First home vacant land concession

If you buy vacant land on which to build your first home, you might be eligible for a full or partial concession (reduction) on the amount of transfer (stamp) duty you have to pay. See the obligations and how to apply.

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Other concessions for homes pages

You can claim a first home vacant land concession for transfer (stamp) duty when acquiring vacant land to build your first home, if you meet certain requirements. For agreements entered into:

from 1 May 2025, you may not pay any duty on residential vacant land.

Residential vacant land

Vacant land, or the part of vacant land, on which a residence is to be constructed.

It includes the curtilage that is to be attributable to the residence if the curtilage is to be used for residential purposes.

Duty will be imposed on any portion of the land that is non-residential land.
from 9 June 2024 to 30 April 2025, a duty concession of up to $10,675 is available for vacant land valued less than $500,000.
from 1 July 2012 to 8 June 2024, a duty concession of up to $7,175 is available for vacant land valued less than $400,000.

Additional foreign acquirer duty (AFAD) may apply if you are a foreign person for transactions entered into from 1 October 2016.

There are no additional concessions or exemptions for seniors card or pensioner concession card holders.

If you are a transfer duty self assessor, you can:

refer to the residential land concession toolkit for help with the first home vacant land concession
view a list of all self-assessed transactions, concessions and exemptions, and their related toolkits.

Eligibility

To be eligible for a first home vacant land concession when you buy or acquire vacant land , you must:

be legally acquiring the property as an individual
for transactions entered into on or after 1 August 2026—be an Australian citizen, permanent resident or specified foreign retiree (This doesn’t apply to transactions entered into before 1 August 2026.)
have never claimed the first home vacant land concession on another property
have never held an interest
Interest in a residence

Typically, you have held an interest (or share) if you have ever owned a house, apartment, unit or other residence anywhere in the world.

It doesn’t matter if you owned the residence solely or jointly (with others in equal or unequal shares), or there was a mortgage over it.

You are not considered to have held an interest if you:

held the property as trustee for somebody else

leased a property and paid a bond and rent only

lent money and had it secured by way of mortgage, charge, etc.

Other proprietary interests might also exclude you from claiming the first home concession or first home vacant land concession.

You may wish to seek independent legal advice.
in a residence anywhere in Australia or overseas
be at least 18 years of age
be paying market value
build your first home on the land, move in with your personal belongings and live there on a daily basis within 2 years of settlement (this time cannot be extended)
only build 1 home

Home

Transfer duty

A residence that the owner has occupied as their principal place of residence within 1 year of the transfer date for the residential land

on the land
be certain there is no building, or part of a building, on the land when you acquire it
meet certain requirements after you claim the concession.

Companies are not eligible to claim a concession, except when they are acting as a corporate trustee.

Trustees are not eligible for the concessions unless all the following apply:

The transferees

Transferee

A party that is acquiring (e.g. buying) dutiable property is a transferee

are trustees of a trust (other than a discretionary or unit trust).
The beneficiaries:
- are individuals
- are all under a legal disability
  
  Legal disability
  
  The lack of capability to perform an act that includes the ability to manage or administer financial affairs as determined by a court.
  
  If a person has a legal disability, a guardian usually oversees their financial affairs.
- for transactions entered into on or after 1 August 2026—were all Australian citizens, permanent residents or specified foreign retirees when the transaction was entered into.
The residence will be the home of all the beneficiaries.

Use our home concession eligibility tester to find out if you are eligible to claim one of the home concessions.

Fiona (an Australian citizen) and Mark (who is not an Australian citizen, permanent resident or specified foreign retiree) buy a residential block of land to build their first home on.

Fiona is acquiring a 75% interest and meets the eligibility to claim a first home vacant land concession.

Mark is acquiring a 25% interest and doesn’t meet the eligibility criteria. His interest will be calculated for full transfer duty and AFAD will also be applied.

Two or more acquirers

Provided you qualify, you can claim a first home vacant land concession on your interest (or share), whether or not other acquirers also qualify. The calculations can be complex, so use the transfer duty calculator to see what you might pay when there are mixed concession claims.

Mixed-use property

If the property is to be used for both residential and non-residential purposes (e.g. running a business), the concession will only apply to the part of the land that is to be used for your home.

See the practice direction on the transfer duty concession for homes and first homes—residential purposes (DA087.1).

Use the transfer duty calculator to see what you might pay when the transaction includes non-residential property.

Danni purchases vacant land with an area of 10,000m². She plans to fence off 1,000m² where she will build her first home and establish a garden. The remaining 9,000m² will be used to store vehicles for her family’s nearby business.

