First home buyer stamp duty in Tasmania
For a settlement after 30 June 2026, a Tasmanian first home buyer pays the same property transfer duty as anyone else.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Methodology
Tasmania's full duty exemption for first home buyers of established homes up to $750,000 ended for settlements after 30 June 2026, so a first home bought today pays property transfer duty at the ordinary scale. What counts is the settlement date, not the contract: a buyer who signed in May 2026 but settled in July 2026 falls outside the exemption. On a $550,000 house in Launceston the duty is now $20,373; at $700,000 it is $26,748. The off-the-plan apartment concession closed for contracts after the same date. The remaining help is the First Home Owner Grant on a new home, worth $20,000 for transactions from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, down from $30,000 in 2025-26. The new home must be completed within 24 months and occupied for six months within twelve. A foreign buyer adds the 8 % foreign investor duty surcharge on residential land.
First home buyer in 2026-27: duty in every state
States charging nothing
ACT, NSW
| Queensland | $10,925 |
| Western Australia | $24,225 |
| Tasmania | $28,935 |
| South Australia | $35,080 |
A settlement date, not a signing date
Tasmania's end-date for the established-home exemption was written around settlement, not around the contract, and that is the detail most likely to catch out a buyer who signed in June 2026. A contract signed in the last weeks of June, with a normal settlement period of a month or more, landed after 30 June 2026 and lost the exemption. The off-the-plan apartment concession was closed differently, for contracts after that date, which makes sense for a purchase whose settlement may be years away.
Before it ended, the exemption removed all duty on an established home up to $750,000. For a first home buyer that was worth $22,498 at $600,000 and $28,935 at the cap.
What a first home costs in duty now
The table shows property transfer duty on the Tasmanian scale, in force since 21 October 2013, with its minimum of $50. The first home buyer column and the investor column are identical, because no first home concession remains on the duty.
| Price | First home buyer | Any other buyer | Foreign buyer (with FIDS) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $350,000 | $11,935 | $11,935 | $39,935 |
| $450,000 | $16,123 | $16,123 | $52,123 |
| $550,000 | $20,373 | $20,373 | $64,373 |
| $650,000 | $24,623 | $24,623 | $76,623 |
| $750,000 | $28,935 | $28,935 | $88,935 |
| $900,000 | $35,685 | $35,685 | $107,685 |
The top marginal rate, $4.50 per $100, starts at $725,000. New South Wales and Western Australia, by contrast, still exempt first home buyers on established homes below their thresholds, so at $600,000 the Tasmanian buyer pays $22,498 where a Perth buyer pays $0.
Working out the duty band by band
With no concession to subtract, the whole calculation is the scale itself. Each band has a fixed amount for the value below it and a rate per $100 for the part above its floor, and the State Revenue Office counts every $100 or part of $100.
| Value from | Duty |
|---|---|
| $3,000 | $50 plus $1.75 per $100 above $3,000 |
| $25,000 | $435 plus $2.25 per $100 above $25,000 |
| $75,000 | $1,560 plus $3.50 per $100 above $75,000 |
| $200,000 | $5,935 plus $4.00 per $100 above $200,000 |
| $375,000 | $12,935 plus $4.25 per $100 above $375,000 |
| $725,000 | $27,810 plus $4.50 per $100 above $725,000 |
A worked case: a couple buying their first home in Devonport for $520,000. The price falls in the band starting at $375,000, so the duty is $12,935 plus $4.25 on each of the 1,450 hundreds above it, which gives $19,098. Under the old exemption they would have paid nothing, provided settlement happened by 30 June 2026. That sum now has to be budgeted next to the deposit, since duty is paid by the buyer on top of the price.
Comparing your first home with other states
The calculator below runs the same first home purchase in all eight jurisdictions and lists those where the duty is zero. For an established home at $550,000, Tasmania now sits among the jurisdictions that charge, with $20,373, while New South Wales charges $0 and the ACT $0 to an eligible buyer.
The grant: lower in 2026-27, new homes only
The First Home Owner Grant survives, but it was cut. Transactions from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027 attract $20,000, compared with $30,000 the year before. The grant is for a new home: buying or building one, not an established house. If you are building, construction has to be completed within 24 months, and once you move in you must live there for at least six months, with the occupation beginning within twelve months.
| New home price | Transfer duty | Grant | Duty less grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| $400,000 | $13,998 | $20,000 | -$6,002 |
| $550,000 | $20,373 | $20,000 | $373 |
| $700,000 | $26,748 | $20,000 | $6,748 |
On a $400,000 new home the grant still more than covers the duty. At $700,000 it pays for less than three quarters of it.
Grant on a new home in your state
First Home Owner Grant
$20,000
| Duty on this new first home | $24,623 |
| Duty minus grant | $4,623 |
| Duty rule | General scale: the established-home exemption ended for settlements after 30 June 2026 |
Foreign buyers and the FIDS
A foreign person buying residential land in Tasmania pays the foreign investor duty surcharge, known as FIDS, at 8 % of the value, on top of property transfer duty. It has applied since 1 April 2020. On a $650,000 home the surcharge alone is $52,000. The foreign buyer guide sets Tasmania's surcharge against those of the other states.
Other Tasmanian concessions that have closed
The end of June 2026 was not the first closure. The pensioners downsizing to a new home concession applied only to sales settled on or before 30 June 2025. The off-the-plan apartment concession closed for contracts after 30 June 2026. The State Revenue Office's concessions page is the place to check whether anything new has been announced since we read it; the changes in 2026 page tracks what moved across the country this year.