Housing policy announcements in 2025–26 come from two distinct levels of government with two distinct effects on conveyancing. Federal measures (Help to Buy, the Home Guarantee Scheme, the foreign buyer ban, build-to-rent concessions, the Housing Australia Future Fund) generally change which buyers can access which support and what registers on title — but they do not change stamp duty. State measures (first home buyer transfer duty concessions, foreign purchaser surcharges, vacant residential land tax, state-level shared-equity schemes) generally change the cash at settlement and the calculations the conveyancer runs in the duty assessment. This guide maps each announcement to the document it actually changes.
Federal vs state — what each level actually does
Australian residential property transactions are governed by a mix of federal and state law:
Federal level (Commonwealth):
- Foreign investment screening (FATA 1975, administered by FIRB and Treasury). - Shared-equity, deposit-guarantee and supply-side programs (Housing Australia, under Housing Australia Act 2018 and the Help to Buy Act 2024). - Capital gains tax on disposal (income tax, ITAA 1997 — covered in separate articles). - AML/CTF obligations under the AUSTRAC regime. - Foreign resident capital gains withholding at settlement (Taxation Administration Act 1953, Schedule 1).
State and territory level:
- Transfer duty (stamp duty) under each state's Duties Act. - First home buyer concessions, exemptions and grants. - Foreign purchaser surcharge duty. - Land tax and vacant residential land tax. - Land titles registration (Torrens system, with state-specific procedural rules). - Conveyancing licensing and consumer protection (state law societies and licensing authorities).
An announcement only matters in the contract if it changes something at the federal layer (eligibility for a federal program, FIRB requirement, withholding obligation) or at the state layer (duty calculation, surcharge, land tax). Many headline housing announcements are funding announcements that do not change any specific clause or calculation in a residential conveyance — those are interesting but not operationally relevant.
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Federal measures that change documents in a conveyance
Help to Buy shared-equity program. Confirmed in the 2025–26 federal budget as a permanent program after its enabling legislation (Help to Buy Act 2024) passed Parliament. Conveyancer impact: Commonwealth second mortgage on title, participating-lender requirement, program-aware contract clauses, transfer-of-equity triggers. See our companion guide on Help to Buy conveyancing checks.
Home Guarantee Scheme (FHBG / RFHBG / FHG). Annual place allocations confirmed in each federal budget; place caps and price caps revised periodically. Conveyancer impact: settlement-timing discipline within reservation period, price-cap verification, occupancy obligations. See First Home Guarantee settlement.
Foreign buyer ban on established dwellings. Announced 16 February 2025, operating 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2027. Conveyancer impact: vendor and purchaser warranties, FIRB screening for foreign-person purchasers, identification of exemption categories. See foreign buyer ban and FIRB.
Build-to-rent (BTR) tax concessions. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Responsible Buy Now Pay Later and Other Measures) Act 2024 and related instruments delivered concessions for institutional BTR investors (reduced managed investment trust withholding tax rate, accelerated capital works deduction). Conveyancer impact: limited at the individual residential purchase level; significant for institutional BTR project conveyancing.
Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF). Established under the Housing Australia Future Fund Act 2023. Funds the National Housing Infrastructure Facility and social/affordable housing supply. Conveyancer impact: indirect (more supply over time); generally none at the individual conveyance.
Foreign resident capital gains withholding (FRCGW). Operating since 2016, with rate increased to 15% and threshold removed entirely from 1 January 2025. Conveyancer impact: every residential and commercial property contract where the vendor may be a foreign resident; ATO clearance certificate workflow. See our companion article on selling Australian property as a foreign resident.
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State-level measures that change documents in a conveyance — a 2025-26 snapshot
State revenue office settings change with each state budget cycle. The following is a snapshot as at May 2026; verify against the relevant state revenue office page before advising on a current transaction.
New South Wales. First home buyers benefit from a transfer duty exemption up to a published price ceiling and a concession band above it (refer to Revenue NSW for current thresholds). NSW Shared Equity Home Buyer Helper continues alongside the federal Help to Buy. Surcharge purchaser duty for foreign persons applies (rate published by Revenue NSW). The premium duty rate applies at the top end. NSW vacant residential land tax does not exist as a separate state-level regime, though specific local government areas may impose levies.
Victoria. First home buyer transfer duty exemption / concession to published thresholds, regional 50% concession to a separate threshold. Foreign purchaser additional duty applies (rate published by SRO Victoria). Vacant Residential Land Tax (VRLT) expanded by the State Taxation Acts Amendment Act 2024 to apply across all of Victoria from 1 January 2025 (was previously inner-Melbourne only) — see our companion article on VRLT pre-settlement checks. Windfall gains tax on rezoning uplift applies in defined circumstances.
Queensland. First home concession on transfer duty to a published value. First Home Owner Grant for new homes. Additional foreign acquirer duty (AFAD) applies to foreign purchaser acquisitions (rate published by Queensland Revenue Office). A statewide foreign land tax surcharge applies to land owned by foreign persons.
Western Australia. First home buyer transfer duty concession and First Home Owner Grant for new builds. WA does not currently impose a foreign purchaser duty surcharge in the same form as other states; verify the live position with RevenueWA, as policy in this area has been periodically reviewed.
