Buying off the plan means buying before construction has finished, or even before it starts. The concession subtracts construction costs incurred after the contract is signed from the contract price, which lowers the duty. A temporary concession covers strata lots for any buyer on contracts signed from 21 October 2024 and before 21 April 2027; an older concession for home buyers continues beside it.
General informationA reading of the State Revenue Office’s pages Understanding the off-the-plan duty concession (updated 17 June 2026) and Strata apartments and townhouses temporary concession (updated 18 June 2026). It is not tax, legal or financial advice; a conveyancer or solicitor can say how either concession applies to a particular contract.
What counts as off the plan
The State Revenue Office names three kinds of purchase it covers:
- land and building packages;
- apartments and townhouses, as lots in a high-rise or low-rise development;
- refurbished lots, such as an office building or warehouse converted into apartments, or a building rebuilt inside behind a kept facade.
The purchase may involve a new subdivision. The temporary concession is narrower in one respect, since it needs a strata lot with common property, and wider in another, since it is open to every buyer. The State Revenue Office announced that the temporary concession has been extended to 21 April 2027.
How the subtraction works
Duty is paid on the dutiable value, usually the price paid, or the market value if that is more. The concession lets the buyer deduct the construction costs incurred on or after the contract date, and land transfer duty is then calculated on the reduced amount. Building already done before the contract does not come off. Where construction was underway when the contract was signed, the office’s worked example for an apartment in a multi-lot high rise uses a fixed percentage method, under which construction costs are taken as 75% of the contract price.
The buyer does not do this arithmetic. The vendor records how far construction had got, with other details, on the Digital Duties Form, which works out the concession; the buyer’s representative then completes the buyer’s part to claim it. About 6 months before settlement, the vendor tells the buyer’s conveyancer or solicitor the dutiable value after the concession, and the office suggests asking them for an estimate of the duty.
The office’s off-the-plan page adds two limits. For refurbished lots, the contract must be signed before the refurbishment is complete, and the concession applies only to the first sale after the plan of subdivision is registered. And where a contract involves related parties, such as relatives or related companies, the office may ask for the market value of the finished property to confirm the dutiable value.
The two concessions side by side
| Question | Temporary strata concession | Continuing concession |
|---|---|---|
| Contract dates | On or after 21 October 2024 and before 21 April 2027; settlement date does not matter | Contracts on or after 1 July 2023, for a buyer not eligible for the temporary one |
| Who can buy | All purchasers, including investors, companies and trusts; no need to be a first home buyer or to live there | Owner-occupiers and first home buyers |
| What property | A lot in a strata subdivision with common property, such as a shared driveway | Off-the-plan purchases generally, including land and building packages |
| Value limit | None: any value | The limits of the first home buyer and home concessions, measured after construction costs come off |
| Living there | Not required | At least one purchaser moves in within 12 months of settlement and lives there for 12 straight months |
The temporary concession does not reach house-and-land packages that are not part of a strata subdivision with common property. The continuing concession’s requirements bind any substitute purchaser the buyer nominates, and its buyers must each qualify for the principal place of residence concession or for the first home buyer relief, be over 18, and not be a company or a trustee of a trust.
Contract dates matter for older contracts too. Between 1 July 2021 and 1 July 2023 the Government temporarily raised the threshold to $1 million, so a property valued at $1 million or less after the concession was charged duty on that lower value. Contracts from 1 July 2017 to before 1 July 2021 carry the same requirements as those from 1 July 2023.
An illustrative sum
A made-up example: a townhouse lot in a strata subdivision with a shared driveway, bought for $850,000 on a contract signed inside the temporary concession’s dates, before any building starts. The vendor says $310,000 of the price will go on construction. All of that is spent after the contract, so all of it comes off.
- Contract price
- $850,000
- Less construction after contract
- $310,000
- Dutiable value
- $540,000
- 6% of $410,000
- $24,600
- Plus fixed amount
- $2,870
- Duty at general rates
- $27,470
On the full $850,000 the general rates give $46,070. Rates as at 29 September 2026.
The sum stops at the general rates on purpose. The office notes that other concessions may also apply to the reduced amount, so a buyer who also lives there, or is a first home buyer, may find a different figure; the home concession guide and the first home buyer guide carry those conditions.
Applying
A conveyancer, solicitor, financial institution or their agent normally applies for the concession through Duties Online, by completing the Digital Duties Form. If the property is meant to be lived in under the continuing concession and that does not happen, the buyer must tell the State Revenue Office. The guide to the 12 months in the home covers that duty.