Stamp duty, formally transfer duty in most states, is a state government tax paid when property and certain other assets change hands. Each Australian state and territory sets its own rates, thresholds and concessions, so the amount varies with the property price, its location and the buyer’s circumstances.
Duty is levied by the state or territory where the property sits, calculated on the dutiable value, usually the higher of the price paid and the market value, on a sliding scale set by that jurisdiction. It is a transaction cost paid on top of the price, typically due within a fixed period after settlement, and it is one of the largest upfront costs of buying property in Australia.
The exemptions and concessions are where jurisdictions differ most. First-home-buyer schemes, off-the-plan concessions, and pensioner rules all vary by state and change with budgets, and several jurisdictions have experimented with annual-property-tax alternatives. The authoritative source for any purchase is the revenue office of the relevant state or territory.
ASIC's Moneysmart puts the savings goal at 20 per cent of the price "plus enough to cover buying costs", and duty sits in the second half. Suppose a $700,000 purchase, so a deposit of $140,000. Suppose duty assessed at $24,000, illustrative rather than any jurisdiction's published scale, and a further $3,500, supposed on the same basis, covering conveyancing, a building and pest report, transfer and mortgage registration and the lender's establishment fee. The cash that is not the deposit comes to $27,500, of which duty is $24,000: 87 per cent. Total cash required is $167,500, so duty is 14 per cent of everything the buyer must have on hand, against 3.4 per cent of the price. Change nothing but the deposit, 10 per cent rather than 20, and the deposit falls to $70,000. Hold the $27,500 beside it fixed and duty is close to a quarter of the cash required.
This page defines the tax; Tradergy’s stamp-duty calculator applies each state’s published scales to a purchase price, entirely in the browser.
Longer read: Why the same purchase costs different duty in every state. Transfer duty is eight separate taxes wearing one name. They differ on what is taxed, on how the brackets move, and on concessions that end at a threshold rather than tapering away to nothing.
See the stamp-duty calculator for where this term shows up in practice.
Related terms
Loan-to-value ratio (LVR) · Comparison rate · All terms
Primary authority: Moneysmart: buying a house. Definition reviewed against the authority’s published material; this page is reference information, not advice.
Common questions
Who pays stamp duty and when?
The buyer pays it to the state or territory revenue office, generally within a set period around settlement; in practice a conveyancer usually arranges payment as part of the settlement process. The seller does not pay transfer duty.
Why does stamp duty differ so much between states?
Because it is a state tax. Each jurisdiction legislates its own scale, thresholds, surcharges and concessions, and they change over time. The same purchase price can attract materially different duty in different states, particularly once first-home concessions are applied.
Is stamp duty payable on refinancing?
Transferring a loan between lenders does not normally attract transfer duty, because the property is not changing hands. Duty attaches to the transfer of the asset itself. Some states levy separate, smaller charges on mortgage registration and discharge.