Queensland Stamp Duty (Transfer Duty) Explained: Rates, Thresholds, and Concessions

In Queensland, stamp duty on property is officially called transfer duty, collected by the Queensland Revenue Office (QRO) on the dutiable value of the property — generally the higher of the price paid and the market value. The same purchase can be priced three ways: the general rates for investors and commercial property, the cheaper home concession rates for a home you will live in, and the first home concession on top of those for eligible first home buyers. This guide covers all three schedules, the worked calculations, the first home rules as they stand in 2026, and the traps — the part-of-$100 rule, the foreign-buyer surcharge, and the contract date.

The general rates, worked step by step

The general rates apply to investment properties, commercial property, and any purchase where no concession is claimed. They are marginal bands: each band’s rate applies only to the value inside that band, and the duty is the sum of the band amounts. The QRO’s own framing makes the arithmetic visible, and the calculator on this site applies the same bands, including the part-of-$100 rule described below.

Worked example — an $800,000 investment property. The first $5,000 is nil. From $5,000 to $75,000 is $1,050. From $75,000 to $540,000 is $3.50 per $100, giving $16,275. From $540,000 to $800,000 is $4.50 per $100 on $260,000, giving $11,700. Total: $1,050 + $16,275 + $11,700 = $29,025. The shorthand the QRO publishes — $17,325 plus $4.50 per $100 over $540,000 — is the same sum with the lower bands pre-added: $17,325 + $11,700 = $29,025.

Two features of the schedule deserve attention. First, it is marginal, not flat: crossing into a higher band raises the rate only on the value above the threshold, never on the whole price. Second, the top band is open-ended at $5.75 per $100, so very high values keep accumulating duty at that rate. There is no cap. A $1,600,000 purchase pays $38,025 plus $5.75 per $100 on $600,000 — $34,500 — for $72,525 in total.

General transfer duty rates, Queensland Revenue Office (checked 31 October 2026).

The home concession: a cheaper schedule for your own home

The home concession is a separate, cheaper schedule for a property bought as a principal place of residence. To qualify, the buyer must be an individual (not a company or trust, in the usual case), must move in and live there daily within one year of settlement, and must meet the QRO’s occupancy and prior-concession conditions. The concession is claimed on the transfer duty form, and the QRO assesses the duty on the schedule that applies — the buyer does not choose between schedules at settlement; eligibility decides.

Worked example — the same $800,000 price, as a home. Under the home concession schedule the duty is $21,850: $10,150 plus $4.50 per $100 over $540,000 ($260,000 → $11,700). Against the general $29,025, the concession saves $7,175. At $700,000 the saving is the same shape: general duty $24,525, home duty $17,350, saving $7,175. The saving is constant across the top band because both schedules charge $4.50 per $100 there; the difference is entirely in the lower bands, pre-added into the $10,150 base.

The home concession schedule has its own bands, and they start lower: $1.00 per $100 up to $350,000, then $3,500 plus $3.50 per $100 to $540,000, then $10,150 plus $4.50 per $100 to $1,000,000, then $30,850 plus $5.75 per $100 above. The Queensland Stamp Duty Calculator shows all three schedules side by side for any value, so the three bills for one price — general, home, and first home — are visible in one view.

Home concession rates, Queensland Revenue Office (checked 31 October 2026).

The first home concession, and the 2025–2026 changes

Eligible first home buyers get a further concession on top of the home schedule. For an established home, there is no duty up to $700,000, and a partial concession that tapers to nothing at $800,000: a $750,000 established first home pays $10,925 under the QRO’s first home concession calculation, against $19,600 on the home schedule and $26,775 at general rates. For a new home, or vacant residential land to build a first home on, contracts from 1 May 2025 attract a full concession on the residential portion with no value cap — an eligible first home buyer pays no duty on a new home at any price, though duty still applies to any non-residential part of mixed-use land.

