Transfer duty is usually the largest single cost a first home buyer faces after the deposit, and it’s the one most people budget for last. In NSW, the good news is that many first home buyers now pay nothing at all. The complication is that the rules have changed three times in four years, and a lot of what’s still circulating online describes schemes that no longer exist. Here’s where the law actually stands for a NSW purchase settling in the 2026–27 year.
Transfer duty, stamp duty, and why the name matters
What most people call stamp duty is formally transfer duty in NSW. It’s a state tax on the transfer of property, calculated on the dutiable value — broadly, the purchase price or the market value, whichever is higher.
Duty is assessed on the contract, not the loan, so it’s payable whether or not you borrow. It’s also payable by the purchaser, not the vendor. Your conveyancer or solicitor will normally arrange assessment and payment as part of settlement, and it should appear on the estimate you receive before you sign anything. If it doesn’t, ask.
The First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme
The First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme (FHBAS) is the main concession, and since 1 July 2023 it has applied to new and existing homes alike. There’s no longer any advantage, for duty purposes, in buying something newly built.
| Purchase | Duty position |
| Home valued at $800,000 or less | No transfer duty |
| Home valued between $800,000 and $1,000,000 | Concessional duty on a sliding scale |
| Home valued above $1,000,000 | Full duty |
| Vacant land valued at $350,000 or less | No transfer duty |
| Vacant land between $350,000 and $450,000 | Concessional duty on a sliding scale |
| Vacant land above $450,000 | Full duty |
The sliding scale between $800,000 and $1 million is steep, and worth understanding before you bid. On the rates published for transactions entered into between 1 July 2026 and 30 June 2027, an eligible first home buyer pays $9,796.75 on a home at $850,000 and $37,227.65 on a home at $990,000. On vacant land, the equivalent figures are $2,761.40 at $370,000 and $11,475.60 at $430,000.
Read those numbers side by side and the shape of it becomes clear: every dollar of purchase price above $800,000 costs you considerably more than a dollar. At auction, the difference between stopping at $800,000 and pushing to $850,000 isn’t $50,000 — it’s closer to $60,000 once duty is counted.
Who qualifies
The eligibility rules are stricter than most buyers assume. To claim the FHBAS:
- You must be at least 18. The Chief Commissioner has a discretion to waive this.
- At least one purchaser must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident.
- You must never have owned residential land in Australia. Not a home you lived in, not an investment property, not a share in one — anywhere in the country, at any time. Property held solely in a trustee capacity is the narrow exception.
- Your spouse’s history counts too. If your spouse has previously owned residential property in Australia or received a first home buyer benefit, you’re ineligible — even if they’re not a party to this purchase. This catches more people than any other rule.
- You must move in and stay. For transactions on or after 1 July 2023, you must occupy the home as your principal place of residence for a continuous period of at least 12 months, beginning within 12 months of completion.
Where some purchasers are eligible and others aren’t, the eligible purchasers must acquire at least 50 per cent of the property for the concession to apply. Permanent members of the Australian Defence Force enrolled to vote in NSW state elections are exempt from the residence requirement.
That residence requirement deserves emphasis, because it’s a condition, not a formality. If circumstances change and you don’t complete the 12 months, you’re required to notify Revenue NSW, and the duty becomes payable.
The $10,000 grant, and what it doesn’t cover
Separately from the duty concession, the First Home Owner (New Home) Grant pays $10,000 towards the purchase. It applies only to new homes:
- a newly built house, townhouse, apartment or unit, or an off-the-plan purchase, valued at $600,000 or less
- a substantially renovated home not lived in since the renovation, valued at $600,000 or less
- a house-and-land package where the combined value of land, building contract and variations is $750,000 or less
The grant isn’t means tested and isn’t taxable. It carries its own 12-month residence requirement. An existing home doesn’t qualify, however recently it was built — the test is whether anyone has lived in it.
For a Central Coast buyer, the practical consequence is that the grant is out of reach on most established stock and most of what’s available near the water, but remains live for house-and-land in the newer release areas.
