Who pays it
The purchaser or transferee is the one who pays transfer duty, even when someone else organises the payment; sellers do not pay it. It applies when you buy a home, a holiday home, an investment property, vacant land, a farm, commercial or industrial property, or a business that includes land. It also applies when you acquire property without paying for it, for example as a gift.
It is a state tax, not managed by the Commonwealth Government or its agencies such as the Australian Taxation Office. Revenue NSW collects it under the Duties Act 1997 and other legislation. Revenue NSW also notes that NSW has no exemption for retired people who downsize to a smaller property.
The dutiable value
Duty is calculated on the dutiable value, which is the higher of the purchase price you agreed to pay and the property’s market value. Revenue NSW describes market value as the price the property may reasonably sell for, free from encumbrances, on the open market; a mortgage is not taken into account.
When a sale is at arm’s length, between unrelated parties dealing independently, the price paid is usually taken as the market value. A formal valuation is needed in some cases, among them when there is no payment for the property, when the parties are related, when there is no selling agent, or when the same legal firm acts for both sides.
The scale for 2026/2027
Duty is not a single rate. Each band of value has its own rate, and the thresholds are adjusted each year in line with the Consumer Price Index. The contract date decides which year’s rates apply, or the date of transfer if there is no contract.
| Dutiable value | Duty |
|---|---|
| $0 to $18,000 | $1.25 per $100 (minimum $20) |
| $18,001 to $38,000 | $225 plus $1.50 per $100 above $18,000 |
| $38,001 to $103,000 | $525 plus $1.75 per $100 above $38,000 |
| $103,001 to $387,000 | $1,662 plus $3.50 per $100 above $103,000 |
| $387,001 to $1,290,000 | $11,602 plus $4.50 per $100 above $387,000 |
| Over $1,290,000 | $52,237 plus $5.50 per $100 above $1,290,000 |
| Residential, over $3,870,000 (premium) | $194,137 plus $7.00 per $100 above $3,870,000 |
An illustration, worked through
As an illustration only, here is the general scale applied to a dutiable value of $750,000, with no exemption, concession or surcharge. The value falls in the band from $387,001 to $1,290,000.
Illustration, not an assessment
- Base amount for the band
- $11,602
- Value over $387,000
- $363,000
- $4.50 for every $100 of that
- $16,335
- Transfer duty on $750,000
- $27,937
Rates from Revenue NSW’s 2026/2027 table. The figure is arithmetic on that table, not a quote for any property.
Revenue NSW publishes its own worked examples on the same page. In one, a home bought at auction for $1,350,000, where the price is taken as the market value, attracts duty of $55,537.
Premium property duty
A higher rate, premium property duty, applies when you buy a residential property in NSW and its value is above the premium threshold, which is $3,870,000 for 2026/2027. The premium rate applies to residential property only. If part of a property above the threshold is used for business, only the residential part is used when applying the premium rate. For land over 2 hectares, the premium rate is calculated on the first 2 hectares as a proportion of the overall value, and the rest is charged at the general rate.
Revenue NSW’s example is a pre-auction offer of $4 million on a property it puts at a market value of $3.7 million. The higher figure is the dutiable value, and duty and premium duty come to $203,237.
When it is paid
You must pay duty by whichever comes first: the settlement date, if the transaction involves a property transfer, or 3 months after signing the sale contract (or the transfer form date, or the date of the deed, where those apply). Until transfer duty is paid, settlement cannot go ahead.
Most people pay through a solicitor or conveyancer, who usually calculates the duty, lodges the transaction with Revenue NSW and arranges payment. Even so, the purchaser remains responsible for the duty being paid on time. Payment options are listed on the Duties Notice of Assessment, the document from Revenue NSW that shows how much is owed.
Revenue NSW charges daily interest on an overdue amount until it is paid in full. It also warns of scams aimed at duty payments and at messages between buyers and their solicitor or conveyancer, and asks people to verify any payment request with their solicitor or conveyancer.
Buying off the plan
If you buy off the plan a home you will live in, you may be able to put off paying transfer duty for up to 12 months. Duty is then due at the earliest of 15 months after signing the contract, completion and settlement, or the assignment of any part of the contract. The deferral is not automatic: a solicitor or conveyancer manages the assessment.
Each purchaser must meet citizenship or residency conditions, the property must be bought as the main home, and where the contract was exchanged on or after 1 July 2023, one or more of the purchasers must move in no later than 12 months after settlement and live there for 12 months or more without a break. The deferral is not available for purchases on behalf of trusts or corporations, and it changes only the timing: the amount of duty is the same.
Exemptions and concessions
Revenue NSW lists common situations where duty may be reduced or removed: transfers from deceased estates, transfers between spouses and de facto partners, transfers after a relationship ends, and the First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme. Eligibility depends on your circumstances. The first home buyer scheme has its own sheet: first home buyers in NSW. A foreign person may owe surcharge purchaser duty on top of transfer duty.