Eligibility has several limbs, and all must be met: the buyer must be at least 18, must not have previously claimed a first home concession or received a First Home Owner Grant, must move in and live in the home daily within one year of settlement, and must meet the QRO’s requirements for the property type. From 1 August 2026, an additional requirement applies: to claim a first home concession the buyer must be an Australian citizen, a permanent resident, or a specified foreign retiree at the time of the agreement. That rule does not apply to agreements entered into before that date, which is why the contract date matters as much as the settlement date.

The First Home Owner Grant is a separate scheme from the duty concession, with its own rules: $30,000 for eligible new-home contracts, for a new home valued under $750,000 including land, with no grant for established homes. A buyer can claim both the grant and a duty concession on a new home, but each scheme has its own eligibility and residency rules, and meeting one does not guarantee the other. Check each scheme with the QRO and with Housing Australia guidance before relying on either, and confirm the position with a conveyancer — the concession is assessed by the QRO, and the calculator’s figure is an estimate, not an assessment.

The traps: part of $100, dutiable value, and foreign buyers

Duty is calculated per $100 or part of $100. A dutiable value $1 over a band boundary is charged as a full $100 in the higher band. The amounts are small — a few dollars — but they explain why a hand calculation that ignores the rounding differs from the QRO’s figure by cents, and why the calculator rounds each band up to whole $100s. The rule applies within every band, at every rate, on every schedule.

Dutiable value is not always the contract price. It is generally the higher of the price paid and the property’s market value, and it can include other consideration — goods included in the sale, assumed liabilities, and, in some transactions, the value of related agreements. A price below market value does not reduce the duty. If the QRO considers the stated price not to reflect market value, it assesses on market value. Get the dutiable value confirmed by the conveyancer before settlement, not after.

Foreign buyers pay an additional 8% duty on acquisitions of residential land, on top of the transfer duty calculated above. The surcharge applies to foreign persons, including companies and trusts with foreign interests, as defined in the Queensland legislation. It is calculated on the dutiable value of the residential land, and it applies whether or not a concession is claimed on the underlying duty. Foreign buyers should also note the 1 August 2026 citizenship and residency requirement for first home concessions, which sits alongside the surcharge rather than replacing it. Stamp duty is payable within 30 days of settlement in Queensland, and late payment attracts interest and penalties — diarise the date at exchange, not at settlement.

Worked examples: three prices, both schedules

The bands are easier to trust once they have been worked. Three prices, at general rates and at the home concession rate, using the Queensland Revenue Office bands. At $450,000: general duty is $1,050 plus 3.50% of the $375,000 above $75,000, which is $13,125, for a total of $14,175. At the home concession, duty is $3,500 plus 3.50% of the $100,000 above $350,000, which is $3,500, for a total of $7,000. The concession saves $7,175 at this price — the largest absolute saving of the three examples, because the concession’s advantage is widest in the middle bands.

At $650,000: general duty is $17,325 plus 4.50% of the $110,000 above $540,000, which is $4,950, for a total of $22,275. At the home concession, duty is $10,150 plus 4.50% of the same $110,000, which is $4,950, for a total of $15,100. The saving is $7,175 again — the same, because both schedules charge 4.50% in this band, so the gap between them is the fixed difference accumulated in the lower bands. At $1,200,000: general duty is $38,025 plus 5.75% of the $200,000 above $1,000,000, which is $11,500, for a total of $49,525. At the home concession, duty is $30,850 plus the same $11,500, for a total of $42,350. The saving is $7,175 once more, for the same reason: above $1,000,000 both schedules charge 5.75%, and the gap is frozen at the difference built below.

The pattern is the lesson. The concession’s value is the fixed $7,175 gap, built in the bands below $540,000, and it does not grow with the price above that — a buyer of a $2,000,000 home saves the same $7,175 as a buyer of a $650,000 one, in absolute terms, and a smaller share in percentage terms. The first home concession is different: it wipes the duty out entirely below $700,000, which is a saving that grows with the price up to the threshold and then tapers away. The two concessions should not be confused: one is a cheaper schedule worth a fixed $7,175 at most prices, and the other is a full exemption worth the whole duty below its threshold.

Queensland Revenue Office bands; general rates and home concession rates as published. First home concession not shown — it is a separate exemption.

Frequently asked questions