Stamp Duty Concession

The Victorian Government is slashing stamp duty on off-the-plan apartments, units and townhouses to cut upfront costs, speed-up building, and make it more affordable for everyone to buy off-the-plan.

Currently, first home buyers and owner-occupiers can access a stamp duty concession when they buy off-the-plan, allowing construction costs to be deducted from the sale price when calculating how much stamp duty they owe.

This is currently capped for first home buyers and owner-occupiers: to access the concession, the reduced value for stamp duty calculations following the deduction of construction costs must be under thresholds of $750,000 for first home buyers and $550,000 for owner occupiers – otherwise the concession isn’t available.

Under a change that will boost housing construction:

• Anyone buying an apartment, unit or townhouse off-the-plan can claim the concession – not just first home buyers and owner-occupiers.
• Thresholds will be removed so the concession is available for apartments, units and townhouses of any value.

The 12-month extended concession applies from 21 October 2024, and it will allow a 100 per cent deduction of outstanding construction and refurbishment costs when determining how much stamp duty is owed.

The existing concession will continue to apply during and after this 12-month extension.

How much will a buyer save?

The amount you save depends on how much construction has occurred. Generally, someone buying an apartment off-the-plan is likely to pay about a quarter of the stamp duty they would pay without the off-the-plan concession.

A Victorian using this concession who buys off-the-plan before any construction work starts could pay around $28,000 less stamp duty on a $620,000 apartment – with duty slashed from around $32,000 to around $4,000.

This is an extension of an existing concession. To read more about the range of concessions available to buyers and how they are calculated, visit State Revenue Office – Off-the-plan duty concession.

What properties are eligible?

An eligible apartment, unit or townhouse is one that is in a strata subdivision – meaning they retain common property such as a driveway or a shared hallway.

House and land packages or other dwellings that are not part of a strata subdivision are not eligible for the extended concession, but first home buyers and owner occupiers can still use the existing concession on these properties.