Stamp duty in the Northern Territory

In the Northern Territory the tax on a property transfer is called stamp duty, and the Territory Revenue Office collects it. It is the largest cost of buying after the price. The table further down is computed from the Territory's bands by the same code that runs the library's calculator, so the two cannot disagree.

How duty is worked out in the Northern Territory

Below $525,000 duty follows a formula rather than a stepped table: D = (0.06571441 × V²) + 15V. V is the value divided by 1,000 and D is the duty in dollars.

From $525,000 to under $3 million, duty is 4.95 per cent of the whole amount, not just the part over the threshold. From $3 million to under $5 million it is 5.75 per cent, and from $5 million it is 5.95 per cent, each on the whole amount.

Dutiable value is the purchase price or the unencumbered value, whichever is greater. No rule indexing the thresholds was found; the Stamp Duty Act 1978 is the place to confirm whether and how they move.

The official tool is the Land or property transfer stamp duty calculator on NT.GOV.AU. Enter the price without commas and it returns the duty. No general home-buyer concession was found.

First home buyers

The research behind this page found no stamp duty exemption or concession for first home buyers on established homes, and no direct "no relief" statement either. The Territory Revenue Office stamp duty page is the place to confirm the position before a contract is signed.

A new house and land package is different. The house and land package exemption applies to certain contracts signed between 1 July 2022 and 30 June 2027. It is for eligible individuals who acquire newly developed land from a registered building practitioner who builds, or has built, the home on it. It is not means tested and there is no cap on the value.

It is not first-home-specific: an eligible individual who has owned before can use it. Whether an off-the-plan apartment fits the definition is not stated, and vacant land bought from someone other than the builder is outside the wording.

The eligibility tests on the page are about residence. At least one applicant has to live in the home as their principal place of residence for a continuous six months, starting within 12 months of taking possession. Applicants must be natural persons, and at least one must be 18 or over at the conveyance date; any prior-ownership or citizenship test is in the application guide (form F-HI-021). The Territory Revenue Office takes questions on 1300 305 353 or at ntrevenue@nt.gov.au.

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.

Reading the table for the Territory: the first two rows sit under the $525,000 threshold, where the formula applies and the effective rate climbs. From the third row on, every price is in the 4.95 per cent band. The "first home, established" column matches the standard column, because no established-home relief was found. The "first home, new" column is nil at every price because the house and land package exemption has no cap. Read it as the house-and-land case only, open to eligible buyers, first home or not.

Other concessions and surcharges

The senior, pensioner and carer concession is the other duty item published. A buyer aged over 60 (the page's words), or a pensioner or carer holding a Northern Territory Pensioner and Carer Concession card, can apply for $10,000 in stamp duty relief. It is not means tested, but eligibility ends if the dutiable value of a home is over $750,000 or, for land, at the $385,000 threshold. There is no limit on the cost of a home to be built on that land.

At least one applicant has to live in the home within 12 months of completion and stay for at least six months. It can be claimed before or after duty is paid; if after, the amount is refunded. Whether it can be combined with the package exemption or a grant is not stated.

No foreign purchaser surcharge appeared in the research; that is an absence in the file, not a confirmation that none exists.

What the figure leaves out

The Land Titles Office charges a fee to register the transfer, and the electronic lodgement network operator adds its own platform fee. The conveyancing fee and a building and pest inspection are separate; the calculator adds an indicative allowance for both. The ownership costs calculator covers the running costs that follow.

Checking the figure

The official calculator gives the Territory's own number for any price. The library's stamp duty calculator set to the Territory applies the same bands. A Property Decision Report for one property carries duty inside its purchase-cost figure, so price, duty and the other costs are read together against the fair-value range.