Stamp duty will soon be abolished for all first home buyers in the ACT

Stamp duty will soon be abolished for all first home buyers in the ACT Wed 10 Jun 2026 at 9:39am Today's ACT budget will deliver measures to make the territory the first Australian jurisdiction to abolish stamp duty for all first home buyers, the ACT government says. Under the changes unveiled ahead of the budget today, no first home buyer in the ACT will have to pay stamp duty, beginning in July this year. The decision to remove stamp duty for all first home buyers builds on the government's decade-long ambition to abolish the tax on all house sales. Chief Minister Andrew Barr described stamp duty as an "inefficient and unfair tax", and confirmed the change would apply to all first home buyers, regardless of the value of the property or their income. "We have now reached the point for key groups, stamp duty can be eliminated entirely, forever," he said. "[It's] gone, never again to emerge." The government said stamp duty exemptions would also be expanded for pensioners, eligible National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants, and all home buyers who have not owned property in the past five years. "This budget marks a major milestone in our long-term tax reform program, delivering a fairer system and improving housing affordability for Canberrans," Mr Barr said. Also among the suite of changes announced by the government today were measures aimed at increasing the number of homes in the "missing middle" — defined as housing types between multi-unit apartments and single detached dwellings. The changes include the removal of stamp duty on all new unit-titled properties bought by owner-occupiers. The stamp duty concession for owner-occupiers buying units off-the-plan will continue, and will also be expanded to newly-constructed units, which were not sold off-the-plan. The government said it would also temporarily halve the lease variation charge, to support the development of more townhouses, terraces, and low-rise apartments in Canberra. Yesterday, the ACT government promised to deliver nearly 26,000 new homes across Canberra over the next five years under its latest Housing Supply and Land Release Program. More to come.