# Build-to-rent in Queensland: what it is, who builds it, how it is taxed Build-to-rent towers are owned by one landlord and never sold off unit by unit. This guide explains the model, the Queensland land tax and duty concessions and the federal tax rules. --- Most apartment buildings in Queensland are built to be sold. A developer raises finance against pre-sales, builds, settles each unit with a separate buyer and moves on. The building ends up with hundreds of owners, a body corporate, and a mix of owner-occupiers and tenants renting from individual investors. Build-to-rent turns that around. One owner builds the whole building, keeps it, and rents every apartment directly. The model is common overseas and still young in Australia, and both the Queensland and Commonwealth governments now offer tax concessions to encourage it, each with its own conditions. This guide explains what build-to-rent is, who has built it in Queensland so far, what the Queensland Revenue Office offers on land tax and duty, what the Australian Taxation Office offers on income tax, and what an owner has to do to qualify for each and keep qualifying. It describes the rules in general terms. How they apply to a particular project depends on its facts, and both revenue offices issue rulings for that purpose.
50minimum dwellings, under State and federal rules
10%of dwellings at discounted or affordable rent
50%cut in land value taxed, under Queensland's concession

Sources: Queensland Revenue Office, build-to-rent concession pages (updated 5 May 2026); Australian Taxation Office, build to rent development tax incentives (updated 18 February 2026).

## What build-to-rent means The Queensland Government's own definition is short. In an explainer published by the State Development department in October 2023, build-to-rent developments are described as purpose-built, larger residential developments in which all the properties are owned by a single entity and rented out. Three things follow from single ownership. The first is scale. Because the owner earns its return from rent over decades, not from a sale price, the model suits institutions with long horizons: superannuation funds, insurers, listed property groups and specialist funds. Queensland Treasury's description of the State's pilot project refers to large-scale residential property built, owned and managed by institutional investors and developers. The second is management. There is no body corporate of individual owners, and no letting agent acting for hundreds of separate landlords. The owner or its operator manages the building, sets the rents and deals with every tenant. The third is tenure. A tenant in a build-to-rent building rents from a landlord whose business is renting, and who has no reason to sell the apartment or move back in. The federal tax rules described below turn that feature into a condition by requiring long leases to be offered. Build-to-rent is not social housing and is not, by itself, affordable housing. The State Development explainer notes that the first projects in Queensland were premium inner-city developments, and that this left a gap for lower-income households. Both sets of tax concessions respond to that by requiring a share of discounted apartments. ## Who has built it in Queensland The Queensland Government's direct involvement began with a pilot. According to Queensland Treasury, the State sought developers to build on privately owned land in Brisbane, with the developer carrying the construction cost and risk and the State paying a targeted rental subsidy so that a portion of the apartments could be let at a discount. Three projects came out of it, all in inner Brisbane.
The three projects of the Queensland pilotAs described in Queensland Government statements and press reports
LocationCompanyApartmentsDiscounted rent
Newstead (LIV Anura)Mirvac39699
Fortitude Valley (WeAreLiving Brunswick)Frasers Property Australia, developer366About 40%
Quay Street, BrisbaneCedar Pacific470Up to 250

Sources: Queensland Government media statements of 3 October 2020 and 21 July 2025; Aware Super, 3 June 2026; The Weekly Source, 13 February 2023. The Fortitude Valley building is owned by Aware Super and Barings.

The first two developers were named in a Queensland Government statement in October 2020: Mirvac for a site in Newstead and Frasers Property Australia for a site in Fortitude Valley, with about 750 apartments between them and up to 240 to be offered at discounted rent. A third project, by Cedar Pacific on the former Children's Court site at Quay Street, was reported by The Weekly Source in February 2023 with 470 apartments, up to 250 of them subsidised. That report put the pilot as a whole at more than 1,200 apartments, with up to 490 at discounted rent, which matches the sum of the earlier figures. The Newstead building was the first to open, and the two completed buildings together hold 762 apartments, close to the 750 announced in 2020. A Queensland Government statement of 21 July 2025 describes it as a 396-apartment complex of studios and one and two-bedroom apartments, with 99 apartments at reduced rent, 3,000 square metres of shared resident spaces and more than 1,000 square metres of retail. Ninety-nine of 396 is exactly one quarter. The reduced-rent apartments, the statement says, are for eligible renters who work within 10 kilometres of the site. The Fortitude Valley building followed in June 2026. Aware Super, which owns it with Barings, announced on 3 June that the 27-storey tower developed by Frasers Property Australia had opened with 366 apartments, approximately 40 per cent of them at discounted rents supported by the Queensland Government subsidy. The pilot is one route. The other is the tax system, which is open to any developer whose project meets the conditions, with or without a State subsidy. ## Queensland's land tax concession Land tax in Queensland is an annual tax on the taxable value of land an owner holds at midnight on 30 June. For a single owner holding an entire apartment tower on inner-city land, it is a large recurring cost that a building sold to individual owners spreads thinly across them. The Queensland Revenue Office's concession addresses that. For an eligible build-to-rent development it offers a 50 per cent reduction in the taxable value of the land for land tax. Because the reduction applies to the value on which tax is calculated and land tax rates rise with value, the saving depends on the owner's other landholdings. The concession has been available since the 2024-25 assessment year. It lasts for up to 20 years and no later than 30 June 2050, whichever comes first. There is a window for qualifying. The Revenue Office says the development must first become suitable for occupation between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2030, and that developments already operating on 1 July 2023 are excluded. The building must be newly constructed, or substantially renovated from a non-residential use.
Key date

