Stamp Duty NT: Calculator, Rates & Costs (2026)

What is stamp duty in NT?

Stamp duty, called transfer duty or conveyance duty in the legislation, is the tax the Northern Territory charges when property changes hands. For most buyers it is the largest upfront government cost after the deposit itself.

The buyer pays it, not the seller. It is calculated on the dutiable value of the property, usually the purchase price, and it is settled as part of buying the home, so it falls due at settlement. Because there is no first home concession in the Territory, every owner-occupier at a given price pays the same duty, which makes the rate table below the whole story for most buyers.

NT stamp duty: what you’ll actually pay

Here is the duty on a range of common purchase prices for an owner-occupier. The first home buyer column is identical to the standard column on purpose, because the NT has no general first home duty concession to apply.

These are owner-occupier estimates and exclude any foreign surcharge, which the NT does not levy anyway. For an exact figure on your own price, run the numbers through the full stamp duty calculator.

How NT stamp duty is calculated

The Territory does not use a flat percentage across the board. Below about $525,000 the duty is worked out from a formula that rises with the value, so the effective rate climbs as the price climbs. Once the price passes roughly $525,000 the formula and the flat band meet, and duty is charged at a flat percentage of the whole price from there up.

That is why a $400,000 home sits at an effective 4.13% while a $650,000 home is already at the flat 4.95%. The two halves of the scale join up cleanly at the $525,000 mark, so there is no jump at the boundary.

First home buyers in NT

This is the part Territory buyers most often get wrong. The Northern Territory has no general first home buyer stamp duty concession, so the figures in the table above are what every buyer pays, first home or not.

What first home buyers can get is a separate $10,000 First Home Owner Grant on new or substantially renovated homes. It is a cash grant paid to you, not an exemption that reduces the duty bill. The NT also runs house-and-land and HomeGrown Territory incentives from time to time, so it is worth checking which programs are open right now with the Territory Revenue Office before you commit.

For the full grant and scheme detail, see our NT first home buyer guide.

Foreign buyers and surcharges

The Northern Territory does not apply a foreign buyer stamp duty surcharge. A foreign purchaser pays the same transfer duty as a local buyer at the same price. That is a real point of difference, because the larger states all stack an extra surcharge on top for foreign buyers, often in the range of 7% to 8% of the price.

When do you pay stamp duty in NT?

Stamp duty in the Territory is generally payable at settlement, and as a rule within around three months of the dutiable transaction. You do not usually deal with the Territory Revenue Office yourself. Your conveyancer or solicitor handles the assessment and arranges payment as part of settling the purchase, so the duty is cleared before the title passes into your name. Budget for it alongside your deposit and conveyancing costs from the start, because it is due in full at settlement, not over time.