Stamp Duty Relief Is a State Rule, Not a Federal One
First home buyer support in Australia comes from three unrelated sources: stamp duty concessions set by each state or territory, grants also set by each state, and the federal First Home Super Saver scheme run through super. They have different thresholds, different tests and different application processes, and qualifying for one says nothing about the others.
- The answer: Stamp duty relief and grants are state schemes with property value caps; the First Home Super Saver is federal and caps the contribution instead.
- The trap: State thresholds change with budgets, and the figure a friend quotes from their purchase two years ago may no longer be the one that applies.
- The recommendation: Establish the state concession first, because it is usually the largest single amount and it sets the price range you can buy in.
Where the AI summary above gets this wrong
"First home buyers get a $10,000 grant and no stamp duty."
That's surface-true. Here's what it misses:
- Both figures are state-specific and both change — Grant amounts, stamp duty thresholds and the property value caps differ by state and are revised in state budgets.
- The federal scheme is a different thing entirely — The First Home Super Saver releases voluntary super contributions for a deposit. It is not a grant and it is not a duty concession.
01 The state concessions
Every state and territory offers some stamp duty relief to first home buyers, structured as a full exemption below one property value and a taper up to a higher one, above which full duty applies.
Grants are separate again, generally restricted to new builds or substantially renovated homes rather than established ones, and with their own value caps.
Both usually require you to live in the property for a minimum period, commonly six or twelve months starting within a year of settlement. Buying as an investment forfeits the concession.
Because the thresholds move with state budgets, the only reliable figures are the current ones from the relevant state revenue office at the time you are buying.
02 The federal scheme
The First Home Super Saver scheme lets you make voluntary contributions to super and later release them, plus deemed earnings, for a first home deposit. The benefit is the tax difference between your marginal rate and the 15% contributions rate.
It has its own limits on how much can be contributed per year and in total, and its own eligibility test, which is about never having owned property rather than about the value of what you are buying — the detail is in the First Home Super Saver reference.
The released amount is taxed on the way out at your marginal rate less a 30% offset, which is why the net benefit is smaller than the headline saving suggests — the arithmetic is in the release tax post.
03 Putting them together
Stamp duty relief is usually the largest of the three for an established home, because duty on a median-priced property is tens of thousands of dollars and the exemption removes all of it below the threshold.
That makes the state threshold the binding constraint on what to buy: a purchase slightly above it can cost more in duty than the extra amount paid for the property.
The super scheme stacks on top and is worth running in parallel, because the contributions can be made while you are still saving — the deposit-building comparison is in the deposit versus super post.
Shows: the combined value of a stamp duty concession and a first home grant against the deposit you have saved. Ignores: the First Home Super Saver benefit, lenders mortgage insurance, and any state-specific taper formula.
The state threshold is the one that should shape the search. Buying twenty thousand dollars above the exemption cap can cost you the whole duty concession, which is often more than the twenty thousand. That is a cliff, not a taper, in several states.
FAQ
What concessions do first home buyers get?
State stamp duty relief, a state first home grant usually limited to new builds, and the federal First Home Super Saver scheme. Each has its own eligibility test.
Are the amounts the same in every state?
No. Grant amounts, duty thresholds and property value caps are set by each state and territory and are revised in state budgets.
Do I have to live in the property?
For the state concessions, generally yes — commonly for six or twelve months beginning within a year of settlement. Buying as an investment forfeits them.
Sources
Regulator references
- ASIC Moneysmart — Save for a house deposit · ASIC Moneysmart · 2026Saving a house deposit: the target, the timeline and the accounts to use.Last verified: 2026-09-07
- ATO — First Home Super Saver scheme · Australian Taxation Office · 2026The First Home Super Saver scheme: what can be contributed and later released for a deposit.Last verified: 2026-09-07
Calculator unit tests · the assertions this page's worked example is checked against, and their last result
Changelog
- 2026-09-07 — initial publish (new format)
Run this rule against your situation
See what this rule does to your own projection — month by month, to age 90.
Join the Waitlist
Jordan Reeves
Founder of Talk Through Wealth. A software engineer for over a decade before turning to retirement planning, Jordan built the projection engine after watching family members get fragmented, country-by-country advice that never reconciled. He writes about retirement the way the engine computes it: month-by-month, lifetime-long, and skeptical of any rule of thumb that hasn't been run through the math.