The ACT 2026-27 Budget confirms zero stamp duty for every Canberra first home buyer from July 1, with no price cap or income test. What it means.
Updated 1 October 2026
The ACT Government has announced that from 1 July 2026, no first home buyer in the Australian Capital Territory will pay stamp duty - on any property, at any price, regardless of income. The change, confirmed in the 2026-27 ACT Budget, makes Canberra the first jurisdiction in Australia to completely abolish stamp duty for all first home buyers. For buyers purchasing in the ACT, this removes one of the largest upfront costs in a market where the typical buyer currently faces a stamp duty bill of approximately $25,000 to $35,000 on a standard purchase.
The ACT already had one of the more generous stamp duty concession schemes for first home buyers. Under the existing Home Buyer Concession Scheme, first home buyers could access a full exemption on properties valued up to approximately $1,020,000, subject to income thresholds starting at $250,000 of assessable income for buyers without dependants.
That scheme, while meaningful, left two groups paying full stamp duty:
From July 1, 2026, both groups benefit. There is no price cap. There is no income test. Any first home buyer purchasing a property in the ACT from that date pays zero stamp duty.
Stamp duty on a typical Canberra property purchase is a substantial upfront cost. On a property valued at $800,000, a standard ACT buyer currently pays approximately $28,000 in stamp duty. On a purchase at $1,100,000, the duty bill rises to roughly $45,000 or more. From July 1, a first home buyer in either scenario pays none of this.
The practical effect on a typical first home purchase is significant. Stamp duty savings of $25,000 to $45,000 can represent anywhere from six months to over a year of deposit-saving effort for a median-income household in Canberra. Removing this cost does not change the purchase price itself, but it meaningfully reduces the total cash a buyer needs to have ready on settlement day.
The budget also expands exemptions more broadly. Pensioners, eligible NDIS participants, and any buyer who has not owned property in the last five years will also access expanded stamp duty relief - a recognition that the barriers to home ownership affect people across different stages of life, not only those buying for the first time.
The ACT Budget also includes a broader package of changes aimed at what planners call the "missing middle" - the medium-density housing typology between detached houses and large apartment towers.
As part of this reform, stamp duty will be removed on all new unit-titled properties purchased by owner-occupiers, and the existing concession for owner-occupiers buying off-the-plan units will continue. The aim is to reduce a tax barrier that has historically slowed the development of townhouses, terraces, and smaller apartment buildings in the territory.
For first home buyers specifically, this matters because the unit and townhouse segment in Canberra often represents a more accessible entry point to the market than detached housing. Removing stamp duty on these purchases - while also abolishing it for all first home buyers regardless of dwelling type - creates a consistent zero-duty environment for new buyers across every part of the market.
The ACT is also more than halfway through a 20-year program to progressively replace stamp duty with a broad-based land tax. The complete abolition of stamp duty for first home buyers accelerates that transition in a targeted way.
Whether you are buying in Canberra already or considering it, a few practical points are worth working through before July 1:
Use these tools to understand how the ACT stamp duty abolition fits into your overall first home buying position: