As part of the 2025–2026 Victorian State Budget announced on 20 May 2025, the Victorian government has confirmed that it intends to extend the availability of an expanded off-the-plan stamp duty concession for a further 12-month period.

Under the expanded concession regime, purchasers are able to apply a duty concession to the purchase of apartments and townhouses (other than detached dwellings) off the plan. Prior to the temporary expansion being introduced in October 2024, which was legislated to apply for a 12-month period, purchasers were only eligible for the concession where they were buying their principal place of residence and the dutiable value was below a prescribed threshold. Under the expanded regime, the concession is available to all purchasers, including investors and foreign buyers (although the foreign additional duty regime continues to apply). 

You can read our previous article on the temporary expansion of the off-the-plan duty concession here. 

Once the extension passes Parliament, the expanded off-the-plan stamp duty concession will be extended for a further period of 12-months with an expiry date of 20 October 2026 (unless extended further). 

The extension will come as welcome news to both purchasers and developers, particularly in the context of the Reserve Bank of Australia's recent announcement to further ease interest rates. We remain of the view that the expanded concession should not have a time limit and should have ongoing application (as was the case prior to changes introduced by the Victorian government in 2017) so as to support confidence for investment in new housing projects, which are critical to address Victoria's housing crisis.