WA stamp duty calculator

How Western Australia calculates transfer duty

This stamp duty calculator for WA works out your 2026–27 transfer duty at the official general rates, the first home owner rate — with the new thresholds that started 7 May 2026 — and the foreign buyer surcharge.

WA charges transfer duty on the dutiable value — the price or the unencumbered market value, whichever is higher — at the general rate shown below, which the Department of Treasury and Finance says applies to a dutiable transaction unless the Duties Act provides otherwise. That covers homes and residential land whether you live there or rent it out, apart from the concessions that follow. Arranging the payment is one of the tasks Consumer Protection lists for your settlement agent.

The one big lever is the first home owner rate. Since 7 May 2026 an eligible first home costs no duty to $600,000, then $16.15 per $100 over that until the concession runs out at $800,000 (vacant land: $450,000 free, $20.14 per $100 to $550,000). Beyond it, the only home concession is a small one at the bottom of the market: under section 147 of the Duties Act, a principal place of residence whose entire value is $200,000 or less pays the concessional rate in the second table below. Above that line an owner-occupier pays exactly what an investor pays. To get the first home owner rate you must meet the First Home Owner Grant criteria, even on an established home where no grant is paid.

One timing detail that catches people: which thresholds apply is fixed by the contract date, not settlement. A first home buyer who signed before 7 May 2026 is assessed under the old, lower thresholds even if they settle months later — and the reverse is true for every future change, which is why long off-the-plan settlements should always be sanity-checked against the assessment notice. This calculator runs the current scale; if your contract predates a change, RevenueWA's assessment is the number that counts.

Exemptions and concessions

The calculator above models the WA transfer duty concessions that turn on who is buying and what they are buying — the ones you can pick in the form:

• My home — A lower rate if the whole property is $200,000 or less; the general rate above that.
• My first home — No duty to $600,000, phasing out at $800,000 (from 7 May 2026).
• Land for my first home — No duty to $450,000, phasing out at $550,000.
• Investment — The general rate.

Those come from Western Australia’s published schedule, and the engine behind them is pinned by tests to the bracket figures in the published schedule.

Other exemptions exist that this calculator does not model, because they turn on facts a calculator cannot see: a transfer between spouses or de facto partners, property passing through a deceased estate, a transfer ordered on the breakdown of a relationship, a family farm, or a concession card. Whether any of those is available in Western Australia, and on what conditions, is a question for WA Department of Finance. We do not guess at eligibility rules we have not verified, so the figure above assumes none of them applies to you.

The same price, in every state

Duty is the one purchase cost that changes completely with the border, and the gap between the dearest and the cheapest jurisdiction on an identical price is routinely tens of thousands. This moves with the calculator above.

WA ranks #5 of 8 for owner-occupier duty at $650,000, cheapest first.

Whole dollars. First home buyer concessions are excluded here because eligibility differs by state and by buyer; the calculator above applies WA's.

Quick answers by price

Every figure comes from the same tested engine as the calculator — the official schedule, not an approximation. Buying with less than a 20% deposit? Add lenders mortgage insurance to your upfront costs.

Worked examples

• Standard buyer, $550,000 house. $11,115 + $4.75 per $100 over $360,000 = $20,140.
• First home buyer, $700,000 house. $16.15 × 1,000 units over $600,000 = $16,150 — instead of $27,265 at general rates. At $550,000 they’d pay nothing at all.
• Foreign buyer, $800,000 home. $32,315.50 duty + $56,000 foreign surcharge (7%) = $88,315.50.