Queensland's off-the-plan duty concession closes in five days: your urgent checklist

If you are actively looking at off-the-plan apartments or townhouses in Queensland, this is a week you cannot afford to miss. Queensland's temporary off-the-plan transfer duty concession closes on 21 October 2026, and with only five days remaining, buyers and their conveyancers need to move now. Contracts signed on 21 October or later will not qualify, which means this weekend and early next week are the last real opportunity to exchange on an eligible purchase.

A quick recap of what the concession does

Queensland's off-the-plan concession lets buyers exclude the cost of construction completed after the contract date from the dutiable value of the property. If you sign early in a project when most of the build still lies ahead, only the value at the time you sign counts for transfer duty, not the finished value. For buyers entering at the pre-construction stage, the saving can be meaningful depending on the purchase price and how much construction work remains at the time you sign.

The concession applies to strata apartments and townhouses within developments that share common property such as lifts, lobbies or shared gardens. It is open to any buyer, not just first home buyers, which is why the closing date matters across the broader Queensland apartment market. There is no price cap on the concession itself, but the saving scales with how much construction work remains after you sign. A contract at the foundation stage generally captures a much larger reduction than one signed close to completion.

If you are a first home buyer, check which path applies to you

Queensland's separate First Home (New Home) Concession already removes transfer duty entirely for eligible first home buyers purchasing a new home, with no price cap. If you meet that eligibility test, the off-the-plan concession may not add anything for you specifically. The situations where the off-the-plan concession still matters for first home buyers are:

• Buying with a partner who has previously owned property - the First Home Concession typically requires all buyers on the contract to be first home buyers. In a mixed-buyer arrangement, the off-the-plan concession may provide a partial reduction where the first home concession would not apply at all.
• Purchases that fall outside the new-home definition, such as an apartment in a small boutique development where the strata plan has already been registered, or where prior owner-occupancy complicates the new-home test. Edge cases like these are worth a direct conversation with your conveyancer before the deadline.

Even if the off-the-plan concession turns out to be irrelevant to your exact situation, understanding which duty paths are open to you is worth confirming before the deadline, not after.

Your five-day action list

With five days until the 21 October cut-off, buyers still in active search need to move through these steps quickly:

• Ask your conveyancer or solicitor today whether the specific development you are considering, and your own buyer circumstances, would qualify for the off-the-plan concession, the First Home Concession, or potentially some combination of the two.
• Confirm the contract date with the developer or agent. The date you sign is what counts for the concession, not the settlement date. Settlement can happen well after 21 October and the saving would still apply, provided the contract itself is signed before the deadline.
• Check that the development is a strata title with common property. A standalone house and land package, or a freehold townhouse without shared common areas, is unlikely to qualify. Confirm this with the developer or agent before assuming the concession applies.
• Get a duty estimate both with and without the concession. Knowing the actual saving in dollar terms helps you decide whether the timing pressure is worth acting on, and gives your lender the correct upfront cost figure for your finance application.
• Make sure your lender or broker has the updated upfront cost figure. Your pre-approval will have been calculated using certain assumptions about stamp duty and other upfront costs. Any change to those figures needs to flow back to your lender before you exchange to avoid delays at settlement.

Getting the full picture before you commit

With interest rates at their highest level in more than a decade and property values in many Queensland markets below their recent peaks, buying off the plan carries financial considerations that go beyond stamp duty timing. Construction timelines have stretched across the industry, and bank valuations at completion sometimes come in below the contracted price in a softening market, which can affect how much your lender will fund at settlement.

If you are considering signing an off-the-plan contract in the next few days specifically to capture the duty concession, make sure the purchase makes sense on its own merits at the numbers you can borrow. A duty saving is real and worth protecting if the opportunity is right, but it should not be the primary reason to commit to a contract in a market where conditions and timelines continue to shift.

Work through your full borrowing capacity with current rate assumptions, your complete upfront costs including all fees, and your budget for holding the property if settlement is delayed. A conveyancer experienced with off-the-plan transactions can also walk you through the sunset clause provisions and what happens if the developer cannot complete on time.

Run the numbers

These tools can help you see the full financial picture before you decide whether to move ahead before the deadline:

• Stamp Duty Calculator - estimate your transfer duty with and without first home buyer concessions applied, so you understand the actual upfront cost you are protecting before the deadline.
• True Cost Calculator - see all the upfront costs beyond duty, including conveyancing, building inspections and other fees that often catch first home buyers by surprise.
• Borrowing Power Calculator - check how current interest rates affect how much you can borrow, so you know the price range you are actually working within before you commit.