Stamp duty in Western Australia

In Western Australia the tax on buying a home is transfer duty, and most people still call it stamp duty. RevenueWA assesses it on the dutiable value, which for an ordinary purchase is the price, and it is the largest cost after the price itself. The table below is computed from the state's bands.

How duty is worked out in Western Australia

Duty is a sliding scale. The general rate is applied to the dutiable value, and the rate per hundred dollars rises through the brackets in Schedule 2 of the Duties Act 2008. The schedule has applied since 1 July 2008 and is not indexed; thresholds move when a State Budget moves them, as the first-home thresholds did on 7 May 2026.

The separate residential rate ended on 30 June 2022. Since 1 July 2022 the general rate applies to all residential and commercial land unless a concessional rate applies, so WA has no general principal-place-of-residence concession. The general-rate brackets in the table are those published in the Government of Western Australia's Overview of State Taxes and Royalties (2024-25 edition); the 2025-26 edition had not been read when this page was written.

First home buyers

The first home owner rate of duty (FHOR) is a concessional rate for a contract to buy a home or vacant land. For transactions from 7 May 2026, an eligible first home buyer pays no duty on a new or established home up to $600,000. A concessional rate applies up to $800,000. For vacant land the exemption runs to $450,000 and the concessional rate to $550,000.

The contract date decides the regime. A contract signed before 7 May 2026 sits under the earlier thresholds: no duty to $500,000, and a concession to $700,000 in Perth and Peel or $750,000 elsewhere. The 2026-27 announcements give one pair of thresholds with no regional qualifier. Whether regional WA keeps a higher ceiling had not been read on the agency's page when this was written, nor had the concession rate above the new exemption threshold.

Eligibility follows the First Home Owner Grant Act 2000; every applicant has to meet the grant's tests, grant or no grant. The confirmed test is residence: each applicant has to occupy the home as their principal place of residence for a continuous six months, starting within twelve months of completion. Miss it and duty at the general rate can follow, and any grant is repayable with penalties. A buyer has to notify the Commissioner of State Revenue within 30 days of it becoming apparent that a criterion will not be met. Whether and how the Act tests age, citizenship or residency and prior ownership was not confirmed here; the FHOG fact sheet sets them out. Since 7 May 2026 the duty rate is no longer tied to the grant's price cap. The application is RevenueWA's duties form for the first home owner rate, or the combined form FHOG1 where both are claimed.

Duty at a glance

General-rate bands as published in the Government of Western Australia's Overview of State Taxes and Royalties (2024-25 edition, verified 13 September 2026); first home owner rate and off-the-plan thresholds as announced for transactions from 7 May 2026, checked 6 September 2026. First-home-buyer figures assume you meet the relevant eligibility conditions, which the tables here do 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 table approximates it as a straight line; the revenue office calculator applies the statutory formula.

Read down the first-home columns. Nothing is payable up to the exemption threshold and the taper appears once the price crosses it. From the upper threshold the first-home figure matches the standard column because the concession has run out. The established and new columns are identical because WA applies the same rate to both.

Other concessions and surcharges

The off-the-plan duty concession applies to a new strata dwelling bought before or during construction. Before March 2026 a pre-construction contract paid no duty up to $750,000; the concession fell to 50 per cent between $750,000 and $850,000 and stayed there above that. An under-construction contract had 75 per cent, falling to 37.5 per cent. On 12 March 2026 the government raised the thresholds to $800,000 and $900,000 and extended the concession from 30 June 2026 to 30 June 2028. It also widened it to survey-strata dwellings. The contract date from which the new thresholds apply, and whether the under-construction percentages moved, had not been read on the agency's page when this was written. The application is Form FDA53.

The sources checked name no pensioner concession or foreign purchaser surcharge, so neither is stated.

What the figure leaves out

Landgate charges a transfer registration fee, with a transfer lodgement fee calculator, and a mortgage registration fee sits alongside it. The settlement agent's or lawyer's fee, the building and pest inspection and any strata search are separate again. Land tax is an annual charge and is not part of a purchase-cost figure.

Checking the figure

The RevenueWA calculator applies the statutory schedule and the concessions.