QLD Stamp Duty 2026-27: First Home Buyers Pay $0 on New Homes with No Price Cap

Queensland’s stamp duty landscape for 2026-27 is defined by one headline policy: from 1 May 2025, first home buyers purchasing a new home or vacant land pay zero transfer duty with no price cap. It is the most aggressive first-home stamp duty policy in Australia, outstripping both New South Wales and Victoria. For a $650,000 new Brisbane apartment, an eligible first home buyer pays $0 stamp duty — keeping $22,275 in their pocket that can go toward the deposit instead. Non-first-home buyers still face the standard sliding scale, and foreign purchasers pay an additional 8% surcharge. The $30,000 First Home Owner Grant stacks on top for new homes under $750,000. Every dollar of stamp duty is an upfront cost that lenders do not finance, so the difference between full duty and zero duty directly reshapes your real cash-to-close number and your borrowing power.

QLD Transfer Duty Rates 2026-27: Full Tiered Scale

Queensland’s standard transfer duty rates apply to all dutiable transactions unless a concession or exemption intervenes. The rates are calculated on the total dutiable value, not just the portion above each threshold.

• For a dutiable value up to $5,000: nil — the transaction is exempt.
• From $5,001 to $75,000: 1.5% of the entire dutiable value.
• From $75,001 to $540,000: $1,050 plus 3.5% of the amount exceeding $75,000.
• From $540,001 to $1,000,000: $17,325 plus 4.5% of the amount exceeding $540,000.
• Above $1,000,000: $38,025 plus 5.75% of the amount exceeding $1,000,000.

How much stamp duty on a $650,000 QLD property?

For a non-first-home buyer purchasing a $650,000 apartment in Brisbane, the calculation falls into the $540,001–$1,000,000 bracket. The duty is $17,325 plus 4.5% of the amount above $540,000. The excess is $110,000, so the additional component is $4,950. Total transfer duty: $17,325 + $4,950 = $22,275.

This $22,275 is an upfront cost lenders do not finance — it must come from your savings on top of the deposit. If you are aiming for an 80% loan-to-value ratio to avoid lenders mortgage insurance, you need a $130,000 deposit plus this $22,275 in duty, pushing your total cash requirement to over $152,000 before conveyancing and other costs.

How much stamp duty on a $900,000 QLD property?

For a $900,000 house, the duty sits in the same bracket. The calculation is $17,325 plus 4.5% of the $360,000 excess over $540,000. That additional component is $16,200. Total transfer duty: $33,525.

That $33,525 could be a 3.7% deposit on its own. For a borrower stretching to reach a 10% deposit, this duty bill effectively pushes the real cash requirement to nearly 14% of the purchase price — a material difference in how much you need to have saved before exchange.

First Home Buyer: New-Home Full Exemption with No Price Cap

Since 1 May 2025, Queensland has offered a full transfer duty exemption for eligible first home buyers purchasing a new home or vacant land on which they will build. There is no price cap. A $2 million new waterfront home attracts $0 stamp duty for a qualifying first home buyer.

This policy has no equal elsewhere in Australia. New South Wales caps its full first-home exemption at $800,000 for both new and existing homes, with a concessional phase-out to $1,000,000. Victoria provides a full exemption only up to $600,000, phasing out to $750,000. Queensland’s decision to remove the cap entirely for new builds makes it the most aggressive first-home stamp duty policy in the country — deliberately designed to shift first home buyer demand toward new construction and away from established dwellings.

For existing homes, the concession structure is narrower. First home buyers receive a full exemption on established dwellings valued up to $700,000. Between $700,001 and $800,000, a partial concession applies, calculated as the full duty multiplied by ($800,000 minus the purchase price) divided by $100,000. Above $800,000, no first-home concession is available on existing homes.

The $30,000 First Home Owner Grant stacks on top of the stamp duty exemption for new homes valued under $750,000. This is cash paid directly to the buyer, not a duty reduction.

A first home buyer purchasing a $700,000 new townhouse in Brisbane pays $0 stamp duty and receives $30,000 FHOG. Combined with a 5% deposit through the federal First Home Guarantee ($35,000), the total upfront cash needed can drop below $45,000 including conveyancing — instead of the approximately $100,000-plus a non-first-home buyer would need for the same property.

Worked Example: $750,000 New Brisbane Apartment (First Home Buyer vs Non-First-Home)

This side-by-side comparison illustrates how dramatically the upfront cost differs depending on eligibility.

Non-first-home buyer:

• Purchase price: $750,000
• Stamp duty: $17,325 + 4.5% × ($750,000 − $540,000) = $17,325 + $9,450 = $26,775
• 20% deposit: $150,000
• Conveyancing and incidentals: approximately $3,000
• Total upfront cash needed: approximately $179,775

First home buyer (new home, eligible for exemption and FHOG):

• Purchase price: $750,000
• Stamp duty: $0
• FHOG received: $30,000
• 5% deposit via First Home Guarantee: $37,500
• Conveyancing and incidentals: approximately $3,000
• Total upfront cash needed: $37,500 + $3,000 − $30,000 = approximately $10,500

The difference is approximately $169,500 less upfront cash. That is capital that can remain invested, offset against the mortgage, or used to furnish the property — a structural advantage that changes the entire entry point into the Brisbane property market.

Existing Home First Home Concession: $700k–$800k Phase-Out

For first home buyers who prefer an established dwelling, the concession narrows significantly. Full exemption applies only up to $700,000, with a linear phase-out to $800,000.

Take a $750,000 existing home. The full standard duty on this property would be $26,775. The concession fraction is ($800,000 − $750,000) ÷ $100,000, which equals 0.5. The duty payable is therefore $26,775 × 0.5 = $13,388. The concession saves $13,387.

