Stamp duty for property investors

Three groups of states

For a property investor the eight jurisdictions fall into three groups. In NSW, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory there is one scale and the investor pays it like anyone else who is not a first home buyer. In Victoria and Western Australia the owner-occupier gets a lower rate only on cheaper homes, so above those values the investor is no worse off. In the ACT and Queensland the gap runs across most of the price range.

ACT: two complete rate tables

The ACT Revenue Office publishes separate owner-occupier and non-owner-occupier tables for 2025-27. The investor table starts at 1.2 % on the first $200,000; the owner-occupier table at 0.28 % on the first $260,000. From $300,000 the marginal rates are the same, which is why the dollar gap stays fixed over a wide middle range and then disappears above $1,455,000, where both tables switch to 4.54 % of the whole value. The ACT is also one of the two jurisdictions where a foreign investor pays no surcharge on duty. The ACT calculator applies both tables.

Queensland: the home concession an investor cannot claim

Queensland's home concession is a separate scale for a home you will live in: 1 % on the first $350,000, then rates that converge with the general scale above $540,000. Because the general scale starts higher and the bands differ, the investor's extra cost is $7,175 at $540,000 and stays at $7,175 for every price above that. The Queensland Revenue Office's examples confirm both scales: $31,275 on an $850,000 investment and $28,600 on a $950,000 home. The office also states that the whole property cannot be rented out before you move in or in the year after, so the line between home and investment is policed.

Victoria and Western Australia: only at the lower end

Victoria's principal place of residence concession runs from $130,000 to $550,000. The State Revenue Office's examples: $16,370 instead of $19,070 at $400,000, and $24,970 instead of $28,070 at $550,000. Above that value an investor and an owner-occupier pay the same general scale, which becomes 5.5 % of the entire value once the price passes $960,000.

Western Australia's concessional rate for a principal place of residence stops at $200,000. At $180,000 an owner-occupier pays $4,224 and an investor $4,275; above the cap the difference is gone.

NSW, South Australia, Tasmania and the Territory: one scale for all

In these four jurisdictions the owner-occupier and the investor meet the same table, and the only buyers who pay less are first home buyers (in NSW, and in South Australia on new homes) or, in the Territory, buyers of a house and land package from a builder. The scales themselves differ in character. Revenue NSW indexes its bands every 1 July, and an investor signing in 2026/27 uses thresholds that end the $4.50 band at $1,290,000. South Australia's conveyance scale is not indexed at all, so its top rate of $5.50 per $100 starts at $500,000 and has not moved since RevenueSA last published the table. Tasmania's scale has applied since 21 October 2013 with a minimum of $50. The Territory uses a formula up to $525,000 and then a flat 4.95 % of the whole value.

Concessions investors can use

Two schemes reward investors who buy new apartments. Victoria's temporary off-the-plan concession for strata developments, open to investors and companies with no value cap, applies to contracts up to 21 April 2027 and deducts the construction cost still to come from the dutiable value. Western Australia's off-the-plan concession, for contracts up to 30 June 2028, removes up to 100 % of the duty on a strata dwelling bought before construction starts, capped at $50,000.

The off-the-plan guide sets out the other conditions. Neither scheme affects the foreign buyer surcharges, which the foreign buyer guide covers.

Where an investor pays least

For a resident investor buying an established home at $800,000, the ACT and Queensland are the cheapest of the eight even with their higher investor scales, and Victoria and the Northern Territory the dearest. The ranking changes with price, so run your own figure through the eight-state comparison.