Queensland’s transfer duty concession for first-home buyers remained frozen at a full exemption for homes up to $500,000 and a sliding scale that cut out entirely at $550,000 from mid-2017 until June 2024. Over the same seven-year stretch, the median dwelling value in Greater Brisbane climbed from roughly $490,000 to $827,822, according to CoreLogic’s April 2024 Hedonic Home Value Index (released 1 May 2024). The result was a increasingly blunt instrument: by early 2024 a large share of first-home purchasers in the south-east corner received no stamp-duty relief at all, even as the Reserve Bank’s cash rate sat at 4.35 per cent and lenders applied a 3.0-percentage-point serviceability buffer that squeezed borrowing capacity.
That arithmetic changed on 9 June 2024 when the Queensland Government lifted the exemption threshold to $700,000 and introduced a shallow phase-out for homes valued between $700,001 and $800,000. The saving for a buyer at the $800,000 mark reaches $17,350, which can materially improve a loan-to-value ratio, reduce the deposit hurdle, and sometimes eliminate the need for lenders mortgage insurance. Because stamp duty is treated as a transaction cost in every major lender’s servicing calculation, the concession directly moves the needle on affordability. The updated thresholds also re-open the scheme to a wave of unit buyers and outer-suburb purchasers who had been shut out in an environment where every basis point of serviceability matters.
How the Queensland Transfer Duty Concession Works (2024 Update)
The pre‑9 June 2024 landscape
Before the June 2024 reform, the first-home transfer duty concession operated on thresholds set in July 2017. No transfer duty was payable on a home with a dutiable value up to $500,000. For values between $500,001 and $549,999.99, a concession applied on a sliding scale: the duty payable was reduced by one dollar for every two dollars above $500,000, meaning the concession reached zero at $550,000. A purchase at $550,000 faced the full general rate of duty – $8,750 plus $4.50 per $100 over $540,000. With the Brisbane median dwelling above $800,000 by 2024, many first-home buyers were locked out.
Full exemption up to $700,000
From 9 June 2024, homes with a dutiable value of $700,000 or less are fully exempt from transfer duty when the buyer meets the eligibility criteria. On a $700,000 purchase, this removes a duty liability of $15,950 ($8,750 + $4.50 per $100 on the $160,000 above $540,000). The exemption applies to both established homes and new builds, provided the buyer does not claim the First Home Owner Grant (FHOG) on the same transaction – the two schemes are mutually exclusive.
Sliding duty between $700,001 and $800,000
For a dutiable value above $700,000 but not exceeding $800,000, transfer duty is calculated as $3.10 per $100, or part thereof, on the amount over $700,000 (Queensland Revenue Office, First home concession, current as at June 2024). In practice, this produces a steeply discounted rate. A buyer of a $750,000 home will pay $1,550 in duty (50 × $3.10 × 10), compared with the general rate of $18,200, saving $16,650. At $800,000, the duty payable is $3,100 versus the standard $20,450, a saving of $17,350. These savings are applied at settlement and do not require a separate refund process.
No concession above $800,000
No concession is available for contracts with a dutiable value exceeding $800,000. The full general transfer duty rates apply, making the effective stamp-duty expense jump sharply from $3,100 to more than $20,000 at the threshold boundary. Buyers considering a property priced just above $800,000 should factor this cliff effect into their budgeting.
Eligibility Criteria for First Home Buyers
Residency and occupancy requirements
At least one buyer must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident (or a New Zealand citizen holding a special category visa) and must be at least 18 years of age. All buyers must intend to live in the property as their principal place of residence for a continuous period of at least six months, commencing within one year of settlement (Queensland Revenue Office, First home concession eligibility, accessed June 2024). An investment property purchased from the outset does not qualify, and failing to meet the occupancy timeline triggers a reassessment and repayment of the concession.
Entity type and ownership structure
The concession is available only to natural persons. A company, trustee, or bare trust cannot claim the relief, even if the underlying beneficiaries are first-home buyers. In joint-purchase scenarios, every buyer must satisfy the first-home owner criteria. If one party has previously owned residential property in Australia and does not meet the exception described below, the concession is lost for the entire transaction.
Previous property ownership rules
A buyer will generally be ineligible if they have ever held an interest in residential land in Australia (including as a joint tenant or tenant in common). However, since November 2021, an exception applies to those who previously owned residential property but never occupied it as their principal place of residence. A person who solely held an investment property that they never lived in, and who has since disposed of that interest, may still qualify as a first-home owner for transfer duty purposes. Buyers who have inherited a property can also retain eligibility provided they have not lived in the inherited home. Each applicant’s history is scrutinised via land-title searches across all Australian jurisdictions.
Interaction with the First Home Owner Grant
The First Home Owner Grant (currently $15,000 for new homes valued up to $750,000) cannot be claimed on the same transaction as the transfer duty concession. Buyers must choose whichever delivers the greater net benefit. For a new build below $750,000, the grant often provides a larger upfront saving than the duty exemption because the duty on a new home below $750,000 would already be small under the concession. Above $750,000, the grant phases out, leaving the transfer duty concession as the only available scheme.
Impact on Borrowing Capacity and Lender Policy
How lenders treat stamp duty in serviceability
All major and non‑bank lenders include transaction costs – stamp duty, conveyancing, and government fees – in their “funds to complete” assessment. When a first-home buyer secures a transfer duty concession, the lower cash‑to‑complete requirement translates directly into a smaller deposit gap. Using a $750,000 purchase as an example: without the concession, a buyer aiming for an 80% loan‑to‑value ratio ($600,000 loan) needs $150,000 in equity or savings plus $18,200 for duty, for a total of $168,200 in available funds. With the concession, duty is only $1,550; total funds needed fall to $151,550. That $16,650 difference can mean avoiding a depleted offset buffer or, in some cases, crossing the LMI boundary.
LMI considerations with concessional duty
Lenders mortgage insurance thresholds are typically hard‑coded at 80% LVR for the loan amount against the property’s valuation. The deposit is calculated as the purchase price minus the loan. Because the loan does not directly fund stamp duty (unless the lender allows capitalisation, which increases the LVR and often triggers LMI), a lower duty bill keeps the LVR at or below 80% and avoids a one‑off insurance premium of $10,000–$15,000. For a buyer whose savings plus contribution sources are tight, this single saving can be the difference between obtaining finance and being knocked back.