Renovating, rebuilding or simply clearing out is becoming the preferred option for Australians as the rising cost of moving reshapes decisions across the property market.
Australians are being slugged with more than $81,000 just to move house, with lifetime relocation costs now soaring as high as $285,000.
The eye-watering cost is forcing families to rethink their place in the property market, with many choosing to renovate, rebuild or simply clear out instead of upgrading.
New data from Mobile Skips Australia based on more than 61,000 skip bin bookings between 2021 and 2025, shows renovation and clean-up activity surging nationwide as homeowners weigh up whether moving is worth the hit.
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Mobile Skips Australia chief executive Jacob Spencer said the shift was clear.
“More Australians appear to be renovating instead of relocating,” Mr Spencer said.
“So what we’re seeing is homeowners asking a different question: how do I improve the asset I already own?”
The trend is strongest in Sydney and Melbourne, where renovation activity dominates.
Mobile Skips Australia chief executive Jacob Spencer said more homeowners are choosing to improve their current property rather than take on the high cost of relocating.
New South Wales recorded the highest share of renovation-related waste at 56 per cent, followed by Victoria at 52 per cent and Queensland at 51 per cent.
In Melbourne’s inner suburbs, the cost barrier to moving is particularly sharp.
Northcote homeowner Josef Tadich said stamp duty alone would have added “easily” $200,000 to the cost of upgrading his family home.
“When you’re looking at that kind of cost, it really makes you stop and think,” he said.
Melbourne homeowner Josef Tadich opted to renovate and expand his family home instead of upgrading, avoiding significant stamp duty and moving costs. Picture: Mark Stewart
Instead of moving, his family undertook a targeted renovation, adding a second storey with extra bedrooms in a nine-month build.
The project delivered more space without re-entering the market and taking on additional costs.
“For us, doing a smaller renovation just made more financial sense,” Mr Tadich said.
“Trying to find a new place that ticked all the same boxes would’ve been difficult, and then you’re layering on all those extra costs.”
In Queensland, the same cost pressures are driving a different kind of response.
Brisbane homeowners are raising houses, converting garages and adding secondary dwellings to unlock space and generate income.
Builder Connor Morgan said some projects were being driven by necessity.
“You could spend $2m on another house just to get that extra space,” he said.
“It’s happening all over Brisbane at the moment. It’s mental.”
Garage conversions, often starting from about $100,000, are increasingly being used to help offset mortgage costs.
Ray White chief economist Nerida Conisbee said the cost of moving is prompting more Australians to consider renovating as a more viable financial option.
Ray White chief economist Nerida Conisbee said the financial trade-off was becoming harder to ignore.
“If you are spending $80,000 on moving, that could be a really good renovation project instead,” she said.
But in more price-sensitive markets such as Adelaide, the response is shifting again.
Rather than undertaking major renovations, many households are opting to declutter and make better use of the space they already have.
Decluttering and renovation activity is rising nationwide as households look for cost-effective ways to maximise space without entering the property market.
Mobile Skips data shows 58 per cent of Adelaide bookings were for household waste rather than renovation debris.
Mr Spencer said the figures pointed to a divide between markets.
“Households there may be less inclined to take on the larger renovation projects that customers in Sydney and Melbourne are more able or willing to do,” he said.
Instead, demand for decluttering services is rising as households look for quicker and more flexible ways to clear out their homes.
Across the country, Australians are most commonly clearing garages, spare rooms and backyards, with clutter sitting untouched for an average of nearly 14 years.
Whitefox director Marty Fox said rising transaction costs are forcing homeowners to rethink whether moving or renovating delivers better value.
Whitefox director and Block judge Marty Fox said rising transaction costs were forcing a broader rethink.
“When people actually calculate the cost of moving, the numbers add up very quickly,” he said.
“So they start asking what that same money could achieve if it was invested into the home they already own.”
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