How WA stamp duty is calculated in 2026

On a $700,000 Perth purchase a non-first-home owner-occupier hands over roughly $27,265 of transfer duty at settlement. That figure is the second-largest line on the statement after the deposit, and it is fully knowable the moment you sign the contract. Western Australia's duty schedule is bracketed, the brackets are public, and the concessions have hard cliffs that punish approximate planning. Here is what RevenueWA actually does to your purchase price.

The 2026 residential transfer duty brackets

WA runs two parallel scales: a general rate and a residential rate. Owner-occupiers and most residential investors pay on the residential rate, which is the schedule below. Every dollar above a threshold is taxed at that bracket's rate, the same way income tax steps up.

• Up to $120,000: 1.9% of the dutiable value.
• $120,001 to $150,000: $2,280 plus 2.85% of the amount over $120,000.
• $150,001 to $360,000: $3,135 plus 3.8% of the amount over $150,000.
• $360,001 to $725,000: $11,115 plus 4.75% of the amount over $360,000.
• $725,001 and above: $28,453 plus 5.15% of the amount over $725,000.

WA does not run a NSW-style premium bracket above $1 million or $3 million. The top marginal rate is a flat 5.15% all the way up, which is why a $2.5M Cottesloe purchase is materially cheaper to transfer than the equivalent Mosman trade. Vacant land for a future home transfers on the same residential schedule.

These brackets change from time to time. The stamp duty calculator carries a verified-on date so you can confirm the schedule in force on your contract date before trusting the output.

Three worked examples

Articles deal in averages. Contracts deal in exact dollars. The three figures below are the ones most WA buyers want to see.

• $450,000, first-home buyer. Transfer duty is $0. The First Home Owner Rate of Duty (FHORD) gives a full exemption on established and new homes up to $450,000. Save the duty, spend it on a decent building inspection.
• $700,000, owner-occupier non-FHB. The price falls in the $360k to $725k bracket. Duty is $11,115 plus 4.75% of $340,000, which is $11,115 + $16,150 = around $27,265.
• $1,000,000, investor. Crosses the top bracket. Duty is $28,453 plus 5.15% of $275,000, which is $28,453 + $14,162.50 = around $42,615. Add the 7% foreign surcharge ($70,000) only if the buyer is a foreign person.

Two notes on the math. The brackets are step functions, so crossing $725,000 by a single dollar costs you roughly $5 in extra duty, not $5,000. Cliffs in WA live in the concession rules, not the base schedule. And duty is calculated on the higher of the contract price and the unencumbered market value, which matters in family transfers.

First Home Owner Rate of Duty (FHORD)

The FHORD is the largest concession an eligible buyer can claim. For an established or new dwelling:

• Full exemption (zero duty) on purchases up to $450,000.
• Sliding concession between $450,001 and $600,000, scaled so that the duty saved tapers smoothly to zero at the top.
• No FHORD concession at all from $600,001 upwards.

Vacant land has its own thinner band: full exemption to $300,000 and a taper to $400,000 if you intend to build your first home on it. The eligibility rules cover the usual ground. You must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident, at least 18, and you must move in as your principal place of residence within 12 months of settlement and stay for a continuous six. Failing the residency test triggers a clawback with interest, which is the kind of detail that ruins a Christmas.

The cliff at $600,000 is the one that costs people money. A first-home buyer paying $599,000 keeps a few thousand in concession; a buyer paying $601,000 gets nothing under FHORD and owes around $22,562 on the residential scale ($11,115 + 4.75% of the $241,000 above $360k). If you are negotiating anywhere near that line, the strike price matters more than the agent will admit. The first-home buyer guide walks through the rest of the upfront cash stack alongside the duty cheque.

Off-the-plan rebate and foreign-buyer surcharge

WA reintroduced an off-the-plan apartment rebate to support new residential supply. The rebate currently provides a stamp-duty refund on eligible new apartments bought off the plan or under construction, with the rebate percentage and price cap set by program rules that the state government has tweaked more than once. Treat the percentage on a finance broker's slide deck as a guide, not the gospel; check RevenueWA's current program page on your contract date because eligibility windows and caps have shifted year by year.

On the other side of the ledger, foreign purchasers pay an additional 7% surcharge on residential property, on top of the regular transfer duty. On a $1M purchase that surcharge alone is $70,000. The platform's calculator deliberately does not model the surcharge, because the rules around PR holders, certain visa classes, and trust structures need a property lawyer rather than a web tool. If the surcharge applies to your contract, treat the calculator output as the floor.

WA also runs a separate "landholder" duty for high-value commercial and corporate transactions where shares in a land-rich entity change hands. That regime is out of scope for residential buyers, but worth flagging if your purchase vehicle is a unit trust or company.

How WA compares, and how to plan around it

At $700,000 a WA non-FHB pays around $27,265. The same purchase in NSW costs roughly $26,000 and in VIC closer to $37,000, so WA sits between the two on mid-priced homes. The picture flips at the top end: WA's flat 5.15% top rate is friendlier than NSW's 5.5% premium bracket above $1.21M and far friendlier than VIC's 6.5%. The NSW vs VIC stamp duty breakdown is the companion piece if you are weighing a move east.

Order of operations matters. Borrowing capacity sets your price ceiling, the price ceiling sets your duty bracket, and the duty bill sets how much cash you actually need at settlement.

1. Run your scenario through the borrowing power estimator to set a realistic price ceiling.
2. Plug the target price into the stamp duty calculator with WA selected and the right buyer type.
3. Carry the duty plus deposit into the mortgage calculator as upfront cash, alongside conveyancing, settlement agent fees, and inspections.

Stamp duty is the entry tax on ownership in WA. It is large, it is unavoidable for most buyers, and it is one of the few costs in a purchase that is fully knowable before you exchange. There is no good reason to be surprised by the figure on settlement day.