Beyond the deposit: the upfront costs of a first home in Queensland

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Kooky

Builder of Shaka, the payment router that pays every agent their commission on closing date.

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Saving a deposit takes years, so it is natural to treat it as the finish line. It is not. Between the signed contract and the day the keys change hands, a first home buyer in Queensland meets a second set of bills: a State tax on the transfer, registry fees to put the new owner and the lender on the title, legal costs, inspections, insurance, the share of rates already paid by the seller, and the cost of moving in. None of them is large next to the price of a home. Together, as the worked example below shows, the government charges alone can pass $14,000 before any private quote is added.

The Queensland Government's own checklist for buyers sorts these costs into three moments: before you buy (transfer duty, a land tax clearance certificate, a valuation, inspections, legal and conveyancing costs, search fees), when you buy (bank fees, home and contents insurance, moving and connecting utilities, smoke alarms and safety switches) and after you buy (council rates, body corporate levies where they apply, and maintenance). This guide follows that order. It explains what each cost is, who sets it, when it falls due, and which ones a buyer can know in advance to the cent. It ends with a worked example built only from published government schedules.

Illustrative figures for an established first home bought for $750,000 with one mortgage, from the Queensland Revenue Office rates and the Titles Queensland 2026-27 fee schedule.

Why the extra costs matter so much

The Australian Government's Moneysmart service puts it simply: its suggested savings goal is a deposit of 20 per cent of the price, plus enough to cover the costs of buying. The deposit and the buying costs are two separate amounts, and a budget that plans only for the first leaves the second to be found at the last moment.

The costs also arrive at different times. Some are paid before the contract is even signed, others in the weeks after it, and the largest ones at settlement, when the conveyancer's statement shows exactly what has to be in the account. Knowing the order is as useful as knowing the amounts.

Transfer duty: the largest bill, and the one with relief

Transfer duty is the State tax on buying land and the home on it. The Queensland Revenue Office says the buyer is usually the one responsible for paying it. In the worked example below it is the largest cost after the deposit, even with the concessions that exist for first home buyers.

The Revenue Office publishes three sets of rates that matter here.

• The general rates, last updated on 25 June 2026, apply when no concession does. On a $750,000 home they give $26,775.
• The home concession rates apply to a home the buyer will live in. They charge $1 per $100 up to $350,000, then step up through the bands to $10,150 plus $4.50 per $100 above $540,000. On a $750,000 home they give $19,600.
• The first home concession is not a separate scale. For contracts signed on or after 9 June 2024, it is a fixed amount taken off the home concession duty: $17,350 for a home valued at no more than $709,999.99, then $1,735 less for each further $10,000 band, down to nothing at $800,000.

That structure is why the duty bill climbs steeply in the last $90,000 before the cap. A first home at $700,000 pays no duty at all, because the $17,350 deduction is larger than the home concession duty on it. At $750,000 the deduction falls to $8,675, so the buyer pays $19,600 less $8,675, or $10,925. At $800,000 the deduction is gone.

The Revenue Office also sets out a separate first home (new home) concession: for eligible transactions on or after 1 May 2025, a first home buyer of a new home gets a full concession with no price cap, and the same applies to vacant land bought to build a first home under contracts signed on or after 1 May 2025. Who qualifies, and how long the buyer must then live in the home, are questions with their own detailed rules; the Revenue Office's first home concession page lists them, including the citizenship or residency test that applies to transactions entered into on or after 1 August 2026.

When the duty has to be paid

The duty deadline is not tied to settlement day. The Revenue Office's page on lodging and paying says the documents must be lodged within 30 days of the date the liability arises, which is usually when the contract is signed or becomes unconditional. Payment then falls due by the date on the notice of assessment.

In practice most buyers never deal with the Revenue Office directly. A solicitor or conveyancer registered as a self-assessor lodges the transfer online on the buyer's behalf. The Revenue Office's transfer duty page says a self-assessor must lodge within 30 days of the liability date and pay the duty within 14 days after that. The page also notes that a transfer generally cannot be registered until it has been stamped, which happens once the duty is dealt with. Late lodgement or late payment can bring penalty tax and interest.

The claim for a concession travels with those documents: the Revenue Office lists Form D2.1, the claim for a home, first home or first home (new home) concession, alongside the contract and the Titles Queensland transfer forms. A buyer who is unsure of qualifying can pay at the full rate and claim later; the Revenue Office then reassesses and refunds the difference if the concession is granted.

Titles Queensland fees: putting your name on the title

The second government charge is the fee to register the change of ownership on the land register. Queensland's registry is run by Titles Queensland, and its fees change every year on 1 July. The schedule for 2026-27, which took effect at 9am on 1 July 2026 according to the registry's alert of 15 June 2026, sets the fees used below. The registry's fee calculator notes that these statutory fees are not subject to GST.

The transfer. Lodging an instrument that changes the ownership of one lot costs $248.04. On top of that, a transfer of a fee simple, which is the ordinary freehold title of a house or unit, attracts $46.56 for each $10,000, or part of $10,000, of the price above $180,000. The fee therefore grows with the price, and it can be worked out exactly before the contract is signed.

