Stamp duty is the single largest cash cost a first home buyer faces outside the deposit, and it is the one cost the federal schemes do not touch. The First Home Guarantee does not reduce it. Help to Buy does not reduce it. Only your state or territory does.
That map has been redrawn repeatedly over the past eighteen months, and the direction of travel is consistent: relief is being pushed toward new homes and away from established ones.
The Current Position, State by State
The figures below are current as at August 2026. Thresholds change with state budgets, so confirm the number with the relevant revenue office before you sign.
New South Wales. Full exemption for eligible first home buyers up to $800,000, with sliding scale relief between $800,001 and $1,000,000. Vacant land is exempt to $350,000 with relief to $450,000. Above $1,000,000 there is no first home buyer relief, which matters because the federal guarantee cap in Sydney is $1,500,000.
Victoria. Full exemption up to $600,000, with a sliding concession from $600,001 to $750,000 for owner occupiers.
Queensland. Established homes receive stepped relief through $700,000 with concessions extending to $800,000. The larger change is on new homes, where from 1 May 2025 eligible first home buyers receive a full exemption with no value cap. Queensland also has the second largest grant in the country at $30,000 for new homes.
Western Australia. Full exemption to $600,000 with sliding relief to $800,000, following the thresholds lifted in May 2026. Vacant land is exempt to $450,000 with relief to $550,000.
South Australia. Relief applies to new homes only, and has done since 13 February 2025, with no value cap. Established properties receive no first home buyer duty relief at all.
Tasmania. The established home exemption ended on 30 June 2026. What remains is the $20,000 first home owner grant, which applies to new homes only. Buyers who had been counting on the established exemption and did not settle before 30 June are now paying full duty.
Australian Capital Territory. From 1 July 2026, both the income test and the property value cap were removed, giving eligible first home buyers a conveyance duty exemption on homes and vacant land regardless of price. This is the most generous position in the country.
Northern Territory. No first home buyer duty concession, but the $50,000 HomeGrown Territory grant applies to eligible new home purchases, currently through to 30 September 2027.
The Grant Position
Every state and territory first home owner grant now applies to new homes only. There is no longer a jurisdiction where buying an established house attracts a grant.
Indicative amounts as at July 2026: NSW $10,000, Victoria $10,000, Western Australia $10,000, South Australia $15,000, Tasmania $20,000, Queensland $30,000, Northern Territory $50,000.
Read that list next to the duty position and a pattern appears. In South Australia and Tasmania, and increasingly in Queensland, the combined value of choosing a new home over an established one is now measured in tens of thousands of dollars.
What This Costs in Practice
An illustrative example, using round figures.
A first home buyer in Sydney purchasing an established apartment at $780,000 pays no transfer duty. The same buyer purchasing at $980,000 pays partial duty under the sliding scale. The same buyer purchasing at $1,200,000 pays full duty, which at that price point runs to a substantial five figure sum that must be found in cash at settlement on top of the deposit.
The gap between $780,000 and $1,200,000 is not just $420,000 of purchase price. It is $420,000 plus the entire duty bill plus the additional deposit plus the additional interest for thirty years. Buyers routinely model the first of those four and none of the others.
In Queensland the same buyer choosing a new build has no duty cap to worry about at all, and a $30,000 grant on top. That is a genuinely different starting position for the same household budget.
Three Traps Worth Knowing
The federal cap and the state threshold are different numbers. A Sydney purchase can sit comfortably inside the $1,500,000 federal guarantee cap and still attract full state duty because the NSW relief stopped at $1,000,000. Being eligible for one scheme tells you nothing about the other.
Deadlines are real and they do not bend. Tasmanian buyers who missed 30 June 2026 by a week pay full duty. If a concession has an announced end date, settlement date is what counts, not contract date, and settlement timing is not fully within your control.
New home definitions vary by jurisdiction. A house and land package, an off the plan apartment, a substantially renovated dwelling and a knock down rebuild are not automatically treated the same way, and the treatment differs between the duty concession, the grant and the federal rules. Confirm the specific definition that applies to the specific property.
What to Do Before You Commit
Get a written duty estimate for the exact purchase price. Revenue offices publish calculators, and a conveyancer will confirm it against your circumstances.
Check whether a new build changes the answer materially. In several states it now does, by a large margin.
Confirm any deadline in writing and work backwards from settlement. Not from contract, from settlement.
Add duty, legals, inspections and lenders fees into the deposit conversation from day one. The deposit is not the cash you need. It is part of the cash you need.
If you want the duty, grant and federal scheme position modelled together for the specific stock you are looking at, the team at Elite Wealth Creators does that as part of the buying process. You can read more on the insights page or book a call.
General information only, not personal financial advice. Figures are indicative, current as at August 2026, and subject to change. Confirm current thresholds with the relevant state or territory revenue office and speak with a licensed adviser or conveyancer before acting.