Get the property details you need with our free property reports

A property report is a document designed and compiled to provide relevant information on a specific property. They’re often used for two key purposes by two groups of people:

• Prospective buyers might use a property report to scope out a house they’re thinking of buying.
• Prospective sellers might use a property report to decide whether selling their property is a good idea at the moment.

But before commissioning a property report, you should understand what information it’s likely to contain.

If you’re buying a property, a property report can be a useful tool at any stage of the purchase. However, it might be most useful following your initial inspection of the house, before you’ve committed to any extent but after establishing that you’re interested in buying it.

And if you’re selling a property, you’ll generally want to get a property report well before making any plans or commitments to sell. It will give you general price and sales data that you’ll want to be able to consider before making the decision to sell.

Our new home loan platform offers free property reports as well as:

• Free and easy home loan product comparison
• A borrowing power calculator
• A credit score tool
• Suburb profiles
• An end-to-end home loan journey, from comparison to decision.

You can also obtain a free property report from a number of online sources including real estate websites and home loan providers.

A property report will generally contain the following property information:

• The basic property details, including its address, the type of property (i.e. whether it’s a house, apartment or townhouse), the number of bedrooms and bathrooms it has, its floor plan, area in square metres and select pictures of the property.
• The estimated property value, based on the price that similar properties have recently sold for in the same area. This estimated market value will generally be described as either low, medium or high confidence, denoting the expected accuracy of the valuation.
• The property’s history and an activity summary, including sales history (e.g. past sale prices and dates, how long it was on the market for and sales method), any rental history (if the property has one), methods of sale and days on market during past sales and purchases.
• Comparable sales in the area and suburb insights, to give you an idea of what people are currently buying and selling for in your area (and potentially in surrounding postcodes as well), and what the property sales and market trends look like over the shorter and longer term. If you’re seeking more specific information on the area in question, you may also want to retrieve the relevant suburb report.

A property report may also include additional information, such as vacancy rates and recent sales in the area, and an estimated rental yield for the property. However, you should keep in mind that these reports are only guides; the property data they contain could potentially be out of date.

If you’re after a property report because you’re considering buying a specific property, there are a few other steps you should consider taking. These include:

• Getting a pest inspection done
• Researching the area thoroughly – are there any significant developments planned for the area? What’s the crime rate like, and has it been trending upwards or downwards in recent years? Get as much market data as you can for that area.
• Getting a building inspection done. An in-person inspection can be invaluable, but a professional inspector will be able to identify any damage or structural issues.

A property report will tell you a lot about the place, but getting the right inspections done before you buy will show you even more and can help you decide whether you should proceed with the purchase or not.

If you’re gearing up to sell a property based on the information you’ve learned from a property report, you should probably also:

• Get the property looking sale-ready. Mowing the grass, cleaning windows and even a fresh coat of paint can help make your property more attractive to prospective buyers.
• Have the property professionally inspected so you can address any needed repairs or touch-ups.
• Find a good real estate agent!