Stamp duty in NSW, officially called transfer duty, is a state tax the buyer pays when they purchase property, and it is calculated on a progressive, tiered scale of the price (or value, whichever is higher). On a typical Sydney home it commonly runs into the tens of thousands of dollars, which makes it the biggest upfront cost most buyers face after the deposit itself.
That is the short version. The longer version is worth your attention, because stamp duty is one of those costs that is easy to forget at the open-home stage and impossible to ignore once contracts are exchanged. Below is how it is worked out, roughly what it costs, who might pay little or nothing, and when the bill actually lands.
What stamp duty actually is
Transfer duty is levied by the NSW Government and administered by Revenue NSW. It applies when ownership of land or property changes hands, and the person buying is the one who pays it. It is not part of your loan in the way the purchase price is, and lenders generally will not lend against it, so in most cases it has to come out of your own pocket alongside the deposit.
The duty is dutiable on the greater of the purchase price or the property’s market value. For an ordinary arm’s length sale those two numbers are the same. Where they diverge, for example a transfer between family members at a mate’s-rates price, Revenue NSW will assess against the market value, so a generous discount on paper does not shrink the duty.
How the tiered scale works
Stamp duty is not a flat percentage. It works like income tax: the property value is sliced into bands, and each band is charged at a higher marginal rate than the one below it. A small fixed amount applies up to a low threshold, then a few cents in the dollar on the next slice, rising as the value climbs. Premium rates apply at the top end, generally for properties in the multi-million-dollar range.
The practical upshot is that duty rises faster than the price. Move from a $900,000 purchase to a $1.2 million one and the dollar cost of duty climbs by more than the 33 per cent jump in price, because the extra value is taxed in higher bands. This is also why “just under a round number” thinking rarely saves much: the scale is smooth, not a cliff, so there is no magic price point that suddenly slashes the bill.
The exact rates and band thresholds are set by legislation and are adjusted from time to time, including periodic indexation. They change often enough that quoting precise cents-in-the-dollar figures here would risk going stale. For the current scale, the only reliable source is Revenue NSW.
Roughly what it costs
To give you a feel for the order of magnitude rather than a quote, the table below shows indicative duty across a range of prices. Treat these as ballpark ranges only. They are not a calculation for your purchase, thresholds and rates shift, and your actual figure depends on the current scale and any concessions you qualify for.
| Purchase price | Indicative transfer duty (ranges only) |
|---|---|
| $600,000 | roughly $20,000 to $23,000 |
| $800,000 | roughly $30,000 to $33,000 |
| $1,000,000 | roughly $40,000 to $43,000 |
| $1,500,000 | roughly $66,000 to $70,000 |
| $2,000,000 | roughly $94,000 to $99,000 |
Indicative only, last checked June 2026. These are rough ranges to illustrate scale, not a quote. For an exact figure use a stamp duty calculator and confirm against the current scale at Revenue NSW.
You can see the pattern: somewhere around the four per cent mark of the price at typical Sydney values, climbing as a share of price the higher you go. If you want a number you can actually plan around, run your specific price through a stamp duty calculator and then sanity-check it against the official Revenue NSW figures before you commit to anything.
First home buyers: who pays less, or nothing
This is where the cost can change dramatically. Under the NSW First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme, eligible first home buyers may receive a full exemption from transfer duty up to a certain price threshold, and a partial concession on a sliding scale above that, up to a higher cap. Buy below the exemption threshold and your duty can be zero. Buy in the concession band and you pay a reduced amount. Buy above the upper cap and you are back on the full scale like everyone else.
There are conditions attached. Typically these include being a genuine first home buyer (you and usually your partner have not owned property in Australia before), buying an established home or land to build on, and moving in within a set period to live there as your principal place of residence rather than as an investment. The precise eligibility rules, the exemption threshold, and the concession cap are all set by Revenue NSW and have been adjusted more than once in recent years.
Because those thresholds move, do not anchor your budget to a number a friend mentioned eighteen months ago. Check the live figures.
Budget for the full duty, then treat any first home buyer concession as a bonus you have confirmed in writing, not a discount you have assumed.
If you are still working out what you can afford before any of this applies, our guide on how much you can borrow is the sensible place to start, because the duty is calculated on top of the price your lender will support.
When the bill is due
Timing catches people out. Transfer duty in NSW is generally payable within about three months of the exchange of contracts, not at settlement weeks or months later as you might assume. In practice your conveyancer or solicitor usually arranges payment as part of completing the transfer, but the underlying liability is triggered at exchange and the clock starts then.
The reason this matters is cash flow. The duty needs to be available as cleared funds around settlement, separate from your deposit and separate from your loan. If you have stretched to the deposit and forgotten the duty, that is a very uncomfortable conversation to have a fortnight before settlement. Lenders mortgage insurance, where it applies, is yet another line on top again, and our explainer on how LMI works covers where that one fits.
Foreign buyers and the surcharge
If you are not an Australian citizen or permanent resident, there is more to budget for. Foreign purchasers generally pay an additional surcharge purchaser duty on residential property in NSW, charged on top of the standard transfer duty. The surcharge is a meaningful percentage of the property value in its own right, so the combined cost for a foreign buyer is materially higher than the standard scale alone. The definition of a foreign person and the surcharge rate are set by Revenue NSW, and like everything else here they are subject to change.
The reform backdrop
Stamp duty has been a moving target in policy terms for several years. There have been reforms and proposals across recent NSW budgets, including debate about replacing the upfront lump sum with an ongoing annual property tax, and various changes to first home buyer settings. Some measures have come in, some have been wound back, and the politics of it are not settled.
For you as a buyer, the lesson is not to follow the policy debate closely. It is simpler than that: assume the rules can shift between one purchase and the next, and confirm the current scales and concessions at the time you buy rather than relying on what was true last year.
The bottom line
Stamp duty in NSW is the buyer’s tax on a property purchase, worked out on a tiered scale of the price, and on a typical Sydney home it commonly runs to tens of thousands of dollars due within about three months of exchange. Eligible first home buyers may pay a reduced amount or nothing under the First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme, foreign buyers pay a surcharge on top, and the thresholds and rates change often enough that no figure here should be treated as gospel.
This is general information, not personal financial or tax advice, and your circumstances will shape what you actually pay. Before you budget or sign anything, run your specific price through a calculator, then confirm the current scale, concessions and due dates directly with Revenue NSW or your conveyancer. The numbers move. The habit of checking them should not.