New home or established home: the duty and grant difference

The net position at three prices

Duty is paid out; a grant is paid in. Subtracting one from the other gives a single figure per home, which is the fairest way to compare a new townhouse with an older house at the same price. A negative number means the grant is larger than the duty.

Read across a row and the pattern for each state is clear. Queensland and South Australia have a large, steady advantage for new homes because duty goes to zero on them at any price. The Territory's advantage is the grant alone, and it is the largest grant in the country. In NSW the advantage disappears above $600,000, in Victoria above $750,000, in Western Australia above $800,000 in the south of the state. The ACT is level because the Home Buyer Concession Scheme treats both the same and there is no grant.

Just under or just over a grant cap

Four grants stop dead at a price ceiling, so two new homes $20,000 apart can be $30,000 apart once the grant is counted. The table puts a new home either side of each cap.

Queensland's jump is the largest because its grant is the largest of the four. In Victoria the step is steeper than the grant alone, because the first home concession is also running out at that price. When a price sits near a ceiling, a small difference in the value of the home decides whether the grant is paid at all.

Why the rules lean towards new homes

Every revenue office that still pays a First Home Owner Grant limits it to new homes, and two states have moved their duty relief the same way. Queensland's first home (new home) concession, for contracts from 1 May 2025, is full with no cap, while its established-home concession runs out at $800,000. South Australia's relief from 13 February 2025 excludes established homes altogether. Tasmania went further in 2026 by ending its established-home exemption for settlements after 30 June 2026, while keeping a $20,000 grant for new homes. The 2026 changes guide dates each of these moves.

State by state

Queensland

Established: home concession rate less a first home amount, $10,925 at $750,000. New: no duty, and a $30,000 grant below $750,000. At $750,000 exactly the new home misses the grant but still pays no duty.

South Australia

Established: full scale, $26,830 at $600,000. New: no duty at any price and a grant of up to $15,000 with no value cap.

Northern Territory

Duty is the same on both, $29,700 at $600,000, unless a new house and land are bought as one package from a building contractor, in which case the House and Land Package Exemption removes it. The $50,000 HomeGrown grant is paid on the new home, off the plan or owner-built included; the $10,000 grant on established homes ended on 30 September 2025.

NSW, Victoria and Western Australia

The duty concessions do not distinguish new from established. The grant of $10,000 does, and each state caps it differently: $600,000 in NSW, $750,000 in Victoria, $800,000 south of the 26th parallel in Western Australia. Victoria's off-the-plan rules can also lower the dutiable value of a new apartment bought before completion; the off-the-plan guide explains how.

Tasmania

No duty concession either way in 2026-27: $22,498 at $600,000. The $20,000 grant for a new home, finished within 24 months, is the only difference.

ACT

No duty on either for an eligible buyer under the Home Buyer Concession Scheme, and no grant since 1 July 2019. For buyers outside the scheme, owner-occupiers of new off-the-plan or newly unit-titled units pay no duty either.

Buyers who are not first home buyers

For a second-time buyer the choice rarely changes the duty. The exceptions are the Territory's $30,000 FreshStart grant on a new home and the ACT's exemptions for new units bought to live in.

The grant guide lists every scheme's conditions, and the house and land guide covers buying the block and the build separately.