Provided Danni meets all the eligibility criteria, the first home vacant land concession will apply to the 1,000m² being used for residential purposes.

The remaining 9,000m² will not receive the concession.

You might also qualify for other government help for home buyers.

Requirements

If you have claimed the first home vacant land concession, there are certain requirements in order to keep it.

Selling or transferring the property

Before you move in: You are not able to sell or transfer all or part of the property before you move in.
After you move in: A partial concession may apply if you sell or transfer all or part the property within 1 year after you move in.

Leasing, renting or granting exclusive possession of the property

Before you move in: You are not able to lease, rent or otherwise grant exclusive possession
Exclusive possession

Generally, the right to exclude all others, including the owner, from all or part of a property.

Whether exclusive possession has been granted depends on the:

terms of the written agreement, where there is one

facts and circumstances of the arrangement, where there is no written agreement.

Exclusive possession may also be granted by law. For example, the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 applies to certain renting arrangements.

You should seek professional advice before arranging to rent out all or any part of your home or granny flat. You should also consider potential implications with other authorities—such as the Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA) or the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)—or what it means for your coverage with your insurance provider.
of all or part of the property before you move in.
After you move in:
- You are able to lease, rent or otherwise grant exclusive possession of part of the property, providing that the lease arrangement starts on or after 10 September 2024 and you continue to live in the property. Where the lease arrangement starts before this date, you may lose the concession.
- You are not able to lease, rent or otherwise grant exclusive possession of all of the property within 1 year after you move into the property.

Note: You may also wish to consider potential implications with other authorities—such as your obligations as a landlord with the Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA)—or what it means for your income and other federal taxes with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) or for your coverage with your insurance provider.

Cassie buys land on which to build her first home. She claims the first home vacant land concession. Instead of building, she sells the property to a developer.

Because Cassie sold all or part of the property before moving in, she has not met the requirements of the concession. She must notify us so a duty reassessment can be made.

Chenea bought land on which to build her first home. She claimed the first home vacant land concession.

Six months after moving into her newly built home, she sold the property.

Because Chenea sold all or part of the property within 1 year after moving in, she has not met the requirements of the concession. She must notify us so a duty reassessment can be made. She may be eligible for a partial concession (i.e. to keep part of the concession for the time she lived there).

Dimitri buys land on which to build his first home. He claims the first home vacant land concession.

Before moving into his newly built home, he rents it to a group of students.

Because Dimitri rented all or part of the property before moving in, he has not met the requirements of the concession. He must notify us so a duty reassessment can be made.

Emma bought land and had her first home built there. She claimed the first home vacant land concession. She moved in shortly after completion.

Emma then decides to rent a room to a friend. Although she rented part of the property after moving in, because she continues to live there, Emma is entitled to keep the concession. She does not need to notify us of this lease arrangement.

However, if Emma’s lease arrangement started before 10 September 2024, she must notify us for a duty reassessment because the requirements of the concession would not have been met.

Jon built his first home and claimed the first home vacant land concession. He moved in shortly after completion and lived there for 6 months before moving out.

Shortly after moving out, he rented all of the property to a family.

Because Jon rented all of the property within 1 year of moving in, he has not met the requirements of the concession. He must notify us so a duty reassessment can be made. He may be eligible for a partial concession (i.e. Jon may be able to keep part of the concession for the time he lived in the home).

Read the public rulings on home concessions:

disposal and partial renting between 10 September 2024 and 5 December 2024 (DA000.18)
occupancy requirements (DA085.1).

Read the practice direction where not all taxpayers comply with the conditions (DA000.1).

How much you will pay

For agreements entered into:

from 1 May 2025—duty is calculated on the whole property at the transfer duty rate minus the transfer duty amount calculated on the portion of the land that is residential vacant land.

Residential vacant land

Vacant land, or the part of vacant land, on which a residence is to be constructed.

It includes the curtilage that is to be attributable to the residence if the curtilage is to be used for residential purposes.
- If the whole property is residential vacant land—no duty will be payable.
- If a portion of the land is non-residential vacant land—duty will be imposed on that portion of the land.
from 9 June 2024 to 30 April 2025—duty is calculated at the transfer duty rate minus the first home vacant land concession amount. If the vacant land is valued at $350,000 or under, the first home vacant land concession means no duty is payable.
from 1 July 2012 to 8 June 2024—duty is calculated at the transfer duty rate minus the first home vacant land concession amount. If the vacant land is valued at $250,000 or under, the first home vacant land concession means no duty is payable.

