The short answer
A conveyancing practice in Australia is worth the earnings a new owner can keep making from its settled files, after a market wage for the licensed person who runs it. We found no published multiple of fees or earnings for completed sales, so the price is built from the practice's own numbers.
The build starts with settled files multiplied by the average fee, with file numbers averaged across the property cycle. Running costs and the owner's market wage come off, and the buyer tests whether the referrers, the licence and the staff stay once the owner leaves.
Does the licence transfer when a conveyancing practice is sold?
No. A licence belongs to a named person or company, not to the files, so a buyer of the files needs its own licence or registration, or must be a law practice where the law requires it. A licensed individual from another participating state may be able to work in a second state under automatic mutual recognition after notifying its regulator; Victoria still requires a company to be licensed there, and Queensland does not take part. South Australia states that its registration cannot be transferred.
A buyer of a licensed company takes on a licence that depends on a licensed director or person in control, so if that person leaves, the company may stop meeting the rules. Because a buyer must bring or find a licensed person, the field of buyers is narrower, and the price reflects it. Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the ACT are not covered here.
- ·New South Wales: NSW Fair Trading licenses individuals and corporations. A corporation needs a director with an individual licence, and each place of business needs a licensee in charge. Law practices need no licence, and licensed property and stock agents cannot hold one.
- ·Victoria: the Business Licensing Authority licenses individuals and companies; a company needs a director who is a licensed conveyancer, and law practices need no licence.
- ·South Australia: Consumer and Business Services registers conveyancers, and a majority of a company's directors must be registered conveyancers.
- ·Western Australia: Consumer Protection licenses settlement agents, and the person in control of the business must be a licensed settlement agent living in the state.
- ·Queensland: in July 2023 the state's legal services regulator said conveyancing is a legal service reserved to qualified and licensed solicitors and law practices.
What multiple do conveyancing practices sell for?
We found no published multiple of fees or earnings for completed sales of Australian conveyancing practices, and asking prices on broker listings are not completed sales. The table sets out what moves the price.
| Factor | Pushes the price up | Pushes the price down |
|---|---|---|
| Referrals | Many agents and brokers, dealing with staff, written down | A few agencies supply most files; relationships sit with the owner |
| File volume | Steady five-year average; fees have held | Last year was a boom, or volume was held by cutting fees |
| Licence | Licensed people besides the owner; a wide field of eligible buyers | One licensed owner; a narrow field of eligible buyers |
| Compliance | Audits lodged on time, anti-money laundering program, identity records kept | Late audits, no anti-money laundering program, gaps in evidence |
| Process | Integrated settlement workflow, many files per fee-earner | Manual re-keying; know-how held by the owner |
Why does a boom or trough year mislead the price?
Fees follow settlements, and settlements swing with interest rates and the property cycle, so a price struck on one year overstates or understates what a practice can keep earning. PEXA, the property settlement platform, reported in its FY23 Property Insights that property sale settlements in the year to June 2023 were 18.6 per cent lower than the FY22 boom year, although the totals it printed (more than 665,000 against 754,352) imply a fall of no more than about 12 per cent.
PEXA's August 2026 results reported its measure of Australian market transaction volumes (not the same count as sale settlements) up 6.4 per cent to 4.7 million in FY26, and said an uncertain economic environment was expected to dampen property transaction volumes in FY27.
A valuer therefore averages settled files over at least five years of monthly counts where the practice holds them.
What did PEXA and electronic settlement change for a small practice?
Electronic settlement put identity checks and evidence keeping on every electronically settled file and moved most transfers onto one network: PEXA's August 2026 results say about 90 per cent of property transfer settlements in Australia run on its platform.
Under Version 7 of the Model Participation Rules published by the national registrars' council ARNECC, a practice using the network, called a subscriber, must take reasonable steps to verify the identity of the people involved, including its clients, signers and users, certify that it has done so, and keep the evidence for seven years from lodgement. That is a fixed overhead on every electronic file, so a buyer checks the verification records and files per fee-earner, and prices any gap.
Will real estate agent referrals stay after a sale?
Not automatically. A buyer cannot assume the referrals will stay, and tests it from the file history. A valuer maps where new files came from, by referrer, over several years, then checks how long each relationship has lasted, who deals with each referrer and whether any arrangement is written down.
When a few agencies or brokers supply most files, losing one is losing earnings. A developer panel appointment ends when the project sells out, so it is valued like a contract with a term. Relationships that follow the owner out the door are personal goodwill and are not part of what is sold.
What do buyers check on open files, trust accounts, insurance and compliance?
A buyer checks open files, trust account audits, insurance and compliance records, and prices each gap as a cost it will inherit, so a seller should have them ready. Since 1 July 2026 that includes anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) rules: AUSTRAC says conveyancers are now covered, businesses providing designated services must have an AML/CTF program and a compliance officer, and enrolment was due by 29 July 2026 for businesses already providing designated services.
- ·Open files: a schedule of files open at the sale date, the work done on each and the fee still to be earned. In New South Wales each transaction file is kept for at least seven years unless lawfully transferred to another licensee or a legal practitioner.
- ·Trust account: the last three audit reports. New South Wales requires an annual audit, due by 30 September, and failing to lodge it on time makes a licensee a disqualified person.
- ·Insurance: professional indemnity cover, which New South Wales and Victoria require, the claims history, and who is covered for work done before the sale.
- ·People: which licensed people besides the owner will stay.
A worked example: why last year's settlements overstate the price
Illustration only: every figure is made up, and none is a benchmark or a client. A practice settled 1,000 files last year at an average fee of $1,000, so fees were $1,000,000 (excluding GST and disbursements). Costs were $480,000 and a market wage for its licensed owner is $120,000, so last year's earnings were $1,000,000 less $480,000 less $120,000, which is $400,000.
Over five years it averaged 800 files, so normalised fees are $800,000 and normalised earnings are $800,000 less $600,000, which is $200,000. Two agencies supply 200 of those 800 files, and the buyer's checks show that one of them, supplying 100 files, is unlikely to stay. Files fall to 700, fees to $700,000 and earnings to $100,000.
Costs are assumed unchanged. A fall of 12.5 per cent in files has halved earnings, and whatever multiple a buyer applies, a price struck on last year's $400,000 would be four times one struck on $100,000.
When the number has consequences
A formal valuation is worth ordering when the figure has to withstand a counterparty or a reviewer: a sale or purchase of the practice, a buy-in or buyout, a restructure, a transfer between related parties, a capital gains tax event including a claim for the small business CGT concessions, or an estate.
Oliver Group prepares independent valuations only. We are not a tax agent and do not give tax, legal or financial advice: your accountant and lawyer apply the valuation in their own fields. Reports follow the guidelines of APES 225 Valuation Services, and a report is not written to a predetermined number.
Oliver Group's fees are set by the annual turnover of the business: a Small Business Valuation is $1,495 + GST for turnover under $2 million, a Medium Business Valuation is $2,495 + GST for turnover between $2 million and $3 million, a Large Business Valuation is $3,495 + GST for turnover between $3 million and $10 million, and above $10 million the fee is quoted in writing before work starts. A small-business report is delivered in 2 business days and a medium- or large-business report in 3 business days; above $10 million the delivery date is agreed before commencement. Delivery time starts once payment and all required information have been received. The fee is fixed in writing before work begins and never depends on the concluded value.