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My lease ends in six months. When should I start making offers?
Bayley Clarke · Mortgage broker on the road · Last checked 1 November 2026 · 3 min read
The short answer
You can start making offers today if you really feel like it. If you already know you're not renewing, give yourself more time rather than less, because six months goes a lot faster than it sounds once you're house hunting.
When you're stressed, you're emotional, and when you're emotional you generally don't make great financial decisions. On a house, a bad decision is an expensive one. Starting early means you buy because it's the right place, not because the lease is about to run out.
The 60 second version, filmed from the driver's seat. The rest of this page is the detail underneath it.
Why more time beats less
Whether you're buying your first home, or you've been rentvesting and this time you want to live in the next one, the lease end date becomes a deadline the moment you decide not to renew. Deadlines are where people panic. They stretch the budget, they skip the building and pest, or they grab the first place that's close enough because the removalist is booked.
So the way I look at it is simple. Start looking now. Go to opens, get a feel for what your money buys, and get your finance sorted so you know exactly where your ceiling sits. That way, when the right place pops up in month two or month five, you're ready to move on it, and you're doing it with a clear head.
What it costs to break a lease
If you find the place early and the dates don't line up, breaking the lease is an option. What it costs generally comes down to how much time you have left on it. Two weeks left is a very different conversation to five months left, and the rules sit with your state's tenancy laws and whatever's written in your lease.
So before you sign a contract, find out that number. Read your lease, have a chat to your property manager, and check what your state allows. Then it's just maths: what does breaking early cost you, against what it costs to let the right place go. Sometimes paying a bit to get out of the lease is the cheaper path.
Use the settlement period to line it up
The other lever you've got is the settlement date. If you find the place early, you can try to negotiate a longer settlement. The owners may not have found their next home yet, so a longer settlement can actually suit them, which means it might work in your favour at the negotiating table as well as on your calendar.
That's how you get the best of both. You lock in the right place when you find it, and you push the settlement out so it lands close to the end of your lease. Less double paying, less rushing, and the owners get the breathing room they wanted too. It's not guaranteed every seller will go for it, but it's always worth asking.
The honest bit: you might pay rent and a mortgage for a stretch
If your settlement lands before your lease ends and you can't break it cheaply, there's a window where you're paying rent and your new home loan at the same time. That's not a disaster, but it needs to be in the budget before you make the offer, not discovered afterwards.
Your finance also needs to be current when you buy. Pre-approvals don't last forever, so if you're starting early, we time it so the approval is live when you're actually making offers, and refresh it if the search runs longer than planned.
Want your finance lined up before the lease runs out?
A 30 minute call. We work out what you can borrow, what you need in the bank, and how to time the pre-approval around your lease so you can make offers with a clear head.
No cost to you. The bank pays me when a loan settles. · How I get paid
Next question
Do I need pre-approval before I look? How long does it last?Not always. You need your numbers before you make offers, so you know where to aim and whether you'd be approved.
Related answers
The full guide: How to buy your first home How long does it all take, and who does what before settlement? Exchange versus settlement: what does each one actually mean? How do I make an offer, and who does the agent work for? When do I book the building and pest, and can I offer less money if we find problems?Not your question? Book a call and ask it, or call 0437 189 939.