What Is Stamp Duty? What You’ll Pay When Buying Property

Stamp duty is usually the largest single cost of buying property in Victoria after the deposit itself, and it is the one buyers most often leave out of their budget. On a median-priced Melbourne home it runs to tens of thousands of dollars, payable in full at settlement.

This guide sets out what stamp duty is, the current Victorian rates for the 2026-27 financial year, what you can expect to pay at common price points, and the exemptions and concessions that may reduce or remove the bill entirely.

What is stamp duty in Victoria?

Stamp duty is formally called land transfer duty. It is a one-off state tax you pay when you buy or acquire property in Victoria, and it is collected by the State Revenue Office (SRO). It applies to houses, apartments, commercial buildings and vacant land.

Stamp duty vs land transfer duty

These are two names for the same tax. Land transfer duty is the official term used by the SRO and in the legislation. Stamp duty is the everyday term, left over from when documents were physically stamped to show the duty had been paid.

Why Victoria charges it

Land transfer duty is one of the state’s biggest revenue sources. It raised $9.2 billion in the 2024-25 financial year, funding hospitals, schools and infrastructure. That scale is also why reform is slow and why the rules change often enough to be worth checking before you sign.

Victorian stamp duty rates for 2026-27

Victoria uses a sliding scale. Different portions of the property’s value are taxed at different rates, so the duty is not a flat percentage of the price. Which table applies to you depends on whether the property will be your home.

General rates

These are the standard rates. They apply to investment properties, holiday homes, commercial property, vacant land, and to any home valued above $550,000.

Dutiable value	Duty payable
$0 to $25,000	1.4% of the dutiable value
$25,001 to $130,000	$350 plus 2.4% of the value above $25,000
$130,001 to $960,000	$2,870 plus 6% of the value above $130,000
$960,001 to $2,000,000	5.5% of the dutiable value
More than $2,000,000	$110,000 plus 6.5% of the value above $2,000,000

Note the step at $960,000. Above that threshold the 5.5% rate applies to the whole value rather than just the portion above the threshold, so duty jumps sharply either side of it.

Principal place of residence rates

If you are buying a home to live in and its dutiable value is $550,000 or less, a lower set of rates applies. You must move in within 12 months of settlement and live there for 12 continuous months.

Dutiable value	Duty payable
$0 to $25,000	1.4% of the dutiable value
$25,001 to $130,000	$350 plus 2.4% of the value above $25,000
$130,001 to $440,000	$2,870 plus 5% of the value above $130,000
$440,001 to $550,000	$18,370 plus 6% of the value above $440,000

Purchase price	Duty as your home	Duty at general rates	You save
$400,000	$16,370	$19,070	$2,700
$500,000	$21,970	$25,070	$3,100
$550,000	$24,970	$28,070	$3,100

What stamp duty costs at common Victorian price points

The figures below use the general rates and assume no exemption or concession applies. They are a planning guide, not a quote.

Purchase price	Stamp duty	Effective rate
$500,000	$25,070	5.0%
$650,000	$34,070	5.2%
$750,000	$40,070	5.3%
$850,000	$46,070	5.4%
$1,000,000	$55,000	5.5%
$1,200,000	$66,000	5.5%
$1,500,000	$82,500	5.5%

How stamp duty is calculated

Duty is charged on the dutiable value of the property, which is the purchase price or the market value, whichever is higher. Buying below market value from a family member does not reduce the duty, because the SRO assesses against market value.

Take a $750,000 purchase at the general rates. That falls in the $130,001 to $960,000 band, so the duty is $2,870 plus 6% of the amount above $130,000. Six per cent of $620,000 is $37,200, which gives $40,070 in total.

Several things change the final figure: whether the property will be your home, whether you are a first home buyer, whether you hold a concession card, whether you are buying off the plan, and whether you are a foreign purchaser.

Who pays stamp duty, the buyer or the seller?

The buyer pays stamp duty. Sellers do not pay it. If you are selling, your costs are the agent’s commission, your conveyancing fee and any adjustments at settlement, but land transfer duty is not one of them.

When you pay it

Duty is payable at settlement. The transfer cannot be registered until it is paid, so it has to be cleared funds on the day, not something you settle up later. In practice your conveyancer or your lender pays it on your behalf through Duties Online as part of the settlement process.

Stamp duty cannot be added to your loan as a separate line. Lenders will not lend against it, so it has to come from your own funds alongside the deposit. Some buyers borrow slightly more against the property to free up cash for it, which is a question for your broker rather than your conveyancer.

What your conveyancer does

Your conveyancer completes the land transfer duty assessment based on your circumstances, checks which concessions you qualify for, lodges the assessment with the SRO and arranges payment at settlement. Getting the concession claim right at this stage matters, because some concessions must be claimed at the time of the transaction rather than afterwards.

Exemptions and concessions

Victoria has a long list of concessions, and they are where most of the real savings sit. These are the ones that apply to the majority of buyers.

First home buyers

First home buyers pay no stamp duty at all on a home with a dutiable value of $600,000 or less. Between $600,001 and $750,000 a sliding scale concession applies, so the duty phases in gradually rather than jumping to the full amount. Above $750,000 there is no first home buyer concession.

To qualify you must:

• Be at least 18 and buying as an individual, not through a company or trust
• Be an Australian citizen or permanent resident
• Not have owned residential property in Australia before, and neither has your spouse or partner
• Move in within 12 months of settlement and live there for 12 continuous months

Pensioners and concession cardholders

Eligible cardholders pay no duty on a home valued at $600,000 or less, with a partial concession between $600,001 and $750,000. You must hold an approved concession card at settlement, buy at market value and live in the property. This one is once in a lifetime: once you or your partner have used it, neither of you can claim it again.