See the previous transfer duty rates for historical property value thresholds and corresponding duty concession amounts.

You can use the transfer duty estimator or rates for home concession to find out how much duty you may have to pay when you buy vacant land.

Calculation examples

This table shows the duty payable for agreements entered into from 1 May 2025 where all transferees meet the eligibility criteria.

For agreements entered into before 1 May 2025, use the transfer duty estimator or previous rates.

Vacant land value	Duty payable
$350,000	$0 No duty payable because there is no value cap, and the full concession applies.
$360,000	$0 No duty payable because there is no value cap, and the full concession applies.
$500,000	$0 No duty payable because there is no value cap, and the full concession applies.
$750,000	$0 No duty payable because there is no value cap, and the full concession applies.
$952,000 Residential $802,000 Non-residential $150,000	$6,750 The amount of duty calculated on the value of the residential vacant land ($29,115) is deducted from the duty calculated on the whole property ($35,865), resulting in duty imposed on the portion of the vacant land that is non-residential land. Duty of $6,750 is payable.

How to claim

Submit the following documentation and forms when lodging them for stamping:

Document lodgement form (Form TR1)
your contract
a valuation (if required)
covering letter with any additional information or details you want to provide
Claim a first home vacant land concession (Form D2.7)
Identity details annexure for each non-Australian transferee for transactions entered into before 1 August 2026
Form 1 Transfer and Form 24 from Titles Queensland.

For help completing the Title Queensland forms, read part 1 (transfer) of the Land Title Practice Manual and the guide to Form 24 (property information).

If you give us an email address or mobile number, we will confirm when we’ve received your documents.

Find out more about lodging and stamping your documents.

18 years of age requirement

To claim a first home vacant land concession as a minor, you need to apply to us first so we can determine if we should make an exception to the age requirement.

Minors can only claim a first home vacant land concession if we are satisfied that the transaction is not part of a scheme to avoid transfer duty.

We will consider the following factors on a case-by-case basis:

your age
the way in which the vacant land purchase agreement is structured
the reason for the purchase
the living arrangements for you and your family once the home is constructed
the family arrangements generally
whether the funds to purchase the vacant land were independently sourced.

Claiming after the transfer

If you’re unsure that you meet the concession requirements, you can pay duty at the full rate when your documents are assessed and then claim the concession later if you have met, or will meet, the requirements. You will need to lodge the concession forms and documents with us.

You can also do this if you didn’t claim a concession when you acquired the vacant land because you weren’t going to immediately build a home, but then you decide to.

In either case, if the concession is granted, we will reassess your duty at the concessional rate and refund the balance of your original payment.

Obligations after you claim

You must notify us by completing a notice for reassessment—home, first home, first home (new home) or first home vacant land concessions (Form D2.4, also available as a PDF) if you:

don’t move into the residence within 2 years of the transfer date

Transfer date

The date you’re entitled to possess the property.

This is usually the date of settlement or the date the land is vested in your name.

See the public ruling on concessions for home and first homes (DA085.1).
sell or transfer all or part of the property before moving in, or within 1 year of moving in
lease, rent or otherwise grant exclusive possession
Exclusive possession

Generally, the right to exclude all others, including the owner, from all or part of a property.

Whether exclusive possession has been granted depends on the:

terms of the written agreement, where there is one

facts and circumstances of the arrangement, where there is no written agreement.

Exclusive possession may also be granted by law. For example, the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 applies to certain renting arrangements.

You should seek professional advice before arranging to rent out all or any part of your home or granny flat. You should also consider potential implications with other authorities—such as the Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA) or the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)—or what it means for your coverage with your insurance provider.
of all the property before moving in, or within 1 year of moving in
lease, rent or otherwise grant exclusive possession of part of the property within 1 year of moving in (if the lease arrangement started before 10 September 2024)
change the portion of land used for residential purposes after building the residence.

Read more about common reasons for a reassessment of transfer duty.

After a reassessment, you may have to pay a transfer duty liability. You may also have to pay unpaid tax interest and penalty tax, depending on your circumstances.

First home owner grant

If you’re a first home owner buying or building a brand-new home, you may also be eligible to claim a first home owner grant.

You’re allowed to claim both the grant and a transfer duty concession, but each has its own eligibility requirements. The grant allows you to rent out a room or granny flat while using it as your residence; but, depending on when you enter the lease arrangement, this could disqualify you from retaining a transfer duty concession.

Learn the differences between the residency requirements of the first home concessions and the first home owner grant.

Last updated: 31 July 2026