Do townhouses qualify for the WA off-the-plan duty concession?

Yes, where the townhouse is a new dwelling in a strata or community titles scheme that RevenueWA lists as eligible. Single-tiered building schemes count from 21 March 2025, and survey-strata and community titles (land) schemes count from 12 March 2026. Check the scheme type with your conveyancer.

What is the last contract date for the concession?

30 June 2028, inclusive. The scheme was extended to that date by changes announced on 12 March 2026, and a contract signed after it does not qualify under the current rules. If your contract date falls near the cutoff, check RevenueWA's off-the-plan page in case the dates change.

What does it mean if construction has already started?

You are in the under-construction category, which gives 75% of the duty up to $800,000 rather than 100%, and the same $50,000 cap. The date of your contract, compared with when relevant construction works begin, decides which category you fall into.

Does the concession depend on living in the townhouse?

RevenueWA's eligibility rules for the concession do not mention living in the property. They turn on the contract date, the scheme type and whether construction has started. The first home owner rate and the first home owner grant do have residence requirements, so check which benefits you are claiming and what each one asks.

Can I still claim if I did not apply before settlement?

Yes, within 12 months of being registered on the certificate of title, using Form FDA53 lodged through your conveyancer or legal practitioner, or through RevenueWA's online services portal. RevenueWA says applications after that period will not be accepted, so the 12 months from registration is the date to track.

How does the off-the-plan stamp duty concession work in Western Australia?

Western Australia reduces transfer duty on new dwellings bought off the plan, including townhouses and villas, for contracts signed up to 30 June 2028. For contracts signed from 12 March 2026, a dwelling valued at $800,000 or less gets 100% of the duty off if construction has not started and 75% if it has, up to a maximum concession of $50,000. These figures were checked against RevenueWA pages on 7 October 2026.

Checked October 2026. Rules, rates and prices change, so confirm anything that matters with the source linked below.

Concession amounts for contracts from 12 March 2026

The date you sign the contract decides both whether you qualify and how much you get. RevenueWA splits contracts into two types. A pre-construction contract is signed before the relevant development starts. An under-construction contract is signed after it starts but before it is finished.

Value of the new dwelling	Pre-construction contract	Under-construction contract
$800,000 or less	100% of the duty	75% of the duty
More than $800,000, under $900,000	Falls from 100% to 50%	Falls from 75% to 37.5%
$900,000 or more	50% of the duty	37.5% of the duty

Every row is capped at a $50,000 concession. In the sliding band, the 100% concession drops by 0.05 of a percentage point for every $100 of dutiable value above $800,000, and the 75% concession drops by 0.0375 of a point for every $100.

Browse new townhouses

See the townhouse developments selling now, with bedrooms, prices and completion dates, city by city.

Which dwellings qualify

The concession has widened twice, so the contract date matters.

Contract signed	Dwellings covered
23 October 2019 to 20 March 2025 (under-construction contracts from 31 August 2023)	Units and apartments in multi-tiered strata or community titles (building) schemes
21 March 2025 to 11 March 2026	Adds single-tiered strata or community titles (building) schemes, such as certain townhouses and villas
12 March 2026 to 30 June 2028	Adds dwellings in survey-strata and community titles (land) schemes, such as free-standing homes

A single-tiered scheme is one where no lot forms the floor or ceiling of another lot. The dwelling must be new, and you must buy it from the owner who is subdividing the land by registering the scheme. For contracts signed from 12 March 2026, the thresholds in the table above apply. Contracts signed between 21 March 2025 and 11 March 2026 used lower thresholds ($750,000 and $850,000).

Worked examples

These use the general rate of transfer duty on RevenueWA's current page: $11,115 plus $4.75 per $100 over $360,000 for values from $360,001 to $725,000, and $28,453 plus $5.15 per $100 over $725,000 above that.

Townhouse at $720,000, pre-construction, signed 1 December 2026.

Amount over $360,000 is $360,000, or 3,600 lots of $100.
Duty: $11,115 plus (3,600 times $4.75, which is $17,100) is $28,215.
The value is under $800,000, so the concession is 100%. Duty payable: $0.

