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Can stamp duty be added to my mortgage?
Stamp duty can be a major addition to the cost of purchasing a property. How is it paid and can it be added to the overall cost of a mortgage?
27 June 2025
Stamp duty can be a major addition to the cost of purchasing a property. How is it paid and can it be added to the overall cost of a mortgage?
KEY POINTS
- While you can’t add stamp duty directly to your mortgage, you may be able to borrow more money to help cover its cost.
- Adding to your home loan to pay for stamp duty or other upfront costs can mean paying more in total inters on the loan over the long term.
- How much you’ll pay in stamp duty, and what discounts or concessions you may be eligible for, may vary between Australia’s states and territories.
Can you add stamp duty to your mortgage?
Stamp duty is generally an upfront cost that must be paid within one to three months of purchasing a property. While you cannot directly add stamp duty to your mortgage, you may be able to ask your lender to increase your home loan to also cover the cost of stamp duty, rather than using your savings.
Stamp duty or transfer duty is a tax that is levied by each Australian state and territory on property purchases. Depending on the circumstances, duty can be paid as a flat rate or as a percentage of the transaction, and can sometimes add significantly to a property purchase’s overall cost, alongside other pre-purchase expenses such as conveyancing, building and pest reports.
It’s important to remember that adding the cost of stamp duty to your mortgage means you’ll be paying interest on this amount over your home loan’s term, which could last for decades. This could mean paying much more in total over the long run.
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Owner occupied
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Redraw facility
How do you estimate stamp duty?
You may be able to get a better idea of how much you may pay in stamp duty by answering the following questions:
- Is the property a primary residence or an investment? Investment properties can often attract more stamp duty than homes that you plan to live in as your primary residence.
- Are you a first home buyer? Depending on the state or territory where you’re buying and the value of the property, first home buyers can sometimes qualify for stamp duty concessions, grants or exemptions.
- Which state or territory is the property in? The amount of stamp duty you’ll pay for a property, as well as the timeframe in which you will have to pay it, will vary depending on the location and relevant local laws.
- How much does the property cost? Stamp duty may be calculated as a percentage of a property’s overall cost or market value, meaning it can be higher for more expensive properties.
Other factors that may influence how much you pay in stamp duty include whether you’re purchasing both a house and land, or whether you are purchasing land and planning to build a house. There may also be concessions available for certain property transfers, such as those that occur due to death or divorce.
Canstar’s stamp duty calculator can help you estimate how much you might expect to pay on a property.
How much do you have to save for stamp duty?
The amount you will have to save for stamp duty will depend on your location and circumstances.
Consider a hypothetical example of a homebuyer purchasing a property in Queensland for $800,000. Assuming the buyer plans to use the property as a primary residence and it is not their first home purchase, then Canstar’s stamp duty calculator estimates that they would need to pay approximately $21,850 in stamp duty.
This hypothetical buyer would therefore need to save up this amount in addition to the amount they already have saved for a deposit.
Alternatively, this buyer could choose to increase their loan amount by $22,000 to help pay for stamp duty. Assuming they had a 20% deposit available, and were making monthly principal and interest repayments at a rate of 7% over 25 years, here’s how the repayments would be affected:
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| Loan amount | Deposit (20%) | Monthly repayments | Total cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| $640,000 | $160,000 | $4523 | $717,016 |
| $657,600 | $164,400 | $4648 | $736,734 |
Source: Canstar home loan repayments calculator as of 27 June 2025. The calculations do not take into account any fees you may be charged. The results provided by this calculator are an estimate only, and should not be relied on for the purpose of making a decision in relation to a loan. Interest rates and other costs can change over time, affecting the total cost of the loan. Consider whether you need financial advice from a qualified adviser.
By borrowing extra to cover stamp duty, this buyer would be committing to paying an extra $125 per month, making the loan cost an extra $19,718 over the long term. They’d also need to come up with an extra $4400 in savings for their deposit, or risk having to pay Lenders Mortgage Insurance or get help from a guarantor.
What stamp duty exemptions and concessions are available?
There are various state and territory schemes for stamp duty concessions, which may help to alleviate some of the stamp duty costs for people such as first home buyers.
For more detailed information on how stamp duty is calculated in each individual state and territory, and what concessions might be available, you can see the list below for information on:
Cover image source: StockImageFactory.com/Shutterstock.com
This article was reviewed by our Finance Editor Jessica Pridmore before it was updated, as part of our fact-checking process.
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Redraw facility
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