Townhouse or house in Brisbane? Compare the cash, not the price tag

(Example figures: 80% of $850k is $680k, but 80% of an $800k valuation is $640k, so your contribution goes from $170k to $210k.)

So the quick answer to townhouse or house is that neither is automatically cheaper. Most people compare them on the asking price. I would compare them on 2 other numbers: the cash you need to get to settlement, and what each one costs you every month once you are in. The title, the valuation and the body corporate can move both of those further than a $50k difference in price.

That is also the order the bank looks at them in. A pre-approval covers you, not the property. The bank still checks the actual address, the actual title and, for a townhouse, the actual body corporate records before it says yes. So before you treat 2 listings as a fair fight, get the paperwork for both.

It decides who pays when the roof leaks. For a townhouse, that line on the registered plan is the biggest single difference from a house, and it sits in the paperwork, not the listing. Here is the side by side.

Start with 2 or 3 places you would actually be happy to buy, and match them as closely as you can on suburb, bedrooms, condition, parking and outdoor space. A 3 bedroom townhouse 400 metres from the train and a 1960s house on 600 square metres 20 minutes further out are not the same purchase, so their prices will not tell you much.

For each one, write down the price, the cash you would put in, the loan, a rough repayment, and the upfront and ongoing costs. Put the cash needed next to the monthly repayment.

A lower repayment on its own will not tell you whether you have enough left for transfer duty, the solicitor, the inspections, the first quarter's levy or the first repair. Our mortgage calculator is a quick way to test a repayment; treat it as a starting point, because the bank still checks your full finances and the property before approving anything.

Usually, yes, but not on the strength of the listing. MoneySmart puts it plainly: a pre-approval does not guarantee a loan, because the lender still assesses you and the property. What we need from you is the exact address, the price, the title and plan if you have them, the body corporate certificate and the current levy notice.

The paperwork matters more than the label. ANZ's published application form, for example, records the property type, floor size, title and contract details, and asks about body corporate costs, before anyone talks about how much it will lend. Having those documents ready is what lets us check the application properly.

We will also check whether the lender has location, floor area or development rules for that address and what kind of valuation it wants. The rules you may have read about for small apartments do not automatically carry across to townhouses, and the property type on its own does not decide the loan.

Our apartment mortgage guide explains why lenders look at you and the property as 2 separate questions.

Example only: say you agree to pay $850k and plan to borrow 80%, which is $680k. The bank's valuer comes back at $800k and the bank holds the loan at 80% of its own number, so it lends $640k. Your contribution towards the price just went from $170k to $210k, an extra $40k, before buying costs.

That assumes the 80% limit stays where it is; a different loan structure needs a fresh look. There are a few ways through that, including asking the valuer to look again, trying another lender or lowering the budget, and we can compare them before your finance date.

Our guide to challenging a bank valuation covers the evidence that helps.

My brother Josh had a client, Max, who had signed a $650k off the plan contract for a unit 2 years earlier.

With 14 days to settlement, the first valuation came back at $590k. That cut an 80% loan from $520k to $472k and left him $48k short. Josh got another lender valuation and supplied recent sales of similar new units in the same building.

The second valuation came in at $640k, and Max settled on time with a $524.8k loan at 82% of the value. It was a unit rather than a townhouse, but a short valuation squeezes your cash the same way.

The levy comes out of your pocket whether or not the bank treats it as a separate expense or folds it into its standard living-cost figure, the Household Expenditure Measure (HEM). Send us the current levy notice and any approved special levy and we will check how each bank counts it.

A $500 a month levy does not take a fixed amount off your loan; the effect depends on your income, your other spending and your debts. Our HEM guide explains the bank's standard living-cost figure and why 2 banks can land on 2 different borrowing figures.

The bank may treat the levy as a living cost, but it is still real money out of your account every month. Two banks can land on different borrowing figures for the same townhouse because they may count the levy differently.

If borrowing is tight, compare what you can comfortably repay as well as what the bank will approve. A bigger loan limit is not much help if a special levy or a repair leaves you short of cash. Our borrowing power guide covers the income, debts and expenses to look at before you change your budget.

Whichever you pick, budget past the deposit. Buying costs can include Queensland transfer duty, title and mortgage registration, legal work and searches, inspections, lender charges, insurance and the move.

How much duty you pay depends on the current rules, your purchase and whether you qualify for a concession, so use the Queensland Revenue Office guidance and calculator for your contract date rather than an old online estimate.

Then add council rates, water, utilities, repayments, insurance and the maintenance that is yours. A house has no levy but still needs money put aside for the roof, the drainage, the fence and the yard. A townhouse shares some of that, but you still pay for anything inside your lot and for any extra contribution the scheme raises.

