Is stamp duty charged twice, on the contract and on the transfer?

Not on the same matter. Revenue NSW's ruling DUT 018 says a transfer made in conformity with an agreement attracts only nominal duty if duty was paid on the agreement. RevenueWA says duty is not charged twice on two transactions relating to the same matter. Ask your conveyancer how your state treats the contract and the later transfer.

Can a separate building contract lower my duty?

Only if the arrangement really is land alone. In NSW, DUT 018 looks at what the parties agreed to transfer at the date of the agreement, and it treats two interdependent contracts with settlement linked to completion of the building as dutiable on the improved land. In Queensland and WA, contracts that substantially form one arrangement are added together.

What if my price is below market value?

In NSW and Queensland, duty is charged on the higher of the price and the property's unencumbered (market) value. In Western Australia, the dutiable value is the unencumbered value where that is greater than the consideration. So a low price does not lower the duty in any of those states.

Does Victoria use the same approach?

Victoria has its own off-the-plan concession and a temporary one for strata apartments and townhouses. The SRO's pages and its public ruling DA-048v2 set out who qualifies, so confirm the detail there or with your conveyancer. This guide does not state Victorian rates or dates.

Are the NSW rates the same every year?

No. Revenue NSW adjusts general thresholds and rates each year in line with the Consumer Price Index, and uses the contract date to pick the rate year. This guide uses the 2026/27 table, which applies to contracts from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027.

Is stamp duty charged on the land only, or on the townhouse as well?

Stamp duty (transfer duty) is charged on what your contract says you are buying, not on what the site looks like at settlement. In NSW, a contract for a completed townhouse is dutiable on the land plus the building, while a purchase of land on builder's terms is dutiable on the land alone. In Queensland and Western Australia, separate contracts that substantially form one arrangement are charged as a single transaction. These rules were checked against Revenue NSW, Queensland Revenue Office (QRO) and RevenueWA pages on 7 October 2026. Victoria is not covered in detail: the State Revenue Office (SRO) is the place to confirm its off-the-plan concession.

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

What dutiable value means

NSW, Queensland and Western Australia all start with the dutiable value, which is usually the higher of two figures.

NSW: the greater of the consideration (normally the price) and the property's unencumbered value (market value).
Queensland: the higher of the consideration and the unencumbered value of the property.
Western Australia: generally the consideration, or the unencumbered value if that is greater. If GST is payable, the dutiable value includes it.

Revenue NSW says that where a price is stated to include GST, the GST is not deducted. Where it is stated to exclude GST, any extra GST the buyer pays counts as additional consideration. So a contract for $720,000 plus $72,000 of GST is dutiable on $792,000 in WA, and the NSW rule produces the same result. A rebate or settlement incentive offered by the vendor does not reduce the consideration in NSW.

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NSW: improved or unimproved land

Revenue NSW's ruling DUT 018 (status: current) says duty on an agreement for sale is worked out on the property the parties agreed to transfer, viewed at the date of the agreement. The question is whether that is improved land or unimproved land, and the ruling says it is a question of fact.

Arrangement	Treated as
One contract to buy a completed townhouse built to agreed specifications	Improved land: duty on land plus building
Two interdependent contracts, with settlement linked to completion of the building	Improved land: duty on land plus building
"Builder's terms" agreement, where you plan to build and have an extended time to complete	Unimproved land: duty on the land
Vendor lets you start building before completion but does not agree to build or procure the works	Unimproved land: duty on the land

The ruling gives a council selling lots and allowing buyers to engage a builder before completion as an example of the last arrangement. In one case it cites, Bambro (No 2), the vendor agreed to arrange the building works but title was to pass before they began, and duty was assessed on the unimproved land. Revenue NSW says it assesses on what was agreed at the date of the agreement, and will not later revisit it based on improvements made before settlement.

NSW worked example

Two buyers sign in October 2026 and use the 2026/27 general rates, which are $11,602 plus $4.50 per $100 over $387,000 for values from $387,001 to $1,290,000. Concessions are ignored here.

Buyer A signs one contract for a completed townhouse, with the land valued at $450,000 and the building at $400,000. The dutiable value is $850,000.

$850,000 minus $387,000 is $463,000.
4.5% of $463,000 is $20,835.
Duty is $11,602 plus $20,835, which is $32,437.

Buyer B buys the land for $450,000 on builder's terms and signs a separate building contract for $400,000 with an unrelated builder, with no link to settlement. The dutiable value is $450,000.

$450,000 minus $387,000 is $63,000.
4.5% of $63,000 is $2,835.
Duty is $11,602 plus $2,835, which is $14,437.

The difference is $18,000, which is 4.5% of the $400,000 building cost. Which arrangement applies depends on the contract documents, so it is for your conveyancer to confirm, not something to choose.

Victoria: check the SRO

Victoria has an off-the-plan duty concession, and the SRO publishes a public ruling on it (DA-048v2, "Duty concession for off-the-plan sales", last updated 31 August 2026). The SRO also has a page for a temporary concession for strata apartments and townhouses, last updated 18 June 2026. This guide does not state Victorian rates, percentages or dates, because the SRO's own pages are where to confirm them for your contract date. Our guide to off-the-plan stamp duty in Victoria covers the Victorian rules in more detail.

If you are buying in Victoria, ask your conveyancer how the SRO treats your contract structure and which concession applies to your contract date.

Queensland and Western Australia

The QRO's page on multiple transactions says separate dutiable transactions are treated as one if together they substantially form one arrangement, and duty is then calculated on the total. It lists factors such as whether the transactions are in one document, whether one is conditional on another, and the time between them. That page does not discuss house-and-land packages, so ask your conveyancer how a land-plus-build structure is assessed.

RevenueWA says transactions relating to separate items of property that are substantially one arrangement are treated as a single transaction, and duty is charged on the total. Its off-the-plan concession is covered in our guide to Western Australia.

What to check in your contract

Whether there is one contract or two, and whether settlement depends on the building being finished.
Who builds, and whether the vendor, or a company related to the vendor, controls the construction.
Whether the price includes GST, and what the contract says about extra amounts.

Common questions

Is stamp duty charged twice, on the contract and on the transfer?: Not on the same matter. Revenue NSW's ruling DUT 018 says a transfer made in conformity with an agreement attracts only nominal duty if duty was paid on the agreement. RevenueWA says duty is not charged twice on two transactions relating to the same matter. Ask your conveyancer how your state treats the contract and the later transfer.
Can a separate building contract lower my duty?: Only if the arrangement really is land alone. In NSW, DUT 018 looks at what the parties agreed to transfer at the date of the agreement, and it treats two interdependent contracts with settlement linked to completion of the building as dutiable on the improved land. In Queensland and WA, contracts that substantially form one arrangement are added together.
What if my price is below market value?: In NSW and Queensland, duty is charged on the higher of the price and the property's unencumbered (market) value. In Western Australia, the dutiable value is the unencumbered value where that is greater than the consideration. So a low price does not lower the duty in any of those states.
Does Victoria use the same approach?: Victoria has its own off-the-plan concession and a temporary one for strata apartments and townhouses. The SRO's pages and its public ruling DA-048v2 set out who qualifies, so confirm the detail there or with your conveyancer. This guide does not state Victorian rates or dates.
Are the NSW rates the same every year?: No. Revenue NSW adjusts general thresholds and rates each year in line with the Consumer Price Index, and uses the contract date to pick the rate year. This guide uses the 2026/27 table, which applies to contracts from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027.

Keep reading

Sources

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