South Australia. First home buyer concession on transfer duty, with new-home and established-home rules differing. Foreign owner surcharge applies. The HomeStart Finance shared-equity option (long-established at state level) sits alongside the federal Help to Buy.
Tasmania. First home buyer concessions to published thresholds, partial concession on established homes and full exemption for new builds (subject to thresholds). Foreign Investor Duty Surcharge (FIDS) applies on residential foreign-person acquisitions.
Australian Capital Territory. Operates an income-tested Home Buyer Concession Scheme rather than threshold-based exemption. ACT is progressively replacing transfer duty with a general rates-based approach over a long phase-in. Verify current settings with the ACT Revenue Office.
Northern Territory. HomeBuild Northern Territory operates as a state-level support program. Stamp duty concessions for first home buyers apply to defined property categories. Verify with the Territory Revenue Office.
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Mapping each measure to the document it actually changes
The cleanest way to think about housing announcements is: which document does this change, and when?
| Document / step | Federal measures that change it | State measures that change it | |---|---|---| | Contract of sale (clauses) | FIRB / foreign buyer ban; Help to Buy and FHBG subject-to-finance | Cooling-off and disclosure rules; state form versions | | Settlement statement | FRCGW withholding (vendor-side) | Foreign purchaser surcharge duty (purchaser-side) | | Title registration | Help to Buy Commonwealth second mortgage | Standard mortgage registration (state Torrens) | | Transfer duty assessment | none directly | First home buyer concession / exemption; foreign purchaser surcharge; new home vs established | | Post-settlement obligations | Help to Buy and FHBG occupancy; Register of Foreign Ownership | Land tax and Vacant Residential Land Tax (where applicable) |
The table is intentionally simple. Reality has more nuance — interactions between programs, treaty-based duty refunds, off-the-plan timing, and so on. But the table is a useful conveyancer-level mental model for working out where any new announcement will (or will not) actually land.
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When the budget cycle hits the conveyancing file
Practical sequencing in a typical Australian budget year:
Federal budget — late March / early May. Housing announcements are flagged in the budget papers and in Treasury / Housing Australia releases. Effect dates can be immediate (program parameter updates), 1 July (start of new financial year) or deferred to a future date. Subscribe to Housing Australia and Treasury updates so you see the changes before the client does.
State budgets — May to June (most states). Each state budget typically reviews transfer duty rates and concessions. Changes often take effect from 1 July or on royal assent. State revenue offices publish detailed transitional rules — read them. Contracts exchanged before the change date sometimes preserve the old rules; contracts after, the new rules.
Mid-year reviews and out-of-cycle changes. Significant policy shifts (the foreign buyer ban announced in February 2025 being a clear example) can land outside the regular budget cycle. Treat any major policy announcement as potentially affecting open files — re-read the contract conditions of every active file in light of the announcement.
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FAQ
Q: My client signed a contract in March 2025 before the foreign buyer ban came into effect. Are they affected? A: The ban applied to applications for FIRB approval from 1 April 2025. A contract exchanged before that date, with FIRB approval already granted under the prior rules, is generally not affected. Confirm the approval terms. Q: Are state first home buyer concessions changing as a result of the federal Help to Buy expansion? A: No — state concessions are decided at state budget level. They can be combined with Help to Buy where the buyer is otherwise eligible. Concession thresholds are reviewed periodically by each state, independently of federal program changes. Q: Where do I find the budget papers for each state? A: Each state Treasury publishes its budget papers on the state government's Treasury website (e.g. dtf.vic.gov.au for Victoria, treasury.nsw.gov.au for NSW). Budget speeches are typically delivered in May–June. The revenue office page is generally faster and more conveyancer-relevant than the budget papers themselves once the new rates and thresholds are published. Q: My client is selling. Do any of the federal programs affect them as a vendor? A: The FRCGW (foreign resident capital gains withholding) regime is the main federal one that affects vendors. Apply for an ATO clearance certificate as soon as the property is listed, not at the eleventh hour before settlement. The other federal programs (Help to Buy, FHBG, foreign buyer ban) generally affect the buyer side of the transaction. Q: How quickly do federal program parameters change? A: Place caps, income caps, price caps and participating lender lists for the Home Guarantee Scheme typically reset on 1 July each year. Foreign investment policy can change with any announcement. Help to Buy parameters are reviewed at the discretion of Housing Australia and Treasury. The Housing Australia and Treasury pages are the authoritative sources.---
Sources
- Australian Government Treasury — Budget papers and housing announcements: budget.gov.au - Treasury — Housing measures: treasury.gov.au — housing - Housing Australia — Programs: housingaustralia.gov.au - Foreign Investment Review Board — Residential real estate: firb.gov.au - State revenue offices: - NSW: revenue.nsw.gov.au - VIC: sro.vic.gov.au - QLD: qro.qld.gov.au - WA: revenuewa - SA: revenuesa.sa.gov.au - TAS: sro.tas.gov.au - ACT: revenue.act.gov.au - NT: nt.gov.au — territory revenue office - State law societies / find a conveyancer: lawcouncil.org.au
Information in this article is general and current as at 19 May 2026. Federal and state housing measures change with each budget and out-of-cycle policy decisions; verify against the linked sources at the time of each transaction.
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