."
Today, sellers are even less likely to refuse to pay the buyers' agents' commission. They'll likely have fewer potential purchasers viewing their home, which in a buyers' market can be fatal.
The Value of Real Estate Agents
The Clever survey found many who'd sold their homes themselves (for sale by owner, aka FSBO), without an agent, wish they hadn't. On average, they paid about $11,000 more in home repairs because they lacked the expertise to target their budget on things that would make a worthwhile difference.
Meanwhile, FSBO sellers gave away nearly $1,500 more in concessions than those who'd used an agent to negotiate on their behalf.
So, it's little surprise that 38% of FSBO sellers surveyed wished they'd used an agent. And more than half said they'd consider using an agent next time they sell.
It's Hard for Sellers
For a long time, sellers had it easy. Buyers were bees around their honey pot, and sellers could expect multiple offers, often above the listing price.
But, in many local markets, the opposite situation applies now. Buyers have the upper hand.
And one can see that nationally with home prices. "House prices rose 2.4 percent from August 2025 to August 2026," said the Federal Housing Finance Agency on Tuesday. That's lower than the current rate of inflation, which is 3.7% annually, according to the latest consumer price index. And that means home prices are actually falling in "real" (after inflation) terms.
Meanwhile, also on Tuesday, the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index reported a small month-over-month drop in home prices in August.
Still, there's a silver lining. In most cases, sellers are also buyers. So, what they lose when they're selling, they might gain when they're buying.
