Stamp Duty in NSW: How Transfer Duty Works, When You Pay It and the First Home Buyer Concessions

Unless a concession covers it, transfer duty is usually the biggest cost of buying after the property itself, and often more than the conveyancing, the move and the inspections combined. Funny how it never makes the open-home brochure. It is also the least understood: it is not a flat fee and the rates move every year, so it is easy to under-budget.

So plan for duty before you start looking, not once the contract is in front of you. This guide covers what duty is, who pays it, when it is due, and whether the first home buyer concessions reach the place you are looking at. It is NSW only: duty works differently in VIC, QLD and the ACT, and each state page covers its own rules. If you just want the number, our NSW stamp duty calculator works it out at 2026-27 rates.

What is stamp duty in NSW, and who pays it?

Stamp duty in NSW is properly called transfer duty, and it is the buyer, the purchaser or transferee, who pays it, not the seller, even if someone else arranges the payment.

The name trips people up. You will hear “stamp duty” everywhere, but Revenue NSW’s official term is transfer duty. Same tax, fancier name. We use both so you can match whatever wording you have been handed.

You may have read that NSW once let first home buyers choose an annual property tax instead of one-off duty. That option closed for contracts from 1 July 2023, so for almost everyone buying today, transfer duty is the only game in town.

How is stamp duty calculated in NSW?

Transfer duty is not a flat percentage. It is worked out on a sliding scale applied to the dutiable value of the property, which is the higher of the price you agreed to pay and the market value, and Revenue NSW indexes that scale each year.

Sliding scale means the rate steps up as the value rises, so a cheaper home is charged at a lower effective rate than a dearer one. The steps change often, which is why we point you to the calculator rather than reprint numbers that date.

That phrase, dutiable value, is where some buyers get caught. In an ordinary sale between a buyer and seller who do not know each other, the price is treated as the value, so for almost every purchase duty is worked out on your contract price. Market value matters most when a sale is not at arm’s length, for example buying from a relative at a favour price: Revenue NSW can then assess duty on the full market value, and will want a formal valuation rather than your own estimate. That is why the rule is the higher of price or value.

Rates change, so rather than print a duty table that goes stale we keep it in one place: our NSW stamp duty calculator, updated with each new rate set. Tax tables age like milk. The Revenue NSW transfer duty calculator is the official check, and we will confirm your figure against your contract.

One more thing: very high value homes attract a higher premium rate on top of the general scale. We will not quote the threshold or the rate, but the calculator applies whichever is current for your contract date.

When do you pay stamp duty, and what happens at settlement?

You pay transfer duty by the earlier of settlement or three months after the contract date. For a normal purchase, settlement is the earlier date, so the money has to be ready by then, sitting in the settlement figures alongside the balance of the price and your loan.

That three-month clock runs from the contract date, the day contracts are exchanged, not the day you first saw the place or made an offer. It only bites when settlement is pushed out a long way, common with off the plan, and then duty can fall due before you have the keys.

The duty does not arrive as a separate bill afterwards. It is usually paid as part of settlement itself, out of the money you bring to the table. Your conveyancer sets this up so the right amount reaches Revenue NSW on the day, but it is money you need on top of your deposit, not something the loan absorbs unless you have arranged it.

Even so, you remain responsible for the duty being paid on time. Late payment attracts penalties and interest, and in the worst case it stops settlement happening at all.

The contract date starts that clock, which is one reason exchange of contracts is worth understanding. For how the money moves on the day, see what happens on settlement day.

1. Contracts are exchanged and the contract date is set
2. Duty is worked out on the dutiable value
3. The funds are made ready for settlement
4. Duty is paid by the earlier of settlement or three months

Do first home buyers pay stamp duty in NSW?

Maybe not, and that is the whole point of the First Home Buyers Assistance scheme. If it is your first home, where the price lands decides what you pay.

Read each table as three zones, not a cliff edge. Below the first threshold, a first home attracts no duty at all. In the band above it you do not jump straight to the full amount; a concession applies and tapers as the price climbs, until it runs out at the top of the range and full duty applies. Vacant land you intend to build on follows the same pattern with its own lower thresholds.

