The Victorian off-the-plan duty concession
Victoria lowers the value that duty is charged on when you buy before or during construction; here is how the deduction works, who can use it until April 2027, and where it stops.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Methodology
Buying off the plan in Victoria means duty is charged on the contract price minus the construction costs still to be incurred after the contract date, so a $1,000,000 purchase with $400,000 of building still to come is assessed on $600,000 and pays $31,070 instead of $55,000. That is the State Revenue Office's own example of Michelle, worked at today's scale. For contracts signed from 21 October 2024 until 21 April 2027, a temporary concession lets every buyer use the deduction on an apartment, unit or townhouse in a strata subdivision with common property: investors and companies included, with no value cap. Outside that window, or for other property, the deduction is reserved for principal place of residence and first home buyers whose value after the deduction stays within $550,000 or $750,000. Foreign purchaser additional duty is never reduced: it stays at 8 % of the full price.
Victorian off-the-plan concession
Duty off the plan
$23,870
| Dutiable value | $480,000 |
| Duty without the concession | $43,070 |
| Saved | $19,200 |
The deduction: what comes off the price
When you sign before a building is finished, part of what you are paying for does not exist yet. Victoria's off-the-plan duty concession recognises that by excluding from the dutiable value the construction costs that will be incurred after the contract date. Land, and work already done, stay in.
The earlier you sign, the bigger the deduction. The same $900,000 apartment, bought at four stages, shows the effect on an investor under the temporary concession:
| Construction still to come | Dutiable value | Land transfer duty | Saved against full price |
|---|---|---|---|
| $450,000 | $450,000 | $22,070 | $27,000 |
| $300,000 | $600,000 | $31,070 | $18,000 |
| $150,000 | $750,000 | $40,070 | $9,000 |
| $0 | $900,000 | $49,070 | $0 |
Two regimes, one deduction
The temporary strata concession
For contracts signed from 21 October 2024 to 21 April 2027, the temporary concession opens the deduction to every buyer of a lot in a strata subdivision that includes common property: apartments, units and townhouses. Investors qualify, and so do companies. There is no ceiling on the value. A freestanding house on its own title sits outside it.
The standing concession
Outside that window, or for property the temporary rule does not cover, the deduction is available only to buyers who will live in the home, and only below a ceiling measured after the deduction: $750,000 for a first home buyer and $550,000 for a principal place of residence buyer. An investor buying a house and land package off the plan in this situation pays duty on the full contract price.
The SRO's three examples, recalculated
The office illustrates the concession with three buyers. Their dutiable values come from the SRO; the duty below is our calculation of what each would pay at the current scale, by profile.
| Buyer | Price | Deducted | Dutiable value | Investor or general | First home buyer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michelle | $1,000,000 | $400,000 | $600,000 | $31,070 | $0 |
| Jordan (half built) | $1,200,000 | $250,000 | $950,000 | $52,070 | $52,070 |
| Paige | $620,000 | $465,000 | $155,000 | $4,370 | $0 |
Michelle's case shows the concession meeting the first home exemption: her value after deduction lands exactly on $600,000, so as a first buyer she would pay nothing on a $1,000,000 contract. Jordan, signing at the halfway mark, keeps most of his price in the dutiable value and none of the first home relief, because $950,000 is above $750,000. Paige, with a cheaper contract and most of the building still ahead, is assessed on so little that even an investor would pay only $4,370.
One $850,000 townhouse, three buyers
Take a strata townhouse at $850,000 with $300,000 of construction still to come, signed inside the temporary window. The dutiable value is $550,000 for everyone, but what each buyer does with it differs.
| Buyer | Duty after the deduction | Duty on the full price | Rule that applies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Investor | $28,070 | $46,070 | Off-the-plan concession, then general scale |
| Owner-occupier, owned before | $24,970 | $46,070 | Principal place of residence concession |
| First home buyer | $0 | $46,070 | First home buyer duty exemption or concession: full exemption |
The investor gains from the deduction alone. The owner-occupier gains twice, because a dutiable value of $550,000 sits right on the $550,000 ceiling of the principal place of residence rates. The first home buyer lands below $600,000 and pays nothing at all on a contract that would otherwise cost $46,070. For a first buyer, the stage of construction at the contract date is worth checking before signing.
Foreign buyers: the deduction stops at FPAD
Foreign purchaser additional duty, 8 % since 1 July 2019, is calculated on the price before the off-the-plan concession. A foreign investor gets the lower land transfer duty under the temporary rule, but the larger of the two bills is untouched.
| Price | Construction to come | Land transfer duty | FPAD | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $650,000 | $260,000 | $18,470 | $52,000 | $70,470 |
| $800,000 | $320,000 | $23,870 | $64,000 | $87,870 |
| $1,200,000 | $480,000 | $38,270 | $96,000 | $134,270 |
The full rules for foreign buyers in each state are on the foreign buyer page.
Settlement and the grant
An off-the-plan home is a new home, so a first buyer at $750,000 or less can also receive the $10,000 First Home Owner Grant. For a buyer who is not a first home buyer, the principal place of residence concession uses the same after-deduction value, which is why a $750,000 apartment with $250,000 of construction to come can fall inside the PPR range and pay $21,970.
New South Wales takes the opposite approach to off-the-plan buyers: it does not cut the duty, it lets owner-occupiers pay later, as the NSW off-the-plan page explains.