NSW stamp duty calculator

Stamp duty in NSW is calculated on a sliding scale according to your property purchase price.

Different rates may apply depending on your property type, whether you are a first home buyer, your purchase price, and other criteria.

For primary residence properties, the stamp duty rates as of 1 July 2023 are as follows:

You may also be eligible for a stamp duty concession or exemption if you are a first home buyer, which may reduce these rates.

Yes, there are mandatory upfront fees other than stamp duty required when purchasing property in NSW.

Other NSW government fees include transfer fees and mortgage registration fees, which are shown in our calculator.

Other upfront fees may be needed, but are not mandated by the government, such as conveyancing or building & pest reports. To find relevant fees for your state or territory, check out our deposit & upfront costs calculator.

Under the First Home Buyer Assistance Scheme, also known as FHBAS, the NSW government provides concessional stamp duty rates, and stamp duty exemptions.

New cutoffs are in place from 1 July 2023, which extends the FHBAS to properties priced up to $1 million. However, buyers are no longer able to opt into the First Home Buyer Choice scheme, which applied to properties under $1.5 million.

To be eligible for the FHBAS, you must meet the following requirements:

• You must be a first home buyer (i.e. never been on title before). If you are buying with a partner, both of you must be first home buyers
• Buying a new or existing home, or vacant land to build a home (our calculator only applies to homes, not land)
• You, or your partner, must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident
• You must move into the home within 12 months of buying
• You must live in the property for at least 6 months
• For homes, the property must be less than $1 million
• You must be over 18
• You must never have used the FHBAS before

For properties under $800,000, you are fully exempt from stamp duty.

For properties between $800,000 and $1 million, you are entitled to a concessional rate of stamp duty, which you must apply for.

You can apply by filling out the following forms, and lodging them with your solicitor or conveyancer.

1. First Home Buyers Assistance scheme application form and
2. Purchaser/Transferee Declaration form (individual)

This differs from the NSW government's First Home Owner Grants (New Homes), which only applies to new homes, and is a $10,000 payment, rather than a concession.

To find the land tax for a property in NSW, follow these steps:

1. Using this tool, look up the property you're looking for. You must have an address in mind.
2. Then look up land value using the Valuer-General's land value search. Choose the most recent valuing year. If the property is an apartment, use the Strata Unit Land Value.
3. Take the land value from this report and input it into the NSW Government's Land Tax Calculator.

In NSW, stamp duty is calculated based on the dutiable value. This is the higher of the property’s sale price or its current market value.

In NSW, foreign property buyers need to pay an additional surcharge purchaser duty, which is on top of their stamp duty. Surcharge purchaser duty is calculated as 8% of the property value.

You are not considered a foreign owner if you are any of the following:

• an Australian citizen
• a permanent resident who meets the residence requirements, i.e. 200 days in Australia in the 12 months prior to the contract date
• a partner visa holder (subclass 309 or 820) who meets the resident requirements
• an exempt permanent resident, who is not considered "ordinarily resident" but lives in the property as a primary place of residence, for 200 days after purchase, and is buying as an individual
• a citizen of New Zealand, Finland, Germany, or South Africa purchasing residential property as an individual (i.e. not a trust)

If you are a foreign owner, please note that you may be subject to other costs, in addition to the stamp duty surcharge.

First Home Buyer Choice was repealed by legislation passed in May 2023, and has now been replaced with expanded stamp duty concessions. This means that any homes with exchange dates after 1 July 2023 will no longer be eligible for First Home Buyer Choice.

Buyers who have already opted into the scheme will be grandfathered in, and may continue to pay land tax instead of stamp duty on their purchased property.

The NSW First Home Buyer Choice scheme gave buyers the option to choose between paying stamp duty and an annual property tax. It was introduced for first home buyers in NSW who are purchasing properties under $1.5 million.

The eligibility requirements were as follows:

• You must be a first home buyer - i.e. you must never have been on title before. If you are buying with a partner, both of you must be first home buyers.
• Buying a home valued at less than $1,500,000, or vacant land (for the purposes of building a home) worth $800,000
• You, or your partner, must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident
• You must be over 18
• You must have not previously received a first home buyer grant or duty concessions
• You must move into the home within 12 months of buying
• You must live in the property for at least 6 months

To calculate your property tax, you can use the NSW Government's property tax tool.