Buyer costs · Queensland
The Queensland first home duty concession on a home over $750,000.
Queensland's first home (new home) concession has no property value cap. If your contract is dated on or after 1 May 2025, the home is new and you meet the Queensland Revenue Office eligibility rules, transfer duty is nil at $900,000 in exactly the same way it is nil at $650,000.
General information only, not financial, tax or legal advice. Last updated: July 2026.
Is there a price cap on the first home new home concession?
No. The first home (new home) concession carries no property value cap for eligible contracts dated on or after 1 May 2025. The price of the house does not decide whether you get the concession. What decides it is whether you are an eligible first home buyer and whether the property is a new home under the Queensland Revenue Office rules.
Source: transfer duty concessions for homes, Queensland Revenue Office. Eligibility, the concession claimed and the duty payable all depend on your circumstances and the property. Confirm your position with QRO or your solicitor before signing a contract.
This matters in South-East Queensland because prices in the growth corridors have moved well past the old first home thresholds. Ipswich and Moreton Bay have both been running ahead of Brisbane on price growth, as covered in Ipswich and Moreton Bay outpacing Brisbane home prices and Ipswich house price growth picking up pace in 2026. A capped concession would push first home buyers out of the newest stock. An uncapped one keeps a $900,000 completed house on the table.
What do you pay in duty at $900,000?
Nil, where you are an eligible first home buyer, the property is a new home and the contract is dated on or after 1 May 2025. The concession removes the transfer duty rather than trimming it, so there is no sliding scale to work through and nothing to phase out as the price rises past $750,000.
Two things follow from that. First, the duty line in your settlement statement is a zero rather than a number you have to save for, which frees deposit savings for the costs that remain. Second, the price you negotiate is the price you plan around, because no duty step is waiting above a threshold to change the maths mid-search.
Buyers who do not qualify, for example second-time buyers or purchasers of an established home, pay duty under the standard Queensland transfer duty rates and any other concession they are entitled to. Rates and the official estimator are published by the Queensland Revenue Office. To model the deposit, repayments and settlement costs behind a specific price, use our affordability calculator.
Which concession applies to a completed house?
The first home (new home) concession is the one that applies to a house that has not previously been occupied or sold as a place of residence. Queensland's other first home concessions cover established homes and vacant land, and those are value-capped. The uncapped treatment is the new home pathway.
A Pearson Bros Homes house sits squarely in that definition. We develop and sell completed, turnkey homes. The house is built and finished before it is listed, then sold under a single contract of sale at a fixed price, so it is a new home that has never been lived in and never been sold as someone's residence. There is no separate build contract, no progress payments and no build wait. You settle on a normal property timeline of about 30 to 60 days and move in.
Every home is built to the NCC 7-Star energy standard, carries a seven-year structural warranty under the QBCC Home Warranty Scheme and a 12-month post-handover maintenance period. First home buyers may also access the First Home Guarantee, with a 5 percent deposit and no LMI, up to a $1,000,000 Greater Brisbane price cap, with income tests removed from 1 October 2025. That combination is what puts a finished $900,000 house within reach of a first home buyer rather than out of it.
- New home: not previously occupied and not previously sold as a place of residence. This is the uncapped first home concession pathway.
- Established home: a value-capped first home concession applies instead, with duty payable above the cap.
- Vacant land: a separate first home vacant land concession applies, and you then carry the build separately.
Concession categories and current eligibility conditions, including the residence requirements you must meet after settlement, are set out by the Queensland Revenue Office. Figures other than those stated above are not quoted here because they change by contract date and circumstance.
What else settles on top of the price?
With duty at nil, the remaining settlement costs are the title and mortgage registration fees, your conveyancer, any lender fees, rates and water adjustments to the seller, and insurance from settlement day. None are set by us, and each is quotable in advance, so the total is knowable before you sign.
| Cost at settlement | Who sets it | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer duty | Queensland Revenue Office | Nil for an eligible first home buyer of a new home on a contract dated from 1 May 2025. No value cap applies. |
| Transfer (title) registration fee | Titles Queensland | A scaled fee based on the property value, payable to register you on title. Published on the current fee schedule. |
| Mortgage registration fee | Titles Queensland | A flat fee, payable only if you are borrowing and registering a mortgage on title. |
| Conveyancing and legal | Your solicitor or conveyancer | Professional fees plus searches. Ask for a fixed quote covering both, including the search costs, before you engage. |
| Lender and loan costs | Your lender | Application, valuation and settlement fees where charged. LMI does not apply if you buy under the First Home Guarantee. |
| Council rates and water adjustment | Local council and utility | You reimburse the seller for the portion of the current period after settlement. Calculated by your conveyancer. |
| Building insurance | Your insurer | Cover from settlement day, or earlier if your contract requires it. Quotable in advance. |
| Moving and connections | You | Removalist, electricity, internet. On a completed home these land on a known settlement date rather than a shifting build date. |
Registration fees are set on a published statutory scale by Titles Queensland and duty is administered by the Queensland Revenue Office. No dollar estimates are stated here because these fees change and are specific to each purchase. Ask your conveyancer for an itemised settlement statement, and use the affordability calculator to run the totals against your deposit.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a value cap on the Queensland first home new home concession?
No. The Queensland first home (new home) transfer duty concession has no property value cap for eligible contracts dated on or after 1 May 2025. A $900,000 new home is treated on the same terms as a $600,000 one, provided the property is a new home and you meet the Queensland Revenue Office eligibility rules. Older value-capped first home concessions still apply to established homes, so the concession you claim depends on whether the house is new.
Does a $900,000 new home still get nil transfer duty?
Yes, where the buyer is an eligible first home buyer, the property is a new home and the contract is dated on or after 1 May 2025. The concession removes the transfer duty payable rather than reducing it against a threshold, so the amount owing at $900,000 is nil. Buyers who do not qualify pay duty under the Queensland Revenue Office standard transfer duty rates, which you can estimate with the QRO calculator.
Does a completed house count as a new home?
A new home for duty purposes is one that has not previously been occupied or sold as a place of residence. A Pearson Bros Homes house is built and finished before it is listed, then sold under a single contract of sale at a fixed price, so it has never been lived in. Confirm your own eligibility with the Queensland Revenue Office or your solicitor before signing, because the concession depends on your circumstances as well as the property.
See completed homes you can buy as your first home
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View available propertiesGeneral information only. Transfer duty concessions, registration fees and buyer incentives are set by the Queensland Revenue Office, Titles Queensland and the Commonwealth, and they change. Eligibility depends on your circumstances, the property and your contract date, and conditions apply after settlement. Nothing here is financial, tax or legal advice. Confirm your position with the Queensland Revenue Office, your solicitor or conveyancer and your accountant before you sign a contract.