The building must be ready for tenants by 30 June 2030

Queensland's concessions apply only to developments that first become suitable for occupation between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2030. The land tax concession then runs for up to 20 years, and ends on 30 June 2050 at the latest.

The concession starts only when the building is occupied. The Revenue Office states that it is available after a certificate of occupancy has been issued and not during construction. For the construction period it points to a separate avenue, ex gratia relief, under one of its public rulings. ## Foreign owners: the surcharge and the extra duty Overseas institutions are among the investors in build-to-rent, and Queensland charges foreign owners more in two ways. Both are switched off for eligible build-to-rent developments. The first is the land tax foreign surcharge. The Revenue Office's surcharge page gives it as 3 per cent of the taxable value above $350,000, applying to foreign companies and trustees of foreign trusts. For an eligible build-to-rent development the concession is a 100 per cent reduction in the taxable value for surcharge purposes, so no surcharge is payable on that land. The second is additional foreign acquirer duty, known as AFAD. The Revenue Office describes it as an extra 8 per cent of duty on relevant acquisitions by foreign persons. For build-to-rent the concession is a 100 per cent discount, for transactions entered into on or after 1 July 2023. The AFAD concession works in two situations, set out in the Revenue Office's public ruling on the subject, issued on 24 August 2023. Where a foreign buyer acquires an existing build-to-rent development, the seller must have had the land tax concession in the previous financial year, and the buyer must go on using the land in a way that qualifies for at least five consecutive financial years. Where a foreign buyer acquires land to develop, it must build the development by 30 June 2030 and then qualify for the land tax concession for at least five consecutive financial years. There are strings attached. The Revenue Office says the land cannot be transferred or subdivided before the required period has been served. It also notes that the AFAD concession is an alternative to the exemption and ex gratia relief that exist for other foreign developers: only one can be claimed for the same transaction. ## What counts as an eligible development in Queensland The State's test has three parts, according to the Revenue Office. The development must comprise at least 50 dwellings. Each must be self-contained, which the Revenue Office's ruling defines as having a separate entrance and its own kitchen, bedroom and bathroom, for the exclusive use of the occupants, so that nobody has to leave the dwelling to reach any of them. An apartment block where each unit has its own kitchen and bathroom qualifies. Units that share a common kitchen and bathrooms do not. The development must be used solely or primarily for residential purposes. The ruling reads "primarily" as mainly or principally, and looks at the nature of the building, the share of floor area that is residential and the share of construction cost. Its examples are practical. A 200-apartment tower with a small café or convenience store is still primarily residential. Two towers with 140 apartments, a residents' rooftop garden and minor ground-floor retail qualify. A building that is half shops and half apartments does not, and neither does one that is half apartment hotel. At least 10 per cent of the dwellings must be provided at discounted rent to eligible tenants. The Revenue Office's summary pages state the requirement without setting out the level of discount or the definition of an eligible tenant; those details sit in the legislation and are among the matters an owner would confirm through a ruling. Timing matters too. An owner generally has to show 12 months of continuous eligibility leading up to the relevant 30 June. A first-time applicant may show a minimum of six months instead. ## Applying for the State concessions and keeping them The process has a before, a during and an after.
The Queensland concession, from ruling to renewal
  1. Before committingAn owner can ask the Revenue Office for a ruling on a planned development, on form LT26 for land tax or D4.8 for AFAD.
  2. Once eligibleThe land tax concession is claimed on form LT26, by the 30 June ending the second land tax year after eligibility was first met.
  3. Every year afterBy 31 July the owner confirms on form LT28 that the land still qualifies.
Changes have to be reported quickly. The Revenue Office requires notice within one month of a change of ownership. For a staged development it requires notice within one month of a decision not to proceed with a stage, or to change its nature. For the AFAD concession there are separate forms for a change in circumstances and for a decision not to build, to build on a smaller scale, or to transfer or subdivide the land, each due within one month. The annual confirmation is the point at which the concession can lapse. On the conditions listed above, a development with fewer than 50 qualifying dwellings, one no longer primarily residential, or one with less than 10 per cent of its dwellings at discounted rent would not meet the test the owner confirms each July. ## The federal rules: a faster deduction and a lower withholding rate The Commonwealth's incentives work on income tax, and the Australian Taxation Office administers them. There are two. The first is an accelerated capital works deduction. The owner of an eligible build-to-rent development can deduct 4 per cent a year of the capital expenditure incurred in constructing it. The Tax Office says this applies where construction commenced after 7:30 pm, Canberra time, on 9 May 2023. The second concerns foreign investors in managed investment trusts, the vehicles through which institutions commonly hold Australian property. Payments of rental income and capital gains from residential housing to foreign investors in such a trust are ordinarily subject to withholding tax at 30 per cent. For an eligible build-to-rent development the rate is 15 per cent. The Tax Office notes that a trust owning an active build-to-rent development can access the lower rate irrespective of when the development was built. Halving the withholding rate matters to the same group of investors that Queensland's surcharge and AFAD concessions address: foreign owners. ## The federal conditions The federal test resembles Queensland's at first glance and is stricter in several places. According to the Tax Office: - The development must have 50 or more residential dwellings made available for rent to the general public. - The dwellings and the common areas must be owned by a single entity for at least 15 years. The development can be sold, but only whole, to another single entity. - Every dwelling must be tenanted, or offered to the public, on a lease of five years or more. A shorter lease is allowed where the tenant asks for one. - At least 10 per cent of the dwellings must be affordable dwellings, with rent at 74.9 per cent or less of market value, let to tenants within specified taxable income thresholds. - The affordable dwellings must be comparable to the others: for each kind of affordable dwelling there must be at least as many comparable dwellings at market rent. One condition changed this year. The Tax Office says that from 27 March 2026 the affordable dwelling rules also require the tenant to have been identified by an eligible community housing provider engaged by the owner for that purpose. Qualifying is not automatic. A development becomes an "active" build-to-rent development only when its owner notifies the Tax Office on the approved form. The same form is used when the development expands, is sold or acquired, or stops qualifying. Each notice is due within 28 days of the event, and the Tax Office states that the Commissioner has no discretion to extend that period. ## The misuse tax The 15-year period is enforced with a specific tax. If a development stops being an active build-to-rent development during its 15-year compliance period, the owner responsible is liable for what the Tax Office calls build-to-rent misuse tax. It is designed to claw back the benefit with interest. On the Tax Office's description, the amount is worked out from the accelerated deductions that were claimed, plus 8 per cent of that amount, and from the trust payments and capital gains that received the lower withholding rate, multiplied by 1.08. The misuse tax itself is not deductible. Two limits apply. After the 15 years have passed, the misuse tax no longer applies if the development later stops qualifying. And where a development fails one criterion because of events outside the owner's control, the owner can ask the Commissioner, through a private ruling, to exercise a discretion, provided reasonable steps have been taken to fix the problem. ## State and federal rules side by side The two regimes were written separately and do not line up exactly. A project can meet one and miss the other.
Two sets of rules for the same buildingCurrent rules, August 2026
FeatureQueenslandCommonwealth
Tax affectedLand tax, foreign surcharge, AFADIncome tax deductions, trust withholding tax
Minimum size50 self-contained dwellings50 dwellings for rent to the public
Discounted share10% at discounted rent10% at 74.9% of market rent or less
Lease lengthNot stated in Revenue Office summariesFive-year leases must be offered
Holding periodFive years for the AFAD concession15 years, single owner
Time limitOccupation by 30 June 2030; ends by 30 June 2050Construction begun after 9 May 2023 for the 4% deduction
Administered byQueensland Revenue OfficeAustralian Taxation Office

