Property Holding Cost Calculator
Add up what an unsold or vacant property costs each month in mortgage interest, taxes, insurance, utilities and upkeep, and over any period.
💼 Are you a real estate agent or broker? Send this calculator to your buyers on your own branded listing page — every enquiry comes straight to your WhatsApp. Create free agent page →An unsold property is not idle, it is expensive. Interest accrues, taxes and insurance keep falling due, utilities have to stay connected for viewings, and the garden and decoration still need maintaining. None of it feels like a cost of selling, because the bills look identical to the ones you paid while living there.
Adding them up turns a vague sense that the sale is dragging into a number you can weigh against a price reduction or a different agent.
What is counted
Mortgage interest plus property tax, insurance, utilities and standing charges, and maintenance. Mortgage principal is deliberately excluded — it reduces what you owe rather than disappearing, so counting it would overstate the true cost of waiting.
Worked example
Interest of 1,400 a month, 250 of property tax, 90 of insurance, 120 of utilities and 100 of maintenance is 1,960 a month — about 64 a day. Five months on the market costs 9,800, which on a 400,000 property is roughly 2.5% of the price quietly spent while waiting.
Using the number
Set it against the reduction that would bring a buyer forward. If a month of holding costs more than the difference between two offers, taking the lower offer now is usually the better outcome — and it removes the risk that the market moves against you meanwhile.
Turn a calculation into an enquiry
Buyers who run these numbers are ready to talk. Give every listing its own page with your photo, phone and WhatsApp on it — leads land straight on your phone.
Create your free property pageFrequently asked questions
Should I include mortgage principal?
No, not for this purpose. Principal is money moving from one pocket to another — it reduces the balance you owe rather than being consumed. Including it makes waiting look far more expensive than it truly is.
Do holding costs apply to a vacant rental too?
Yes, and usually more sharply, because there is no rent arriving to offset them. This is exactly why a realistic vacancy allowance matters so much in rental projections.
Does insurance change when a property is empty?
Frequently it does. Many insurers restrict or void cover once a property has been unoccupied for a set period, commonly 30 to 60 days, and want a specific unoccupied policy that costs more. Tell your insurer rather than assuming existing cover holds.