WA Off-the-Plan Duty Concession Explained

Western Australia has, at various times, offered a duty concession aimed specifically at buyers who purchase a new apartment or unit off-the-plan, meaning before or during construction rather than once the building is complete. The policy sits alongside the standard transfer duty regime and is designed to encourage more people to commit to higher-density housing while it is still on the drawing board or part-built, which in turn supports construction activity in the multi-unit residential sector. If you are considering an off-the-plan purchase in WA, understanding the general shape of this concession, and its limits, is worth doing before you sign a pre-construction contract.

What the Concession Is Trying to Achieve

Multi-tiered apartment developments, such as strata buildings with several storeys, carry more construction risk and a longer lead time than a standard house and land package. Lenders, builders and buyers all factor this into their decisions, and during periods when apartment construction activity slows, state governments have looked for ways to make off-the-plan purchases more attractive without directly subsidising a developer. A duty concession achieves this by reducing the transfer duty payable by the eventual purchaser rather than the builder, which keeps the incentive targeted at the person actually taking on the settlement and ownership risk.

How the Concession Generally Works

In broad terms, the concession reduces the amount of transfer duty assessed on an eligible off-the-plan contract, either through an upfront reduction applied when duty is assessed, or through a rebate claimed after the transaction settles and duty has already been paid in full. Which pathway applies, and how much of a reduction is available, depends on when the contract was signed and the value of the property, among other factors. Because these settings are adjusted periodically, this article deliberately does not quote a specific reduction percentage or dollar cap. What matters for your own transaction is confirming the current settings that apply on the date your contract is signed, not the date you first started looking.

Who Tends to Qualify

Eligibility generally turns on a combination of factors: the property must be a new residential dwelling purchased under a genuine off-the-plan or under-construction contract, the contract must fall within a specified date window set by the state government, and the dwelling type must fit the scheme's definition, which has historically covered multi-tiered strata schemes and, at times, been extended to single-tiered developments such as townhouse-style survey-strata lots. Established homes and standard house and land contracts where construction has already been completed do not qualify, because the policy intent is squarely about encouraging commitment to projects that are still being built.

Why the Scheme Is Time-Limited

Unlike the ordinary transfer duty scale, which is a permanent feature of the WA duty system, off-the-plan concessions have consistently been introduced, extended or adjusted for defined periods rather than left open-ended. Governments review these settings against construction industry conditions and housing supply targets, and the concession has previously been extended past its original end date when policymakers wanted to keep supporting apartment supply. This means the scheme that applied when a friend bought a similar apartment two years ago may not be the same scheme available to you now, both in terms of whether it exists at all and, if it does, what the reduction actually looks like.

Why This Matters for Your Contract Timing

Because eligibility is tied to the date a contract is signed, the timing of when you commit to an off-the-plan purchase can materially affect whether a concession applies to your transaction at all. Buyers sometimes assume that because a development was marketed with a concession mentioned in the sales material, that concession will automatically still be available when they eventually exchange contracts months later, particularly if construction has been delayed. A conveyancer reviewing your contract before you sign can check the current concession settings and flag whether your specific contract date and property value are likely to qualify, rather than relying on marketing material that may be out of date.

Confirming Your Eligibility Properly

Applications for an off-the-plan concession are made using the relevant form once you are ready to have duty assessed, and the current eligibility criteria, including the dwelling types and contract date windows, are published by the Western Australian government's off-the-plan duty concession service page. Because this is a duty matter, this article is general information rather than tax advice, and you should confirm your own position with your conveyancer or an accountant before relying on any concession being available. A conveyancer working on your first home purchase or investment apartment purchase in Perth can factor this into the settlement figures they prepare for you.

Common Misunderstandings About the Concession

One common misunderstanding is assuming the concession applies automatically once a purchase is confirmed as off-the-plan. In practice it must be applied for, using the correct form, and supported by evidence that the contract and dwelling type actually meet the current criteria. Another is assuming the concession follows the property rather than the contract, so a buyer purchasing a resale of an apartment that was originally sold off-the-plan a few years earlier should not expect the same treatment, since the concession was tied to the original purchaser's pre-construction or under-construction contract, not to the dwelling itself indefinitely. A third is assuming that because a development website still advertises a concession, the scheme's terms have not changed since the site was last updated, which is not something you can safely rely on.

Getting the Contract Reviewed Early

Off-the-plan contracts tend to be longer and more heavily weighted toward the developer than a standard resale contract, covering matters like variations to the building plans, sunset dates and defects liability. Reviewing the contract early, before you are locked in, gives your conveyancer time to check both the legal terms and whether a duty concession genuinely applies to your purchase, rather than discovering an issue with either after you have already committed. If you are weighing up an off-the-plan apartment purchase anywhere in Western Australia, it is worth having both questions answered at the same time rather than treating duty as an afterthought.