The concession and the grant are different things
These two are routinely confused, including by people who should know better. They’re separate programs with separate rules, and you can qualify for one and not the other.
| First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme | First Home Owner (New Home) Grant | |
| What it does | Reduces or removes transfer duty | Pays $10,000 towards the purchase |
| New or existing homes | Both | New or substantially renovated only |
| Value limit | $1,000,000 (homes); $450,000 (vacant land) | $600,000, or $750,000 for house and land |
| Means tested | No | No |
| Residence requirement | 12 months, starting within 12 months of completion | 12 months |
A buyer purchasing an established home at Woy Woy for $780,000 pays no duty and gets no grant. A buyer of a $580,000 new apartment gets both. A buyer of a house-and-land package at $740,000 gets the grant and a concessional duty amount. The combinations matter, and they’re worth working out before you commit to a price.
Three things first home buyers get wrong
“My partner owned a place years ago, but we’re buying this one in my name only.” This doesn’t work. The scheme disqualifies you if your spouse has previously owned residential property in Australia or received a first home buyer benefit, whether or not they’re a purchaser on this contract. It’s the single most common reason an assessment is reversed.
“It was an investment property, so it shouldn’t count.” The test is whether you’ve owned residential land in Australia — not whether you lived in it. A property you rented out, inherited a share of, or held jointly with a sibling will generally disqualify you.
“We’ll claim the exemption now and move in when the lease ends.” The residence requirement is a 12-month continuous period that must begin within 12 months of completion. There’s room to arrange your affairs within that window, but not beyond it, and the obligation to tell Revenue NSW if you fall short sits with you.
Schemes that have ended, and one that has changed
Two things worth clearing up, because both still appear in search results.
First Home Buyer Choice — the option to pay an annual property tax instead of upfront duty — is gone. Revenue NSW now lists it under previous schemes and confirms it closed to new applications on 1 July 2023. Buyers who opted in before then aren’t affected and may continue paying the annual tax. Everyone else pays duty in the ordinary way. If you’ve read that you can choose, you’ve read something out of date.
The federal deposit scheme has been rebuilt. From 1 October 2025 the First Home Guarantee became the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme. Income caps were removed, places became uncapped, and property price caps were increased. Eligible first home buyers can purchase with a 5 per cent deposit — 2 per cent for eligible single parents and guardians — without lenders mortgage insurance. The caps vary by location and are revised from time to time, so check the current figure for the Central Coast with the scheme’s own price cap tool or your lender rather than relying on any article, including this one.
Note that this is a guarantee, not a grant or a duty concession. It affects your deposit, not your duty bill.
One more figure to know
If any purchaser is a foreign person, surcharge purchaser duty applies on top of ordinary duty. It rose from 8 per cent to 9 per cent on 1 January 2025, and the foreign owner land tax surcharge rose from 4 per cent to 5 per cent from the 2025 land tax year. The definition of “foreign person” is technical, and temporary visa holders are often caught by it. If any purchaser isn’t an Australian citizen or permanent resident, raise it with your lawyer before exchange, not after.
Practical first steps
- Get your duty figure before you bid, not after. Ask for it in writing, on the actual purchase price you have in mind.
- Check the spouse rule honestly. A partner’s former investment property will disqualify you, and it’s far better to know in advance than to have an assessment reversed.
- Have the contract reviewed before you sign. Duty is only one of the numbers — the seller disclosure obligations, the cooling-off position and the special conditions all matter.
- Plan for the 12 months. If a posting, a job or a relationship might take you out of the property inside a year, say so early.
- Sort out ownership structure first. If you’re buying with someone else or a parent is contributing, the structure affects both your duty position and what happens later.
The Bottom Line
For a first home buyer on the Central Coast, the practical position in 2026–27 is straightforward enough once the outdated material is stripped away. Under $800,000, you pay no transfer duty. Between $800,000 and $1 million, you pay a sharply rising concessional amount. Above $1 million, you pay in full. A $10,000 grant sits alongside that for new homes only, and the federal scheme helps with your deposit rather than your duty. The traps aren’t in the rates — they’re in the eligibility rules, and particularly in a spouse’s property history.
If you’re buying your first home and want to know exactly where you stand before you sign, don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of our friendly Conveyancing Lawyers Central Coast. We can review your contract, confirm your duty position and walk you through the conveyancing process from exchange to settlement.