Same townhouse, but construction had already started. The concession is 75%: $28,215 times 0.75 is $21,161.25. Duty payable: $7,053.75.

Townhouse at $850,000, pre-construction.

Duty: $28,453 plus (1,250 lots of $100 over $725,000 times $5.15, which is $6,437.50) is $34,890.50.
Value is $50,000 over $800,000, which is 500 lots of $100. The concession falls by 500 times 0.05, which is 25 points, to 75%.
Concession: about $26,168. Duty payable: about $8,723.

Townhouse at $1,000,000, pre-construction. Duty is $28,453 plus (2,750 times $5.15, which is $14,162.50), a total of $42,615.50. At $900,000 or more the concession is 50%, so duty payable is $21,307.75.

The $50,000 cap does not bite in any of these examples. RevenueWA also runs an online duty calculator that applies the concession for you.

How to claim it

You lodge Form FDA53 (Off-the-plan Duty Concession Application) with the contract, normally through your conveyancer or legal practitioner. Eligible conveyancers and legal practitioners can also self-assess the concession in RevenueWA's Online Duties system. You have until 12 months after you are registered on the certificate of title for the dwelling, and RevenueWA says late applications will not be accepted.

For contracts signed on or after 12 March 2026 that settled before RevenueWA updated its systems on 28 July 2026, the transaction may have been assessed under the older rates. RevenueWA says these can be reassessed after settlement, and any difference refunded.

First home buyers and foreign buyers

RevenueWA's eligibility rules for this concession are about the contract date, the type of scheme and whether construction has started. The page does not set a first home buyer or owner-occupier test. First home buyers have a separate benefit, the first home owner rate of duty, covered in our WA grant and duty guide. RevenueWA's own worked example on its off-the-plan page has the buyer apply for the first home owner grant and a reassessment at the first home owner rate of duty on the same purchase, and its online calculator shows how much duty is assessed and how much concession is applied.

RevenueWA's page also shows a foreign individual claiming the concession, with foreign transfer duty charged on top. In its example, a foreign individual signs in March 2025 for a $700,000 townhouse in a single-tiered strata scheme before construction starts. The page gives foreign transfer duty of $49,000 and transfer duty of $27,265, a total of $76,265, and says the buyer is eligible for a 100% concession capped at $50,000 and pays $26,265 before settlement. Those figures are RevenueWA's own, so ask RevenueWA or your conveyancer how the cap and foreign transfer duty interact for your purchase.

If you are still comparing projects, you can browse new townhouses in Perth and ask developers whether construction has started.

Common questions

Do townhouses qualify for the WA off-the-plan duty concession?: Yes, where the townhouse is a new dwelling in a strata or community titles scheme that RevenueWA lists as eligible. Single-tiered building schemes count from 21 March 2025, and survey-strata and community titles (land) schemes count from 12 March 2026. Check the scheme type with your conveyancer.
What is the last contract date for the concession?: 30 June 2028, inclusive. The scheme was extended to that date by changes announced on 12 March 2026, and a contract signed after it does not qualify under the current rules. If your contract date falls near the cutoff, check RevenueWA's off-the-plan page in case the dates change.
What does it mean if construction has already started?: You are in the under-construction category, which gives 75% of the duty up to $800,000 rather than 100%, and the same $50,000 cap. The date of your contract, compared with when relevant construction works begin, decides which category you fall into.
Does the concession depend on living in the townhouse?: RevenueWA's eligibility rules for the concession do not mention living in the property. They turn on the contract date, the scheme type and whether construction has started. The first home owner rate and the first home owner grant do have residence requirements, so check which benefits you are claiming and what each one asks.
Can I still claim if I did not apply before settlement?: Yes, within 12 months of being registered on the certificate of title, using Form FDA53 lodged through your conveyancer or legal practitioner, or through RevenueWA's online services portal. RevenueWA says applications after that period will not be accepted, so the 12 months from registration is the date to track.

Keep reading

Sources

This is general information, not financial, tax or legal advice. Get advice that suits your situation before you buy.