Aussies are being hit by a tax shock that adds an average $61,000 to the cost of buying a home – a bill critics say exposes the hollow promises of governments that vowed to make housing more affordable.
Analysis of ABS data by Money.com.au and Primara Research showed stamp duty, which is charged at different rates across states, has ballooned into one of the biggest financial hits for home buyers.
The result is ordinary Australians coughing up sums that would once have been enough for an entire house deposit.
The average stamp duty bill has now surged to $61,714 nationally, eclipsing what previous generations paid and delivering a crushing blow to younger Australians already battling sky-high prices.
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Many homeowners who would otherwise downsize are remaining in their homes because of the high stamp duty charges.
Australian governments collected $34.4 billion in stamp duty in 2024/25, the latest year with available data. This was nearly double the $18.8 billion collected in 2018/19, the last full pre-Covid year, according to the ABS figures.
Ray White’s Jessica Cao, noting stamp duty charges could total over $150,000 in some areas, said it was a deterrent to selling. Fewer listing, in turn, pushed up prices. “Who wants to pay that kind of money? And what do you get? Nothing,” she said.
Real Estate Institute of NSW chief executive Tim McKibbin said current charges were “excessive”.
And now exclusive PropTrack figures can reveal just how different current stamp duty bills are when compared to what previous generations had to pay across states:
QUEENSLAND
See the full list of QLD suburbs and state stamp duty charges
The cost of buying a home in Queensland has surged far beyond house prices, with stamp duty bills in some suburbs increasing by more than $180,000 over the past three decades.
PropTrack suburb-by-suburb data comparing transfer duty on median-priced homes today with circa 30 years ago reveals buyers in Kensington Grove, west of Brisbane, had the state’s biggest jump.
Three decades ago, someone buying the suburb’s median-priced home would have paid $275 in stamp duty. Today, that bill has climbed to almost $34,600. There were other suburbs where the increase in charges was more than $100,000.
VICTORIA
See the VIC areas where government is charging the most
The state government’s tax slug on Victorian families buying a typical Melbourne house has risen almost twice as fast as house prices since 1990.
PropTrack analysis showed Melbourne’s $984,000 median house price now comes with a $54,120 stamp duty bill, compared with about $4090 on the city’s $131,500 median-priced house in 1990.
Taxes on Victorian homes have risen faster than prices.
While Melbourne house prices have risen about 7.5 times in that period, the stamp duty bill has surged about 13.2 times — making Victoria the most expensive state, dollar for dollar, for the home tax.
Experts said Victoria’s $750,000 first-home buyer stamp duty concession cap was outdated and no longer matched where many buyers were purchasing.
NEW SOUTH WALES
See the NSW suburbs where buyers are being hit with biggest tax hikes
State government has been slammed for worsening NSW’s housing affordability crisis amid revelations Macquarie St is squeezing 13 times more tax from each property transaction than in the 1990s.
PropTrack figures revealed stamp duty bills have exploded in both inflation-adjusted terms and as a share of purchase prices.
The Minns Government pledged in 2023 that it would prioritise housing affordability but continues to charge one of the highest stamp duty rates in the country. Picture: George Chan
The typical house buyer across Sydney was this year hit with about $68,000 in stamp duty charges.
This was about $63,000 more than the average charge for someone who bought in 1990 – a rise five times larger than inflation.
Increases in average stamp duty charges were even higher in some of Sydney’s inner-ring suburbs, where new buyers were paying over $150,000 more in tax than at the start of the 1990s.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
See the full list of SA suburbs where buyers are getting squeezed most
The tax has climbed more than 30 per cent in some Adelaide suburbs over the past three decades.
Stamp duty jumps appeared significantly worse in the areas that were once considered affordable. Some of the suburbs with the biggest rises in charges were Findon and Goodwood, among others.
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