How the Historical Rate Comparison Works
How it works
The Historical Rate Comparison calculator runs your property details through the stamp duty rate schedules that were in effect across the last four financial years — FY 2023-24, FY 2024-25, FY 2025-26, and the current FY 2026-27. For each year, it calculates the stamp duty using the published brackets, FHB thresholds, and foreign buyer surcharges that applied at the time.
The result is a year-by-year comparison that shows exactly how much you would have paid — or saved — under previous rules. This gives you concrete context for whether stamp duty costs are trending up or down in your state, and whether recent policy changes benefit or disadvantage your specific buyer profile.
The calculator also plots the effective rate (stamp duty as a percentage of property value) across all four years, making it easy to visualise the trend at a glance. A timeline of major policy changes for your selected state shows what changed and when, so you can connect the numbers to specific government decisions.
When to use this calculator
- You want to understand whether stamp duty has gone up or down in your state recently
- You're curious whether recent FHB threshold changes would have saved you money in a previous year
- You want to see the impact of foreign surcharge increases over time
- You're comparing the ACT's gradual stamp duty reduction against other states
- You want to give context to a property purchase decision — knowing the trend helps frame the cost
- You're a property professional who needs to explain stamp duty changes to clients
Key concepts
- Financial Year (FY)
- The Australian financial year runs from 1 July to 30 June. Stamp duty rate changes typically take effect at the start of a financial year (1 July), though some changes happen mid-year. The calculator labels each period by its financial year — for example, FY 2024-25 covers 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025.
- Effective Rate
- Total stamp duty expressed as a percentage of the property value. Tracking the effective rate across years is more useful than tracking raw dollar amounts because it normalises for property price. If the effective rate drops from 4.5% to 3.8%, the government has made stamp duty relatively cheaper — regardless of what happened to property prices.
- FHB Threshold
- The property value below which first home buyers receive a full stamp duty exemption. Above this threshold, a partial concession may apply up to a higher ceiling, beyond which no concession is available. These thresholds are the single biggest driver of stamp duty cost differences for FHBs — a threshold increase from $650K to $800K (as NSW did in 2023) can save eligible buyers their entire stamp duty bill.
- Foreign Buyer Surcharge
- An additional percentage charged on top of standard stamp duty for foreign (non-resident) buyers. Most states charge 7–9%, calculated on the full property value. These surcharges have generally trended upward — NSW increased from 8% to 9% in January 2025, and SA increased from 7% to 8% in July 2023.
- Policy Change Impact
- Each state makes its own stamp duty policy decisions, resulting in different rates of change. The ACT is the most active — gradually abolishing stamp duty entirely and replacing it with land tax. Other states make periodic threshold adjustments and concession changes, usually announced in the state budget each May–June.
Worked example — $750,000 existing home, first home buyer in NSW
Sarah is a first home buyer looking at $750,000 existing homes in NSW. She uses the Historical Rate Comparison to understand how recent changes affect her.
Year-by-year comparison:
| Financial Year | Base Duty | FHB Concession | Total Duty | Eff. Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY 2023-24 | $28,485 | −$28,485 | $0 | 0.00% |
| FY 2024-25 | $28,279 | −$28,279 | $0 | 0.00% |
| FY 2025-26 | $28,162 | −$28,162 | $0 | 0.00% |
| FY 2026-27 | $27,937 | −$27,937 | $0 | 0.00% |
What changed:
NSW's $800,000 FHB exemption threshold applies throughout this four-year window, so Sarah pays $0 duty in each year. The underlying base duty still changes because NSW indexes its general brackets annually: at this price, base duty falls from $28,485 in 2023-24 to $27,937 in 2026-27.
This comparison shows why the calculator preserves both the ordinary duty schedule and concessions: even when the final FHB result is unchanged, the value of the exemption moves with the indexed base duty.
Frequently Asked Questions
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