No Stamp Duty for First Home Buyers: ACT Budget Delivers a National First

The ACT Government has abolished stamp duty for every first home buyer in the territory from 1 July 2026, removing both the income threshold and the property price cap that previously limited who qualified. The change, part of the 2026-27 ACT Budget, makes Canberra the first jurisdiction in Australia to eliminate the tax for first home buyers across the board.

The announcement, made by Chief Minister Andrew Barr on 10 June 2026, marks the culmination of a tax reform program the ACT Government has been running for 14 years. Stamp duty – formally called conveyance duty in the ACT – has long been one of the largest upfront costs facing property buyers nationally. For a first home buyer in Canberra purchasing at $1.5 million, the saving under the new rule is approximately $68,100.

What exactly has changed

Under the previous framework, first home buyers in the ACT could access the Home Buyer Concession Scheme (HBC), which offered a full exemption from stamp duty on properties valued up to $1,020,000 -- but only if all buyers and their domestic partners earned below an income threshold. For a couple without dependent children, that threshold was $250,000 in assessed taxable income for the financial year before the transaction date. Buyers above the income limit, or purchasing above $1,020,000, had to pay duty in full.

From 1 July 2026, those conditions disappear. The exemption applies to any individual buying their first home in the ACT, regardless of income and regardless of purchase price, provided the property is purchased to live in.

Chief Minister Barr described the change as completing a key element of the ACT's long-term reform: "At its core, there has been a sustained focus on removing barriers to home ownership, and today we announce the completion of a key element of this reform by abolishing stamp duty for all first home buyers."

How much buyers save

The saving depends on the purchase price and whether the buyer previously qualified for the HBC. Under the rates in place from 1 July 2025, an eligible owner-occupier who did not meet the HBC income threshold and was buying at $1 million faced a stamp duty bill of approximately $33,958. That liability goes to zero from 1 July 2026.

At the top end of the market, the difference is more significant. A $1.5 million purchase attracts a flat rate of $4.54 per $100 of the dutiable value under the current rate schedule -- roughly $68,100 -- which represents the full saving for a first home buyer at that price point under the new rule.

For buyers who already qualified for the HBC on properties up to $1,020,000, the immediate change is modest: they were already paying nothing. The reform primarily benefits higher-income buyers, buyers at higher price points, and buyers who previously fell just outside the eligibility criteria.

The old system: Home Buyer Concession Scheme

The Home Buyer Concession Scheme has been the ACT's primary stamp duty concession for first home buyers since 2019. Under the scheme, all buyers and their domestic partners – including de facto and civil union partners – had to meet four conditions:

• All buyers must be individuals aged 18 or over.
• Total household income in the previous financial year must fall below the income threshold.
• No buyer can have owned or held an interest in any property in the last five years. (This window was tightened from two years to five years in July 2024.)
• At least one buyer must live in the property continuously for a minimum of one year from settlement.

For transaction dates from 1 July 2025, the maximum concession under the HBC was $35,238, covering full duty on properties up to $1,020,000. Above that, duty applied at $6.40 per $100 for the portion between $1,020,000 and $1,455,000, before reverting to a flat rate of $4.54 per $100 on the total value above $1,455,000.

The income threshold – $250,000 for buyers with no dependent children, scaling to $273,000 for households with five or more dependent children – was the most common barrier. Dual-income professional households in Canberra, where wages tend to run higher than the national average, frequently exceeded it.

The HBC is replaced by the new blanket exemption from 1 July 2026.

Broader stamp duty changes in the budget

The first home buyer abolition is the headline measure, but the 2026-27 Budget includes a wider package of stamp duty reforms.

Exemptions are expanded for pensioners who are moving, enabling more Canberrans to downsize without a large tax bill. Eligible National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants buying a home also receive expanded relief. Home buyers who have not owned property anywhere in the last five years -- including previous owners who sold up years ago -- gain expanded access to concessions, not just those buying for the very first time.

On the investor and developer side, stamp duty is removed on all new unit-titled properties purchased by owner-occupiers. The existing off-the-plan unit duty concession continues. It is also extended to turn-key units -- newly constructed dwellings that were not sold off-the-plan -- which had previously fallen outside the concession's scope.

Treasurer and Planning Minister Chris Steel said the changes were designed to improve housing supply as well as affordability: "Every Canberran who buys a new unit-titled 'missing middle' home to live in won't pay a cent in stamp duty."

The missing middle package

Alongside the stamp duty measures, the budget includes a package targeting the supply of so-called missing middle housing -- walk-up apartments, townhouses, terraces, and small multi-occupancy developments that sit between detached houses and high-rise blocks.

The Lease Variation Charge (LVC), a fee developers pay when changing land use or increasing density under ACT Crown leases, will be halved for a limited period on qualifying missing middle proposals. The LVC has historically been cited by developers as a significant cost barrier for smaller residential projects.

The government will also introduce the Canberra House Pattern Book -- a set of pre-approved plans for missing middle homes, created through a design competition. Homeowners, developers and builders will be able to purchase these designs for $1,000 and proceed to construction without a separate development application.

Territory Plan changes to enable more missing middle development on most residential blocks are being put to the ACT Legislative Assembly.

Fourteen years of reform – and the trade-off

The ACT's approach to stamp duty has always been part of a broader tax reform program. The territory began phasing out stamp duty in 2012, replacing the revenue with higher recurring land rates (general rates charged annually on all properties). The logic – supported by most economists – is that stamp duty creates a drag on housing turnover by discouraging people from buying or selling when circumstances change.

The 2017 introduction of "barrier free conveyancing" was an earlier milestone. The rates in place today, including the graduated rate schedule that applies from 1 July 2025 for owner-occupiers, reflect successive annual adjustments as stamp duty revenue has been wound back.

That trade-off is not invisible in the 2026-27 Budget. According to the ACT Government's own budget documents, the average residential general rates bill will increase by 5 per cent in 2026-27, with the general rates component rising by an average of 8 per cent. Canberrans who already own property will therefore pay more each year even as first home buyers pay less upfront.

The takeaway: the ACT's reform program redistributes housing taxation from transaction costs to ownership costs. First home buyers save big upfront; existing owners pay incrementally more every year.

What this means for first home buyers

The mechanics of claiming the new exemption are yet to be confirmed in full detail. The ACT Revenue Office is expected to update the Buyer Verification Declaration and supporting guidance before 1 July 2026. Buyers should monitor revenue.act.gov.au for the updated codes and documentation requirements.

Key points for buyers transacting from 1 July 2026:

The transaction date is the date contracts are signed and exchanged – not the settlement date. Buyers who sign contracts before 1 July 2026 but settle after that date will be assessed under the rules in place when contracts were exchanged.

The exemption is for owner-occupiers. At least one buyer must intend to live in the property as their principal place of residence. Investment purchases are not covered.

The five-year prior ownership requirement has not been scrapped for other purposes -- it still applies to the broader expansion of concessions for non-first home buyers. The new first home buyer exemption is the measure that removes it entirely for that specific cohort.

Buyers are advised to seek independent legal or financial advice before transacting, as the ACT Revenue Office conducts compliance checks and may issue a reassessment if eligibility requirements are not met. The default penalty tax rate is 25 per cent.