Stamp Duty NSW & VIC 2026: Buyer Guide

Why Stamp Duty Deserves Its Own Budget Line

In Sydney and Melbourne, stamp duty (transfer duty) is often the biggest upfront cost after the deposit itself - tens of thousands of dollars that many buyers discover late. Unlike the deposit, it cannot be borrowed as part of the standard home loan, so it comes straight from your savings.

The good news: both NSW and Victoria offer generous first-home buyer relief. The bad news: thresholds, concessions, and eligibility rules differ by state and change periodically - always confirm current figures with the state revenue office before budgeting.

NSW: Exemptions and Concessions

In NSW, eligible first-home buyers pay no transfer duty on homes up to $800,000, with concessional (discounted) rates phasing in for purchases between $800,000 and $1,000,000. Above $1,000,000, standard rates apply. The property must become your principal place of residence, and you must move in within 12 months and live there continuously for at least 12 months.

The concession band is a smooth phase-out, not a cliff. On an $850,000 purchase, an eligible first-home buyer pays about $9,797 in duty versus $32,437 at standard rates, a saving of roughly $22,640. At $900,000 the buyer pays about $19,594 (saving ~$15,094), and by $999,000 the concession has nearly vanished. Each extra dollar of purchase price in this band costs you duty, so the effective price of stretching your budget is higher than the sticker suggests.

New builds and established homes share the same $800,000/$1,000,000 thresholds. Vacant land has its own: full exemption up to $350,000, concession to $450,000. And separate from duty, the NSW First Home Owner Grant pays $10,000 for new homes (capped at a $600,000 purchase price, or $750,000 for a combined land-and-build contract).

Victoria: Duty Exemptions and Concessions (Corrected)

A correction to our earlier version of this section, which overstated Victoria's thresholds: Victoria exempts eligible first-home buyers from duty on homes with a dutiable value up to $600,000, with a concessional sliding-scale rate for values from $600,001 to $750,000. Above $750,000, full standard duty applies. The property must be your principal place of residence.

The taper is steep. At $700,000 a first-home buyer pays about $24,713 in duty; at $750,000 the concession runs out entirely and the buyer pays the same $40,070 as everyone else. Victoria's relief is less generous than NSW's at every price point above $600,000, which surprises buyers who assume the two big states match.

Victoria also offers a $10,000 First Home Owner Grant for new homes valued up to $750,000. Note that Victoria's former Victorian Homebuyer Fund shared-equity programme has been replaced by the Australian Government's Help to Buy shared equity scheme, so check current Commonwealth programme availability rather than relying on older state scheme names.

The $780,000 Test: Same Price, Two States

Take a $780,000 established home. In NSW, that sits under the $800,000 exemption threshold: an eligible first-home buyer pays $0 transfer duty, saving the full $30,187 of standard duty.

In Victoria, $780,000 is above the $750,000 concession ceiling, so the same buyer pays full standard duty: about $41,870. The state border is worth nearly $42,000 on the identical purchase price. This is the single most expensive assumption a Melbourne buyer can make: that Victoria's relief works like NSW's. It does not.

Now compare a $780,000 buyer with a $1,050,000 buyer in NSW: the second buyer is above the $1,000,000 concession ceiling and pays full standard duty - a difference of roughly $40,000+ for a $270,000 dearer property. Thresholds create cliffs; knowing exactly where they sit can change which properties you shortlist.

Vacant Land and New Builds: The Fine Print

In NSW, vacant land gets its own thresholds: full exemption up to $350,000, concessional rates to $450,000, full duty above. Buy land for $400,000 intending to build and you pay a reduced amount; buy the same land for $460,000 and you pay the lot. The land must be for building your first home, and the residence requirements still apply once built.

In Victoria, vacant land intended for your first home falls under the same $600,000 exemption and $750,000 concession ceiling as homes, with dutiable value assessed on the land alone (the building contract is not included). Off-the-plan purchases can also access a separate off-the-plan duty concession that reduces dutiable value by deducting construction costs, which can pull an apparently over-threshold purchase back inside the relief.

Budgeting Beyond the Duty Itself

Even with an exemption, budget for the rest: conveyancing ($1,500-$3,000), building and pest inspections ($500-$1,000 combined), loan establishment fees, and moving costs. Lenders' mortgage insurance (LMI) applies separately if your deposit is under 20% - it is not stamp duty, but first-home buyers often meet both at once.

The smart sequence: confirm your eligibility and the current thresholds, get the duty figure in writing from your conveyancer, then set your maximum purchase price as (deposit + borrowing power − duty − costs). Working backwards from total cash is how buyers avoid nasty surprises at settlement.

One more trap: grants and duty relief are separate schemes with different caps. In NSW, a $750,000 new home gets the full duty exemption but can exceed the First Home Owner Grant's $600,000 purchase cap, so buyers who assume 'first-home buyer' means one bundle of benefits can keep the duty relief while missing the $10,000 grant. Check each scheme against your price, not just your buyer status.

• Check your borrowing power

How the NSW Concession Phase-Out Really Works

The NSW concession band deserves a closer look because it behaves like a second tax. Between $800,000 and $1,000,000, every extra dollar of purchase price costs you duty at a steep effective rate. At $850,000 you pay about $9,797; at $900,000 about $19,594; at $950,000 about $29,390. That is roughly 19.6 cents of duty per extra dollar of price across the band, on top of the price itself.

This creates real negotiating incentives. A property listed at $810,000 that you negotiate down to $799,000 does not just save $11,000 on price; it moves you from the concession band into the full exemption, saving thousands more in duty. Conveyancers see buyers deliberately targeting $799,000 contracts for exactly this reason. When you are shopping in this band, the duty saving is part of the negotiation maths, not an afterthought.

Timing Your Purchase Around Threshold Changes

Thresholds move, usually at state budgets, and buying just before or after a change can cost or save five figures. The protection is procedural: get the duty figure calculated on your contract date, in writing, from your conveyancer or the revenue office calculator, before you go unconditional. Verbal assurances from agents do not count.

And remember the residence clock starts at settlement: in NSW you must move in within 12 months and live there continuously for 12 months, so a delayed settlement or an extended renovation can quietly breach the conditions your exemption depended on. Diarise the dates the day you exchange.

Sources

The figures and policy details in this article come from the following primary sources, checked at the time of writing.

• Revenue NSW First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme
• State Revenue Office Victoria: first home buyer duty exemption or concession