Stamp Duty on a Median Home in Every Australian Capital, 2026
Original research · published 26 July 2026 · free to reuse with attribution
We computed stamp duty on the median dwelling in all eight Australian capital cities using each
jurisdiction's current legislated rate scale. The headline result: in seven of the eight capitals, a first
home buyer paying the median price for an established home now gets no first home buyer duty relief at all. The
median home has outgrown the concession.
What we found
7 of 8 capitals give a first home buyer nothing on an established home at the
median price: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart, Darwin. Canberra is the only exception.
Duty outran prices in 5 of 8 capitals. In Brisbane, prices rose 17.4% over the year
but duty on the median home rose 31.1%. That gap is bracket creep.
The spread is $23,948. The same buyer at their local median pays
$27,191 in Canberra and $51,139 in Sydney.
Effective rates range from 3.07% to 5.39% of the purchase price.
Across the eight medians, duty is $33,953 higher in total than it was twelve months ago.
Duty payable by an owner-occupier who is not a first home buyer, on an established home at each city's
median dwelling value. Computed 26 July 2026 from the rate scales linked at the foot of this page. Updated 12 October 2026: the Brisbane, Perth, Hobart and Canberra figures changed by $2 to $6 to apply those jurisdictions' “for every $100, or part of $100” rounding.
The full numbers
Capital
Median dwelling
Duty
Effective rate
First home buyer (established)
First home buyer (new build)
Investor
Sydney New South Wales
$1,265,608
$51,139
4.04%
$51,139
$51,139
$51,139
Adelaide South Australia
$945,868
$45,855
4.85%
$45,855
$0
$45,855
Perth Western Australia
$1,046,551
$45,015
4.30%
$45,015
$45,015
$45,015
Melbourne Victoria
$808,486
$43,579
5.39%
$43,579
$43,579
$43,579
Brisbane Queensland
$1,118,306
$37,658
3.37%
$37,658
$0
$44,833
Darwin Northern Territory
$638,187
$31,590
4.95%
$31,590
$31,590
$31,590
Hobart Tasmania
$752,760
$29,061
3.86%
$29,061
$29,061
$29,061
Canberra ACT
$885,254
$27,191
3.07%
$0
$0
$30,183
Median dwelling values: Cotality Home Value Index, as at 30 June 2026.
Duty computed on the dutiable value with no concessions other than those shown. Foreign purchaser surcharges,
which add 7–9% in most states, are excluded.
Why first home buyers at the median now get nothing
Every first home buyer concession in Australia is capped by property value. Those caps are set in legislation and
adjusted only when a government chooses to adjust them. Median dwelling values, meanwhile, have risen in six of the
eight capitals over the past year — sharply in Perth, Brisbane and Darwin.
The result is a slow disqualification. The concession does not get taken away; the median house simply climbs
past it. Perth is the clearest case: the First Home Owner Rate cuts out at $800,000 (raised from $700,000 for contracts from 7 May 2026), while Perth's median dwelling value is now $1,046,551 — roughly 1.3 times the cap.
The exception, and it is a big one. The ACT abolished conveyance duty for all eligible first home
buyers from 1 July 2026, with no price cap and no income test — the first Australian jurisdiction to
do so. A first home buyer in Canberra pays nothing at the median, saving $27,191.
A new build changes the answer in three capitals
Where the established-home concession has phased out, new-build relief often has not, because several states
apply it with no value cap at all:
Brisbane — a first home buyer pays nil duty on a new home at the median, against $37,658 on an established one. A saving of $37,658.
Adelaide — a first home buyer pays nil duty on a new home at the median, against $45,855 on an established one. A saving of $45,855.
Canberra — a first home buyer pays nil duty on a new home at the median, against $27,191 on an established one. A saving of $27,191.
This is the single largest lever available to a first home buyer in those markets, and it is a function of what
you buy rather than what you earn.
Bracket creep: duty rose faster than prices in 5 capitals
Duty scales are progressive, but the thresholds are not indexed to house prices. As a median price rises, more of
it falls into higher marginal bands — so duty rises by a larger percentage than the price did. No government
has to legislate anything for the tax take to grow.
Capital
Median Jun 2025
Median Jun 2026
Price change
Duty Jun 2025
Duty Jun 2026
Duty change
Extra duty
Brisbane
$952,560
$1,118,306
17.4%
$28,717
$37,658
31.1%
+$8,941
Perth
$844,674
$1,046,551
23.9%
$34,618
$45,015
30.0%
+$10,397
Canberra
$860,305
$885,254
2.9%
$25,722
$27,191
5.7%
+$1,469
Adelaide
$847,552
$945,868
11.6%
$40,448
$45,855
13.4%
+$5,407
Hobart
$688,710
$752,760
9.3%
$26,272
$29,061
10.6%
+$2,789
Brisbane is the sharpest example: a 17.4% price rise produced a 31.1% duty rise, an extra
$8,941 on the same median home. Sydney and Melbourne do not
appear because their medians were flat or falling over the period.
Owner-occupier or investor changes the bill in two jurisdictions
Most states charge the same duty regardless of why you are buying. Two do not:
Brisbane — an investor pays $44,833 against $37,658 for an owner-occupier who will live in the property. A difference of $7,175.
Canberra — an investor pays $30,183 against $27,191 for an owner-occupier who will live in the property. A difference of $2,992.
Queensland's home concession is widely misunderstood as a first home buyer measure. It is not — it is
available to any buyer acquiring a residence they will live in, with no upper value cap. Victoria's
principal place of residence concession works the same way below $550,000.
How we calculated this
Every figure on this page is computed, not collected. The method is deliberately reproducible:
Median dwelling values are the Cotality (formerly CoreLogic) Home Value Index medians as at
30 June 2026, for all dwellings — houses and units combined.
Duty is computed on that value using each jurisdiction's current legislated rate scale, the same
engine that powers our stamp duty calculator. Every scale was verified against
the relevant revenue office in July 2026.
June 2025 medians are derived from the current median and Cotality's published annual change
for that city, then run through the same scale to isolate the effect of price movement on duty.
First home buyer figures assume the buyer meets all non-price eligibility conditions
— occupancy, prior-ownership and, where applicable, residency tests — so the only binding constraint is
the property value cap.
Excluded: foreign purchaser surcharges, mortgage and transfer registration fees, and
off-the-plan or land-only variants except where stated. Including surcharges would add 7–9% of the purchase
price in most states.
Caveats worth stating plainly. A median is a market-wide midpoint, not a house you can buy —
half of all dwellings sold for less. "All dwellings" blends houses and units, and the mix differs by city, so
Melbourne's median is pulled down by a high unit share while Perth's is not. Treat these as comparisons between
jurisdictions, not as a quote for any particular purchase. Western Australia's first home owner rate cap rose to $800,000 for contracts from 7 May 2026; Perth's median is above both the old and new caps, so the Perth figures are unchanged.
Reuse and citation. This dataset is free to republish, including the chart, for any purpose
including commercial, under CC BY 4.0.
The only condition is attribution with a link. Suggested form:
Source: ozfinancecalc.com.au, "Stamp Duty on a Median Home in Every Australian Capital, 2026"
— https://ozfinancecalc.com.au/blog/stamp-duty-median-home-every-capital-2026
Journalists: we are happy to run this for a specific price point, suburb median, or buyer profile on request,
usually same day. Contact details are on our contact page.
Work out your own number
The medians above are a benchmark. For an actual purchase price, including first home buyer concessions, foreign
purchaser surcharge and total buying costs: