First home vacant land concession

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.

The first home vacant land concession only applies to vacant land valued under $500,000 and can save you up to $10,675.

The threshold for the concession changed on 9 June 2024. See the current and previous threshold and rates.

You do not have to be an Australian citizen or permanent resident to claim a concession, but you must meet the eligibility criteria. Additional foreign acquirer duty may apply if you are a foreign person.

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
• have never claimed the first home vacant land concession on another project
• have never held an interest in a residence anywhere in Australia or overseas
• be at least 18 years of age (we explain below when we may waive this requirement)
• be paying market value if the vacant land is valued between $350,001 and $499,999
• 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 on the land
• be certain there is no building, or part of a building, on the land when you acquire it
• not dispose (sell, transfer, lease or otherwise grant exclusive possession) of all or part of the property before you move in.

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 are trustees of a trust (other than a discretionary or unit trust)
• the beneficiaries are individuals, all of whom are under a legal disability
• the residence will be the home of all the beneficiaries.

You do not have to be an Australian citizen or permanent resident to claim a concession. However, additional foreign acquirer duty may apply if you are a foreign person.

To keep the benefit of the first home vacant land concession in full after you move in, you must not dispose of all or part of the property (including granny flats) within 1 year. A partial concession may apply if you dispose within 1 year.

Use our home concession eligibility tester to find out if you are eligible to claim a concession.

For more information, read the public ruling on occupancy requirements for homes and first homes (DA085.1).

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.

How much you will pay

The first home vacant land concession 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.

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

​Vacant land value	​Duty payable	​Calculation
​$350,000	​$0.00	​No duty payable because the value of the vacant land is $350,000 or under.
​$360,000	​$1,060.00	​The transfer duty without the concession is $11,025. Because the vacant land is valued at $360,000 to $369,999.99, a first home vacant land concession of $9,965 applies.
​$500,000	​$15,925.00	​The concession doesn’t apply because the value of the vacant land is $500,000 or over.

How to claim

Complete the following forms and include them with your contract, and valuation (if required), when lodging them for stamping:

• Claim for transfer duty concession first home vacant land (Form D2.7)
• Identity details annexure for each non-Australian transferor and transferee
• 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.

When lodging documents, make sure you include a covering letter with your name, address and details of what you have lodged. If you also 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 just need to lodge the 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, we will reassess your duty at the concessional rate and refund the balance of your original payment.

Find out about applying for a reassessment.

Obligations after you claim

If you claim the concession but don’t meet its requirements, you must notify us by completing a notice for reassessment (Form D2.4) (also available as a PDF).

Read more about common reasons for reassessment to find out about a reassessment of your transfer duty concession and what documents you need to lodge.

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 building a new home, you may also be eligible to claim the 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 this could disqualify you from retaining a transfer duty concession.

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