That $13,387 saving is enough to cover conveyancing, a building and pest inspection, and loan application fees with change left over. It meaningfully reduces the cash-to-close burden, though it does not eliminate duty entirely as the new-home path does.

Above $800,000, first home buyers purchasing an existing home receive no stamp duty concession in Queensland. They pay the full standard rate.

Foreign Acquirer Duty (AFAD): 8% Surcharge

Foreign purchasers in Queensland face an Additional Foreign Acquirer Duty of 8% on top of the standard transfer duty. This surcharge applies to the entire dutiable value and is payable at settlement alongside the base duty.

• On a $650,000 apartment: standard duty of $22,275 plus AFAD of $52,000 (8% × $650,000) = $74,275 total.
• On a $900,000 house: standard duty of $33,525 plus AFAD of $72,000 = $105,525 total.

Queensland’s 8% AFAD sits in the middle of the national range. New South Wales charges 9%, Victoria 8%, Western Australia and South Australia 7%, while the ACT and Northern Territory impose no foreign surcharge.

Foreign buyers typically face loan-to-value ratio caps of 60–70% from mainstream Australian lenders. On a $650,000 purchase, that means a deposit requirement of $195,000–$260,000 — and the $74,275 stamp duty bill is entirely additional. The total upfront cash can exceed $330,000 before any other costs, fundamentally altering the investment arithmetic.

How QLD Stamp Duty Affects Your Borrowing Power

Stamp duty does not just affect your savings — it directly shapes your borrowing profile. APRA’s serviceability buffer, confirmed at 3% in May 2026, means lenders assess your repayment capacity at the product rate plus three percentage points. On a typical loan, that means assessment at roughly 9% rather than the advertised rate near 6%. The buffer compresses borrowing capacity by approximately 30% relative to what the actual repayment would suggest.

Every dollar spent on stamp duty is a dollar not available for the deposit. That pushes your loan-to-value ratio higher. On a $650,000 purchase, stamp duty of $22,275 represents roughly 3.4% of the purchase price. If that money were directed into the deposit instead, the LVR on an 80% lend would drop from 80% to approximately 76.6% — potentially crossing lenders mortgage insurance thresholds and reducing or eliminating the LMI premium.

Additionally, APRA’s debt-to-income limit, which from February 2026 requires banks to keep high-DTI lending (≥6 times income) within 20% of new lending per portfolio, means borrowers with tighter income multiples face additional scrutiny. A larger deposit — made possible by a lower stamp duty bill — reduces the loan amount and improves the DTI ratio, keeping more borrowers within mainstream lending parameters.

QLD vs NSW vs VIC: Same Property, Different Duty

The stamp duty differential between the east-coast states can be substantial, and the gap has widened with Queensland’s 2025 policy changes.

For a non-first-home buyer purchasing at $650,000:

• Queensland: $22,275
• New South Wales: approximately $23,437
• Victoria: approximately $34,070

Queensland is the cheapest of the three for non-first-home buyers at this price point, though the margin over NSW is modest.

For a first home buyer purchasing a new build, the comparison is starker. At $900,000:

• Queensland: $0 (full exemption, no cap)
• New South Wales: approximately $17,344 (concessional rate phasing out)
• Victoria: approximately $51,070 (no first-home concession available at this price)

Queensland’s no-cap policy means first home buyers targeting new homes above $800,000 face a stamp duty bill that is tens of thousands of dollars lower than their southern counterparts — a structural advantage that is reshaping interstate buyer behaviour.

Data Sources and As-At Date

All rates, thresholds, and policy details are sourced from the Queensland Revenue Office and APRA announcements. Data current as at: July 2026. Confirm with QRO before exchange. Stamp duty is assessed at the transaction date, and liability depends on your specific circumstances, eligibility, and the nature of the property.

FAQ

Does the QLD first-home new-build exemption apply to house-and-land packages? Yes. Both the land component and the construction contract qualify for the exemption, provided the buyer meets all eligibility criteria — including that the home will be their principal place of residence and that they have not previously owned residential property in Australia.

Can I claim both the FHOG and the first-home stamp duty exemption? Yes, they stack. The $30,000 First Home Owner Grant is a cash payment administered separately from the transfer duty system. An eligible first home buyer purchasing a new home under $750,000 can receive both the full stamp duty exemption and the $30,000 grant.

Is the 8% AFAD refundable if I later become a permanent resident? Generally no. Foreign acquirer duty is assessed based on your residency status at the transaction date. A subsequent change in visa or residency status does not trigger a refund of duty already paid.

How does off-the-plan affect stamp duty in QLD? For off-the-plan purchases, the dutiable value is generally determined at the contract date, not at completion. This can reduce the duty payable on new apartments because the value at contract date is typically lower than the completed value — a meaningful advantage for buyers in multi-year construction projects.

Does the no-cap exemption apply to existing homes? No. The uncapped exemption is strictly for new homes and vacant land intended for construction. Existing homes are subject to the $700,000 full-exemption threshold and the $800,000 phase-out cap. Above $800,000, first home buyers purchasing an established dwelling pay full standard duty.

Related Guides on ozLoan

• NSW Stamp Duty 2026-27: First Home Buyers Pay $0 Up to $800k
• SA Stamp Duty 2026-27: Rates, Concessions, and First Home Buyer Relief
• First Home Buyer Upfront Costs 2026-27
• Foreign Buyer Home Loans in Australia 2026-27
• APRA Borrowing Power Rules 2026: Buffer, DTI Limits, and What They Mean

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This article provides general information only and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice. Stamp duty rates and policies may change. Confirm your specific liability with the Queensland Revenue Office or a qualified conveyancer before exchange.