Spring 2026 has brought a quiet but significant piece of news for anyone weighing up a brand-new apartment or townhouse in Victoria: the state’s temporary off-the-plan stamp duty concession, which was due to wind up in October this year, has been extended. Under the 2026-27 Victorian Budget, contracts signed up to 21 April 2027 can qualify, a six-month reprieve that plenty of buyers across Geelong, Armstrong Creek, Torquay, Melbourne and the growth corridors haven’t yet caught up with.
In fact, much of what you’ll read online still says the scheme ends in October 2026. The extension came through in May and a lot of guides were never updated. So in this article we’ll set out what the concession actually is, who can use it, how much difference it can make on a real purchase, how it interacts with first home buyer exemptions, and (because we’re brokers, not salespeople) the financing traps that still apply when you buy something that hasn’t been built yet.
Normally, stamp duty (land transfer duty) in Victoria is calculated on the full contract price of the property you’re buying. The off-the-plan concession changes the starting point: duty is assessed on the contract price minus the construction costs still outstanding at the date you sign. If you sign before a single slab is poured, the dutiable value can shrink to something close to the land component of your purchase, and the duty bill shrinks with it. Sign when the building is half finished and the deduction is smaller; buy a completed property and there’s no deduction at all.
Victoria has long had an off-the-plan concession, but the permanent version is narrow: it’s only available to owner-occupiers who qualify for the principal place of residence concession (dutiable value up to $550,000) or first home buyers (up to $750,000). The temporary concession, first announced in October 2024, removed those limits: no price cap, and every type of purchaser is eligible, investors included. It was originally a 12-month measure, was extended once in 2025, and has now been extended again to 21 April 2027.
The catch is in the property type. The temporary concession applies to strata-titled dwellings: apartments, units and townhouses within a strata subdivision that shares common property. A standalone house-and-land package generally doesn’t qualify, because there’s usually no strata subdivision with common property involved. If you’re weighing a townhouse against a house-and-land build, that difference alone can be worth tens of thousands, and it changes the comparison we walked through in our guide to building vs buying in 2026.
Because the deduction depends on how much construction remains at the contract date, the same townhouse can carry three very different duty bills depending on when you sign. The table below is pure illustration: a hypothetical $650,000 strata townhouse where the land component is roughly $200,000 and construction roughly $450,000. The duty figures are approximate, use general rates, and ignore any other concessions you might separately qualify for. Your actual numbers will differ, so run them through the State Revenue Office calculator or ask your conveyancer before relying on them.
| When you sign the contract | Approx. dutiable value | Approx. duty (general rates) | Approx. saving vs completed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before construction starts | ≈ $200,000 | ≈ $7,000 | ≈ $27,000 |
| Construction ~50% complete | ≈ $425,000 | ≈ $20,500 | ≈ $13,500 |
| Completed / established purchase | ≈ $650,000 | ≈ $34,000 | n/a |
Illustrative arithmetic only, but the shape of it is the point. Signing early in the build is where the concession saves the most, which is why it matters most in areas with a strong pipeline of new townhouse and apartment stock: Armstrong Creek, Mount Duneed and Charlemont on Geelong’s southern edge, Lara to the north, the Torquay and Ocean Grove infill projects, and Melbourne’s apartment market from Werribee to the CBD. For the broader duty picture (rates, other exemptions and how Victoria compares), see our full Victorian stamp duty guide.
The new cut-off for signing an eligible off-the-plan contract under Victoria’s temporary concession, extended in the 2026-27 State Budget from the previous October 2026 deadline. After that date, unless the rules change again, the concession reverts to the narrower permanent version: owner-occupiers up to $550,000 and first home buyers up to $750,000 dutiable value, with investors missing out entirely. Deadlines like this have moved twice already; confirm the current position with the State Revenue Office before you rely on it.
Here’s the part that surprises most first home buyers: the off-the-plan deduction is applied before your eligibility for the first home buyer duty exemption or concession is tested. Victoria’s first home buyer exemption applies to dutiable values up to $600,000, with a sliding concession up to $750,000. A new townhouse priced at $680,000 looks over the exemption line, but if the off-the-plan deduction brings its dutiable value down to, say, $250,000, the purchase can fall under the $600,000 threshold and attract no stamp duty at all.
That stacking effect is a big part of why first home buyer activity in new estates has held up even through a soft patch in prices. ABS lending data recorded first home buyer loan numbers rising 6.8% nationally in the December 2025 quarter, the largest quarterly rise in two years, and 2026 has seen buyers continue to move while competition is thinner. If you’re in that camp, it’s worth reading this alongside our complete first home buyer guide and our look at whether the 5% deposit scheme still makes sense in a falling market. The duty concession, the deposit guarantee and the $10,000 First Home Owner Grant for new homes can all apply to the same purchase.
Picture a couple renting in Belmont who’ve been watching townhouse releases in Armstrong Creek. A two-bedroom strata townhouse is priced at $655,000, and construction hasn’t started. Because they’d be signing before works begin, the outstanding construction costs come off the price for duty purposes, bringing the dutiable value down toward the land component, comfortably under the $600,000 first home buyer exemption line. Instead of budgeting north of $30,000 for duty on an established home at the same price, their duty bill is zero, the $10,000 First Home Owner Grant applies because it’s a new home, and the cash they’d earmarked for duty stays in their deposit, improving their loan-to-value ratio and their pricing. The trade-off: settlement is a year away, so their broker structures the finance around a pre-approval that will need refreshing, and has the contract reviewed for its sunset clause before they sign. Every purchase differs; the sequencing is the repeatable part.
