Stamp duty changes in 2026, dated and compared

The calendar, in date order

Most people meet a duty change the hard way: a conveyancer mentions it a week before settlement. The table puts every 2026 change that affects a home purchase on one line, with the rule as it stood before and the rule as it stands now. Each line was read on the revenue office's own page; the engine behind the calculators on this site already uses the column on the right.

Two kinds of trigger appear in the left column, and they are not interchangeable. Tasmania's exemption ended by settlement date. Western Australia's first home owner rate, the ACT schemes and the NSW indexation follow the contract or transaction date. A buyer who exchanged in one state in June and settles in August can find that one rule changed for them and another did not.

Western Australia: a higher ceiling from 7 May

RevenueWA rewrote the first home owner rate for transactions from 7 May 2026. The previous version, in force from 21 March 2025 to 6 May 2026, gave no duty up to $500,000 and a concessional rate up to $700,000 in Perth and Peel or $750,000 elsewhere. The current version makes no regional distinction: a home is free of duty to $600,000, then charged $16.15 per $100 above that until the cap of $800,000. Vacant land is free to $450,000 and charged $20.14 per $100 up to $550,000. Eligibility now lines up with the grant rules, established homes included.

The steep rate inside the band is deliberate: by $800,000 the first home buyer pays the same as everyone else. The grant cap moved the same day, to $800,000 for homes south of the 26th parallel, Perth included, and $1,000,000 north of it. Earlier, on 12 March 2026, the off-the-plan concession was extended to survey-strata developments and set to run until 30 June 2028; the WA off-the-plan page works through it by stage.

Tasmania: two concessions closed on 30 June

Tasmania is the only jurisdiction where a first home buyer of an established home pays more in late 2026 than a year earlier. The 100 % exemption up to $750,000 covered transactions that settled by 30 June 2026. The off-the-plan apartment concession closed for contracts after the same date, and the pensioner downsizing concession had already closed for sales settled by 30 June 2025.

The First Home Owner Grant for a new home is $20,000 for transactions from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, down from $30,000 in 2025-26. Construction must be finished within 24 months and the home occupied for six months within the first year. Details are on the Tasmanian first home page.

ACT: four schemes rewritten on 1 July

The ACT made the widest change of the year. The Home Buyer Concession Scheme kept its eligibility test (individuals aged 18 or more, no interest in any property in the 5 years before the contract, one year of residence starting within a year of settlement) but dropped both the income limit and the value limit. The Pensioner Duty Concession Scheme also lost its value cap. The off-the-plan unit exemption for owner-occupiers, previously limited to units up to $1,020,000, now has no cap. A new Newly Unit Titled Duty Exemption covers a new unit bought from the developer within 2 years of the units plan being registered.

In money terms, an eligible ACT buyer at $1,200,000 now saves the full $46,758 that the owner-occupier rates would charge. The rates themselves did not move: the 2025-27 tables still apply 4.54 % of the whole value above $1,455,000. The ACT Home Buyer Concession page covers the eligibility test in full.

NSW and Queensland: quieter, but not nothing

Revenue NSW indexes its transfer duty bands every 1 July. For contracts dated from 1 July 2026 the 4.5 % band runs from $387,000 to $1,290,000, and premium duty begins at $3,870,000. The first home thresholds were not indexed. On a mid-range price the effect is small; it matters mainly for anyone comparing an old quote with a new one.

Queensland did not touch its rates. What changed on 1 August 2026 is who may claim the concessions: a buyer claiming the home concession, the first home concession or the first home (new home) concession must now be an Australian citizen, a permanent resident or a specified foreign retiree. The occupation rules the Queensland Revenue Office lists alongside it are strict: move in within one year of settlement with no extension, and do not rent out the whole property before moving in. The Queensland home concession page sets them out.

Victoria, the Territory and South Australia

Victoria's temporary off-the-plan concession for strata apartments and townhouses now covers contracts from 21 October 2024 up to 21 April 2027, for any buyer and with no value cap. In the Northern Territory the $50,000 HomeGrown Territory Grant and the $30,000 FreshStart New Home Grant run for contracts up to 30 September 2027; the $10,000 grant on established homes ended on 30 September 2025. South Australia introduced seniors downsizing relief for contracts from 25 March 2026, worth up to $103,830, which is exactly the duty on $2,000,000 under its scale ($103,830). The downsizer guide covers who it is for.

What did not change

The general scales in Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory are the same in 2026-27 as in 2025-26. So are the six foreign buyer surcharges, from 7 % in Western Australia and South Australia to 9 % in NSW. Queensland's $30,000 grant, Victoria's $10,000 grant and the NSW $10,000 grant kept their amounts and caps. If a quote you were given last year relied only on those, it still holds.