The residence requirement is the condition people forget. The concession is for buyers who will actually live in the home, so you must move in within 12 months of settlement and live there for 12 continuous months, or you can be asked for the duty plus penalties. Move out too early, and the saving can be clawed back. It is not a discount you pocket at settlement; it is one you keep by meeting the rule afterwards.

Eligibility runs to a short checklist: you must be an individual over 18, at least one buyer an Australian citizen or permanent resident, and you and your spouse or partner must never have owned residential property in Australia or claimed the scheme before. Some requirements can be waived on application, so if you are close, it is worth asking. The full rules are on the Revenue NSW First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme page.

Now the honest part. In much of Sydney, house prices land above the concession range, so plenty of first home buyers here pay full duty. A unit might fall inside the concession while a house in the same suburb sails past it, so the thresholds matter most when you decide what to look at, not after you make an offer. Falling in love first and checking the threshold second is a very expensive order of operations. Keep this concession separate from the other help on offer: the 5% Deposit Scheme and the First Home Owner (New Homes) Grant are different things, aimed at the deposit and at new homes, not duty concessions. For the traps that catch first timers more broadly, see what first home buyers get wrong.

Buying off the plan: can you pay stamp duty later?

Sometimes, yes. Off-the-plan buyers who intend to live in the property can generally defer paying duty for up to a further 12 months. It is a deferral, not a discount: the amount does not change, you just pay it later.

The catch is in those words, intend to live. If your plans change and you rent it out instead, the deferral can fall away, the duty reverts to its normal due date, and interest and penalty tax can apply. Off the plan has a stack of its own quirks, which is why buying off the plan is worth reading as its own thing.

Do foreign buyers pay extra stamp duty?

Yes. Surcharge purchaser duty is an additional duty foreign persons pay when they buy residential property in NSW. It sits on top of transfer duty and is due at the same time, and because it is a separate liability, a transfer duty concession or exemption does not remove it. We will not quote the rate, but the Revenue NSW surcharge purchaser duty page sets out the current rate and the definition of a foreign person, which reaches further than many people expect. If there is any chance it applies to you, check it before you sign.

What about transferring property to a partner or family member?

No money changes hands, so people assume there is no duty. That is the most expensive assumption in NSW property. Revenue NSW charges transfer duty on the higher of what was paid and what the property is worth, so transfer it for nothing and duty is assessed on the full market value.

There is an exemption for transfers between partners, narrower than most people expect, and a separate one where a marriage or de facto relationship has broken down. Parent to child, though, is the trap: usually full duty on market value. The detail, and the other states, live in transferring property to family or a partner; the thing to take from here is that nil consideration is not the same as nil duty. Transfers after a death, and into a trust or company, have their own duty rules, covered in transferring property after a death, into a trust or to a company in NSW.

What does this mean for your purchase?

Duty is not the exciting part of buying a home, but it wrecks budgets when it turns up as a surprise. Three habits keep it boring, which is what you want from a tax bill.

1. Budget transfer duty, and check the first home thresholds, before you bid or make an offer
2. Use the Revenue NSW calculator for your figure, against the actual price
3. Have the contract reviewed so the dates and the dutiable value are clear

Get those three right and duty stops being the line in the settlement statement that catches you out, and becomes a known number you have already made room for. Titlespace is a conveyancing law firm based in Sydney acting for buyers in NSW, VIC, QLD and the ACT. See our conveyancing for buyers, or for the local rules start with conveyancing in NSW. If you are moving property between partners or within the family rather than buying, that is property transfer conveyancing.

Reviewed by Marc Ryckmans, Legal Practitioner Director, October 2026. Last updated October 2026. This article is general information about stamp duty in NSW. It is not legal advice about your transaction.

The content of this blog post is intended as general information and should be considered broad guidance only. It does not constitute legal, financial, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as such. Every property transaction is different, and we recommend seeking personalised advice from a qualified professional before making any investment or legal decisions.