A duty saving on paper is only worth something if the purchase itself stacks up, and off-the-plan buying carries risks that the concession does nothing to remove. This is where we see buyers get into trouble, and where good finance structuring matters more than the duty maths.
The settlement valuation is the big one. Your lender values the property at completion, not at contract. If the market has softened between signing and settlement (as parts of Melbourne and Geelong have seen over the past year), the valuation can come in below your contract price, and the lender lends against the lower figure. The shortfall comes from you, either as extra cash or as lenders mortgage insurance you weren’t budgeting for. Our guides to property valuations and negative equity in 2026 cover how to think about this risk.
Pre-approvals don’t last as long as builds do. A typical pre-approval runs about 90 days; an off-the-plan settlement can be one to three years away. You cannot truly lock your finance at contract. What you can do is get properly assessed now, keep your finances clean through the build, and have your broker re-run the numbers as settlement approaches, including against the possibility that rates or lender policy have moved. Our pre-approval guide explains how the timing works.
Sunset clauses, deposit structure and lender appetite round out the list. Check the sunset date and what happens if the developer can’t deliver; understand whether your 10% deposit can be paid by bank guarantee or deposit bond rather than cash; and be aware that some lenders cap their exposure to particular buildings or high-density postcodes, which is one more reason to have access to a broad panel rather than one bank. Investors should also weigh the concession against the bigger picture, including the negative gearing and CGT changes legislated from July 2027, before letting a duty saving drive the decision.
The concession is applied when duty is assessed, but your contract must properly document the construction costs outstanding at the contract date. That figure comes from the vendor’s side, and it’s worth your conveyancer confirming how it was calculated before you sign, not at settlement. And if you’re comparing an off-the-plan townhouse with an established home, compare them after duty on both: in the mid-$600,000s, the duty gap alone can be the difference between buying this year and saving for another one. A quick chat with the State Revenue Office’s online calculator (or your broker) puts real numbers on it in minutes.
Victoria isn’t alone in leaning on duty concessions to support new housing supply. Western Australia, for example, lifted the price threshold on its off-the-plan duty concession from $750,000 to $800,000 in March 2026 and extended eligibility out to mid-2028, and other states run their own versions with very different rules. If you’re buying interstate, or you’re one of the many clients we help Australia-wide from Ballarat to Brisbane, don’t assume Victorian rules travel with you. Every state’s revenue office publishes its current settings, and we’re happy to point you to the right one for wherever you’re buying.
The honest summary: the extension to April 2027 gives Victorian buyers more time, but it isn’t a reason to rush a purchase that doesn’t otherwise stack up. The concession rewards buyers who sign early in a build, which is precisely when the risks around valuations, timelines and developers need the most scrutiny. Do both halves of the homework, and the saving is real. For a refresher on the mechanics of buying something that exists only on paper, our buying off the plan guide is the place to start.
The temporary expanded concession was extended in the 2026-27 Victorian Budget to cover eligible contracts signed up to 21 April 2027, six months later than the previously legislated October 2026 end date. Many older articles still quote the October date. After April 2027, unless it’s extended again, the concession reverts to the narrower permanent version with price caps and owner-occupier requirements. Always confirm the current cut-off with the State Revenue Office of Victoria before signing.
Yes, that’s the headline feature of the temporary version. While Victoria’s permanent off-the-plan concession is limited to owner-occupiers and first home buyers under set price caps, the temporary concession running to 21 April 2027 is open to all purchaser types with no price cap, provided the property is a strata-titled apartment, unit or townhouse with common property. Investors should still weigh the purchase on its fundamentals (rental demand, valuation risk and the tax settings changing from July 2027) rather than the duty saving alone.
Generally no. The temporary concession applies to dwellings in a strata subdivision with common property: apartments, units and townhouses. A standalone house-and-land package usually isn’t strata-titled, so it doesn’t qualify, although buying land and building separately has its own duty treatment (you typically pay duty on the land only, not the build). If you’re comparing a strata townhouse with a house-and-land package, ask your conveyancer or broker to run the duty on both structures. The difference can be substantial.
Yes, and it’s powerful: the off-the-plan deduction is applied first, and your first home buyer exemption or concession is then tested against the reduced dutiable value. A new townhouse priced above $600,000 can still come in under the exemption threshold once outstanding construction costs are deducted, meaning zero stamp duty. Eligibility rules apply to both concessions (including living in the property), so get personal advice on your situation before committing.
We’ll run the duty numbers, structure your finance around the build timeline, and stress-test the purchase against settlement valuation risk, for buyers in Geelong, Armstrong Creek, the Bellarine, Torquay, Melbourne and Australia-wide. Plain English, no obligation.
With years of experience in mortgage broking and finance, Melanie helps first home buyers, refinancers, investors and business owners across Geelong, the Bellarine, the Surf Coast, Melbourne and regional Victoria make their money work harder. Contact our team on 03 9020 2699.
