Qld Transfer Duty and common concessions

April 16, 2025

Transfer duty (also known as stamp duty) is a tax payable when you buy or transfer dutiable property.

The amount of transfer duty you are required to pay will depend on the value of the property you are purchasing or acquiring. For example: if the property is valued at $500,000, transfer duty would be $15,925 or if the property is valued at $1,000,000, transfer duty would be $38,025.

Even if the property is being transferred to you by way of a gift or for a reduced value, transfer duty must still be paid on the full value of the property.

As transfer duty can be quite expensive, it is worthwhile exploring what exemptions may be available to you.

Purchase of an existing house

If you are purchasing a house, you may be eligible for the “home concession” or a “first home concession”.  While there is specific criteria and conditions that you must meet for these concessions to apply, broadly they are:

Home concession

To be eligible for the home concession, you must:

1. be purchasing the property in your individual name (ie. not in a company name);
2. move into the property with your personal belongings and live there on a daily basis within 1 year of settlement;
3. before you move in, you must not lease, rent or otherwise grant exclusive possession of all or part of the property;
4. after you move in, you must not lease, rent or otherwise grant exclusive possession of all of the propertywithin 1 year of you moving into the property;
5. after you move in, you are able to lease, rent or otherwise grant exclusive possession of part of the property, providing that the lease arrangement starts on or after 10 September 2024 and you continue to live in the property; and
6. if there were any existing tenants in the property at settlement of your purchase of the property, they must move out when their lease expires or within 6 months of settlement, whichever is the earlier. Previous owners who continue to stay in the property after settlement must also move out within 6 months.

First home concession

To be eligible for the first home concession, you must:

1. meet all of the conditions of the home concession listed above;
2. have never claimed the first home vacant land concession;
3. you must have never held an interest in another residence anywhere in Australia or overseas;
4. be paying market value if the residence is valued between $700,001 and $799,999; and
5. the value of the property must be under $800,000. If it is $800,000 or above, you may still be eligible for the home concession.

Purchase of vacant land

If you are purchasing vacant land on which you intend to build your first home, the first home vacant land concession may be available to you. While there is specific criteria and conditions that you must meet for this concession to apply, broadly they are:

1. the vacant land must be valued under $500,000 (note: this limit will be removed from 1 May 2025);
2. be purchasing the property in your individual name (ie. not in a company name);
3. you must have never claimed the first home vacant land concession on another property;
4. you must have never held an interest in another residence anywhere in Australia or overseas;
5. be paying market value if the vacant land is valued between $350,001 and $499,999;
6. build your first home on the land, move in with your personal belongings and live there on a daily basis within 2 years of settlement and only build 1 home on the land;
7. after you move in, you must not lease, rent or otherwise grant exclusive possession of all of the property within 1 year of you moving into the property; and
8. after you move in, you are able to lease, rent or otherwise grant exclusive possession of part of the property, providing that the lease arrangement starts on or after 10 September 2024 and you continue to live in the property.

Purchase of a new home

From 1 May 2025, a first home buyer who enters into a contract to purchase a new home to live in (or vacant land on which to build a home to live in) will be able to apply for a full transfer duty concession (reducing the duty to nil).

While there is specific criteria and conditions that you must meet for this concession to apply, broadly they are:

1. all of the conditions of the home concession listed above;
2. you must have never claimed the first home vacant land concession; and
3. you must have never held an interest in another residence anywhere in Australia or overseas;

Purchase of farmland

If you purchase or are gifted farmland from a defined relative, the primary production family business concession may be available to you.

A defined relative is your spouse, a parent, grandparent, brother, sister, nephew, niece, child, grandchild, aunt, uncle, a first cousin; or the spouse of any of these people.

Like the other concession listed above, there are specific criteria and conditions that you must meet for this concession to apply, broadly they are:

1. the property must be used by the seller for the purpose of carrying on the family primary production business;
2. after the transfer is complete, you must continue to use the property for the purposes of carrying on the family primary production business.

If you are purchasing or otherwise acquiring any property in Queensland, we recommend you seek legal advice before entering into any agreement.

For more information, please contact our commercial team or property team at Fox and Thomas.