Stamp duty in the ACT

In the ACT the tax on buying a home is called conveyance duty, though most people still say stamp duty. The ACT Revenue Office assesses and collects it. After the price itself it is usually the largest single cost of the purchase. From 1 July 2026 many Canberra buyers pay none of it. The table further down is computed from the Territory's rate bands by the same code as the library's calculator.

How duty is worked out in the ACT

Duty is charged on the dutiable amount on a sliding scale, so the effective rate rises with the price. Since 1 July 2021 eligible owner-occupier transactions have had their own lower rates, and the official calculator asks that question first. For 2026-27 the owner-occupier rates apply to transactions up to $1,455,000, a threshold the ACT Revenue Office says is unchanged from 1 July 2025. The lowest bracket, to $260,000, has been $0.28 per $100 for owner-occupiers since 1 July 2025, down from $0.40. Whether it moved again on 1 July 2026 was not confirmed.

The full 2026-27 bracket table, including the rate above $1,455,000, is on the ACT Revenue Office's non-commercial conveyance duty page. It was not opened for this page.

The rates are set at each ACT Budget and take effect on 1 July; the 2026-27 changes started then. The ACT Revenue Office's conveyance duty calculator gives an estimate; the Commissioner's Notice of Assessment is the figure that binds. The owner-occupier rate is the ACT's general home concession; it is not limited to first home buyers.

First home buyers

The Home Buyer Concession Scheme replaced the First Home Owner Grant, which ceased here on 1 July 2019. From 1 July 2026 an eligible buyer under the scheme is exempt from conveyance duty altogether. There is no longer an income threshold and no property price limit. The exemption covers a home or residential land, established or new, so the two first-home columns in the table below match.

Eligibility is not really about a first home. The test is that every buyer, and every buyer's domestic partner, has not owned property in the last five years. Each buyer is an individual aged 18 or over. At least one buyer must own and live in the home as their principal place of residence for at least 12 months. That period starts within one year of settlement. The scheme measures its dates from the transaction date, usually the day contracts are signed and exchanged. The ACT Government calls this abolishing stamp duty for all first home buyers. The claim goes through the ACT Revenue Office's claim page.

Duty at a glance

State/territory transfer-duty rate bands — NSW on the 2026–27 scale (the tiers from $387,000 and premium duty read on Revenue NSW 15 Sep 2026; the three tiers below reconstructed from the published base amount), VIC and SA schedules verified against the revenue office 15 Sep 2026, NT top rates per the Territory Revenue Office 15 Sep 2026, ACT first band from 1 Jul 2025 with the upper bands unverified; first-home-buyer concessions as published for 2026–27 (checked 6 Sep 2026). First-home-buyer figures assume you meet the relevant eligibility conditions, which the report does not verify: you (and any co-buyer) are an individual who has not previously owned property in Australia, you are an Australian citizen or permanent resident, you intend to move in and live there for the required period, and you meet any state price, contract-date, residency or income tests that apply. Confirm eligibility with the relevant state revenue office before relying on these figures. Where a concession phases out between two thresholds the calculator approximates it as a straight line; the revenue office calculator applies the statutory formula.

Read down the standard column and the effective rate climbs with the price. Both first-home columns are zero at every price because the scheme has no cap. That zero is conditional on the eligibility tests above. The standard column applies the owner-occupier first band of $0.28 per $100 to $260,000; the bands above that are the long-standing rates and are unverified for 2026-27, and the calculator does not yet apply the single rate the ACT charges above $1,455,000. The official calculator may therefore show a different figure.

Other concessions and surcharges

Off-the-plan units. For contracts exchanged from 1 July 2026 an owner-occupier pays no duty on an off-the-plan unit, with no value limit. Contracts exchanged on or after 1 July 2025 had a cap of $1,020,000, and those from 1 July 2024 a cap of $1,000,000. A unit here means unit-titled property, such as an apartment or townhouse. At least one buyer must live in the home continuously for a year, starting within 12 months of settlement.

New units not sold off the plan. The 2026-27 Budget announced a further exemption for owner-occupiers buying a newly built, unit-titled home that was not sold off the plan. Its conditions were not opened from this environment.

Pensioners. The Pensioner Duty Concession Scheme is for eligible pensioners who own a home and are moving. From 1 July 2026 its property value limit has been removed, so no conveyance duty is payable. The new property has to be in the same names as the former one and lived in for at least a year. An eligible pensioner can instead defer duty; the concession and the deferral can each be claimed once, not both. No foreign buyer surcharge was part of this research.

What the figure leaves out

Duty is not the only charge at purchase. Registering the transfer and any mortgage, and the conveyancing fee, sit on top. In the ACT the seller supplies a building and compliance inspection with the contract; a buyer's own building and pest inspection is a choice. The library calculator adds an indicative allowance for conveyancing and an inspection, not registration fees.

Checking the figure

The ACT Revenue Office calculator applies the current brackets and the owner-occupier question. The library's stamp duty calculator set to the ACT applies the same first-home rule as the table above. The Notice of Assessment is the amount actually due. A Property Decision Report includes duty, computed the same way, in its purchase-cost figure for the one property it covers.