Sources: Queensland Revenue Office (pages updated 5 May 2026; public rulings issued 24 August 2023); Australian Taxation Office (page updated 18 February 2026).

The differences are worth noticing. Queensland's concessions have a closing date for new buildings; the federal withholding rate does not depend on when a building was constructed. The Commonwealth specifies the rent discount and, since March, who selects the tenants; Queensland's public summaries state only the 10 per cent share. The federal rules bind an owner for 15 years with a penalty tax behind them, while Queensland relies on an annual confirmation. ## What it means for tenants and neighbours For a tenant, most of this is invisible. What can be seen is the result: a building with one landlord, on-site management, and, where the federal incentives are claimed, the offer of a five-year lease. A tenant is not obliged to take the long lease, since the rule allows a shorter one at the tenant's request. The discounted apartments are a small share by design. Ten per cent of a 300-apartment tower is 30 homes. The pilot projects went further, with a quarter of the Newstead building and about 40 per cent of the Fortitude Valley building at reduced rent, because there the State pays a subsidy directly. For everyone else, build-to-rent is one more way an apartment building gets financed. Whether it adds to the number of homes built, or changes who owns homes that would have been built anyway, is a question the tax rules cannot settle. What they do settle is narrower: an owner who builds at least 50 apartments, keeps them, rents all of them and discounts one in ten is taxed more lightly, by both governments, than one who does not.