Put both on the same monthly page. A townhouse levy of $6k a year is $500 a month before anything it does not cover. If building insurance is in the levy, do not count it twice, but still allow for contents cover, excesses and the repairs that are yours.

For the house, put its insurance and a repair allowance in the same column instead of treating no levy as a saving. These are budgeting examples, not estimates for a particular property.

Check flood risk and get an insurance quote for each address. Inside Brisbane City Council, start with the Flood Awareness Map and pull a FloodWise Property Report for the detail. A townhouse with the living area upstairs can still have a garage, driveway or common area that goes under. Outside Brisbane City Council, use that council's tools.

Our Brisbane buying costs guide splits your contribution to the price from the costs of buying and the cash you want left after settlement. If the deposit is the sticking point, compare low deposit home loans and any first home buyer help you qualify for before choosing on price alone.

A townhouse doesn't qualify for a grant just because it's a townhouse. In Queensland the first home owner grant is only for new homes, and the price and your own eligibility still matter.

If you want to see townhouse purchases we have actually done, 2 are already on the site: Olivia bought a new Brisbane townhouse at $720k in our first home owner grant guide, and our single parents guide has a $600k townhouse bought with a 2% deposit of $12k under the Family Home Guarantee, now part of the 5% Deposit Scheme.

The valuation and levy stories on this page are a unit and an apartment, and they are labelled that way; the lessons carry across.

In Queensland, buying a lot in a body corporate scheme makes you a member of it, with a share of its bills. The Queensland Government's buying guide explains that the body corporate certificate shows the levies and other scheme details, and that you can ask for the financial records and meeting minutes.

Our strata and body corporate guide explains the terms and the records to ask for.

I had a client, Cassie, buying a $580k Brisbane apartment where the records showed an $18k special levy for balcony waterproofing. The first lender saw the word defect and declined.

We got the engineering report and the quotes, the solicitors agreed a settlement adjustment that made the seller fund the levy, and a lender approved a $464k loan at 80% on a physical valuation.

The levy was still real and the repairs still had to happen; the difference was that everyone knew who was paying for them before settlement, not after. That is what reading the records buys you.

Get your Queensland solicitor to go through the current certificate, the budget and financial statements, the scheme's governing document (the community management statement), the by-laws, recent meeting records, contracts and maintenance plans.

You are looking for approved or proposed special levies, money the scheme has borrowed, unpaid contributions, insurance claims, disputes, defects and work that keeps getting put off.

A low regular levy does not tell you whether the big repairs have been paid for.

Queensland's seller disclosure scheme means most sellers must give you certain documents before you sign, and for a body corporate lot that can include the certificate and the community management statement.

Disclosure is not a building inspection and does not have to tell you whether the place has flooded. Read the official seller disclosure scheme guide and arrange the searches and inspections your solicitor recommends.

On some plans you own the roof and walls. On others the body corporate does. That decides who pays when something leaks, and the word townhouse will not tell you which one you are buying.

In Queensland it depends on how the scheme was registered: on a standard format plan, owners can be responsible for parts of the building inside their own lot, while on a building format plan more of the building sits with the body corporate.

The Queensland Government explains the difference on its pages about standard format plans and building format plans.

Ask your solicitor to walk you through the lot boundaries, any exclusive use areas, repair obligations and insurance for the exact property. Read the actual policy, including exclusions and excesses, rather than assuming the levy covers every building cost. Then budget for what stays with you.

And check the place suits the way you live. Test the commute, the stairs, the parking, the storage and the noise at the times you will actually use them.

If you want to renovate or keep a pet, read the by-laws before you believe the agent.

I would not assume a house will grow in value faster just because it is a house; compare recent sales of similar properties and what you are paying for the location, the land, the condition and the ongoing costs.

• Get a title search, the registered plan and the body corporate documents for the exact townhouse, and check whether the parking and storage are part of your lot or a separate right.
• Ask your Queensland solicitor about levies, proposed work, unpaid amounts, repairs, insurance and the settlement terms in the contract.
• Compare the deposit, duty, legal and inspection costs, regular levies, insurance and maintenance using current figures, and keep enough cash after settlement for repairs, the move and anything the loan does not cover.
• Send us the address, title, contract price and any known issue so we can check it with the lender and confirm what valuation it wants. You do not need to arrange your own valuation first.

For me, the right choice is the one whose repayments, upkeep and legal obligations sit comfortably inside your budget, not the one with the lower sticker.

Client examples are based on real situations. Names and identifying details have been changed.