Off-the-plan purchases

The off-the-plan concession works differently to the others. Instead of discounting the duty, it reduces the value that duty is charged on, by subtracting the construction costs incurred after you sign the contract. Buy early enough in a build and the dutiable value can be close to the land value alone.

The ongoing version of this concession is for owner-occupiers and first home buyers only. You must be over 18, buying as an individual, and you must live in the property for 12 continuous months starting within 12 months of settlement. After the construction costs are deducted, the dutiable value must be $750,000 or less for first home buyers, or $550,000 or less for other owner-occupiers.

The temporary strata concession, available until 21 April 2027

This is the most valuable concession currently available in Victoria, and the one most buyers do not know about. For contracts signed on or after 21 October 2024 and before 21 April 2027, the off-the-plan construction cost deduction is open to every buyer, with no value cap at all.

That means it is available to:

• Investors, not just owner-occupiers
• Companies and trusts, not just individuals
• Buyers who have owned property before
• Purchases at any price, with no threshold

It applies to dwellings in a strata subdivision with common property, which covers most apartments and townhouses. It does not cover house-and-land packages outside a strata subdivision. On a $1 million apartment where $400,000 of the price is construction cost, duty is assessed on $600,000 instead of $1 million, cutting the bill from $55,000 to $31,070.

One catch: foreign purchaser additional duty is still calculated on the full original price, not the reduced dutiable value.

This concession was originally due to end on 21 October 2025 and has since been extended to 21 April 2027. If you are buying an apartment or townhouse off the plan, the contract date is what counts, so it is worth checking where your purchase sits relative to that deadline.

Other exemptions worth asking about

• Spouse and partner transfers, where property moves between partners
• First home owner with a dependent child, a separate exemption or concession
• Young farmers buying their first farmland
• Family farm transfers between relatives
• Qualifying people with a disability, on transfers into a special disability trust
• Charities, on land used for charitable purposes

Stamp duty on vacant land in Victoria

Yes, you pay stamp duty on vacant land, and it is assessed at the general rates on the land value. Because you are only buying land rather than land plus a house, the dutiable value is lower, so the duty is lower than for a comparable built property.

If you are buying land and building, duty is charged on the land component only, provided the building contract is genuinely separate from the land contract. Where the two are linked, the SRO can assess duty on the combined value, so the structure of the contracts matters. This is worth getting checked before you sign.

Foreign purchaser additional duty

If you are not an Australian citizen or permanent resident, an additional 8% of the property’s dutiable value applies on top of the standard duty. This rate has applied to contracts entered into since 1 July 2019.

On a $1,000,000 purchase that is $80,000 in addition to the $55,000 standard duty, for a total of $135,000. New Zealand citizens on a special category visa and permanent residents are generally not treated as foreign purchasers, but the test is about your visa status, so it is worth confirming rather than assuming.

What has changed recently

Two structural changes are still working their way through the Victorian system, and both affect buyers today.

Commercial and industrial property tax

From 1 July 2024, qualifying commercial and industrial property began moving off stamp duty and onto an annual tax. When such a property has its first qualifying transaction after that date, land transfer duty is paid one final time. The property then enters a 10-year transition, and once that ends, commercial and industrial property tax applies annually at 1% of the unimproved land value instead of stamp duty on future sales.

Whether a property qualifies depends on its AVPCC classification, and changing the use of a property during the transition can trigger a change of use duty liability. If you are buying commercial or industrial property, this is worth specific advice rather than a rule of thumb.

The off-the-plan concession extension

The temporary strata concession described above was introduced for a 12-month window from 21 October 2024 and has been extended to 21 April 2027. Any guide still telling you it ended in October 2025 is out of date.

Common questions

How much is stamp duty on a $500,000 property in Victoria?

At the general rates, $25,070. If it is your home and you qualify for the principal place of residence rates, $21,970. If you are an eligible first home buyer, nothing at all, because the property is under the $600,000 threshold.

How much is stamp duty on a $750,000 house?

$40,070 at the general rates. At $750,000 you are at the top of the first home buyer concession range, so an eligible first home buyer would pay a reduced amount, and a dollar more would remove the concession entirely. That threshold is worth keeping in mind when negotiating.

Is Victoria getting rid of stamp duty?

Not for residential property. The commercial and industrial sector is transitioning to an annual tax, and that reform is often reported in a way that suggests it applies more broadly, but there is no current plan to remove stamp duty on homes in Victoria.

Can you avoid paying stamp duty in Victoria?

Not by structuring the purchase differently, no. The legitimate routes are the exemptions and concessions above: first home buyer, pensioner, off-the-plan, spouse transfers and the other categories listed. The most common expensive mistake is not realising you qualified for one until after settlement.

Do you pay stamp duty when you sell?

No. Stamp duty is a buyer’s cost. As a seller you may have capital gains tax to consider if the property was not your main residence, but that is a federal tax and a question for your accountant.

Getting your stamp duty right

The rates are published and the arithmetic is straightforward. What is not straightforward is working out which concessions you qualify for, because several of them interact, some must be claimed at the time of the transaction, and the thresholds move with each state budget.

The difference between claiming a concession and missing it is routinely tens of thousands of dollars. Before you sign a contract, it is worth having someone confirm which of these apply to your circumstances, and confirming the current figures against the SRO land transfer duty calculator.

This guide reflects Victorian land transfer duty rules as at July 2026. Rates and thresholds change with each state budget, so confirm current figures before relying on them.