On a $750,000 home, the price is $570,000 above the threshold, which is 57 steps of $10,000. That adds 57 times $46.56, or $2,653.92, to the $248.04 base, for a transfer fee of $2,901.96.

The gap between these figures is worth noticing because, unlike transfer duty, the registry fee carries no first home reduction: the Titles Queensland schedule has no such line. A first home buyer who pays no duty at $650,000 still pays $2,436.36 to register the transfer.

The mortgage. A buyer who borrows also has the lender's mortgage registered on the title. The Titles Queensland practice manual describes a mortgage as an instrument registered on the title, made on the National Mortgage Form, which has to be lodged through an electronic lodgment network unless an exemption applies. The registry's 2026-27 fee schedule has no line that names a mortgage. Its line for lodging "any other instrument" is $248.04, and that is the figure used in the worked example below. Whether the lender passes it on to the borrower is set by the loan's own terms and fee schedule.

Searches. Before settlement, the conveyancer checks the title. A search of an indefeasible title costs $25.71 under the 2026-27 schedule, and other searches, such as historical title details at $37.88, may be added where the file needs them. Searches like these are the kind of outlay that appears on a legal bill, covered below.

Legal and conveyancing costs

The cost of conveyancing is set by the firm that does it, not by a government schedule. What the rules do fix is how that cost must be explained. According to the Legal Services Commission, a law practice must disclose its costs when they are likely to exceed $1,500, excluding GST and disbursements, and must give detailed written disclosure once they are likely to exceed $3,000. Disclosure comes before or as soon as practicable after the firm is engaged, and it has to be updated if the costs change.

Two parts make up a legal bill, and the Commission's disclosure rules treat them separately. The legal costs pay for the firm's own work on the purchase. The disbursements, or outlays, are amounts paid to others on the client's behalf, such as the title search above, and the disclosure must include an estimate of them as well. The Commission says a client has the right to ask for an itemised bill. When comparing quotes, the useful question is what the estimate of outlays includes, since two quotes with the same professional fee can end up some distance apart.

Building and pest inspections

The Queensland Building and Construction Commission says a pre-purchase building inspection must be done by a licensed residential building inspector, and a termite inspection by a licensed pest controller. One person can do both if they hold both licences, which is why combined building and pest reports are common. The Queensland Government's inspections page adds that the inspector's licence should be checked before booking.

Inspection prices are set by the inspector, and no government schedule fixes them. What matters most for the budget is timing. Moneysmart recommends having the inspections done during the cooling-off period, and the Commission suggests making a satisfactory result a condition of the contract. Either way, the inspection is paid for before the buyer knows whether the purchase will go ahead, and a buyer who makes several offers may pay for more than one report.

Other checks have their own costs where they apply. A home with a pool should have a current pool safety certificate, or the seller's notice that there is none, and the Commission notes that a pool or granny flat should have council approval. The Queensland Government suggests having a solar system checked by a professional, with any hands-on work done by a licensed electrician. The government checklist also lists a professional valuation as a possible cost, separate from any valuation the lender orders.

Lender costs and insurance

Lenders set their own fees, and the government checklist lists bank or mortgage fees among the costs that arrive at purchase. Which fees apply, and how much they are, differ from one loan to the next, so the lender's own fee schedule for the chosen product is the only reliable source. Lenders mortgage insurance is a separate cost with its own rules; Moneysmart notes that a 20 per cent deposit avoids it.

Insurance is the other cost that tends to fall due before settlement. Moneysmart notes that home and contents insurance may be a condition of the loan, and the Queensland Government says a lender can require home insurance and enforce that requirement. When the buyer becomes responsible for damage to the home depends on the contract, so the conveyancer is the person to ask when cover should start. In a unit or townhouse, the Queensland Government notes that the body corporate usually insures the common property, but the owner still insures their own lot and contents.

The smoke alarm rule changes what a buyer budgets for. The same guidance, updated on 25 August 2026, says compliant alarms must be photoelectric, meet AS3786-2014, and sound together; they may be hardwired by a licensed electrician or be ten-year sealed battery units an owner can fit. The Queensland Government's guide for new owners suggests checking the smoke alarms and safety switches once the home is yours.

Settlement adjustments: paying back the seller's share

At settlement, the price is not the only figure on the statement. Council rates and other outgoings of the property are divided between seller and buyer at that date, so the balance to pay can be higher or lower than the price less the deposit.

The Queensland Government's guide for new owners says the seller pays rates up to and including the day of settlement, and the buyer pays from the next day. Where the seller has already paid a bill covering days after settlement, the buyer's share of it is added to the amount due; where a bill for the seller's period is unpaid, the seller's share is taken off. The contract sets out how each outgoing is divided. Because these figures are only fixed in the final days, the settlement statement is the document to wait for before moving the last of the funds.

Moving in: the costs that come last

The Queensland Government's checklist places moving and connecting utilities among the costs that arrive when you buy. Removalists and utility connections are priced by the businesses that provide them, and no government schedule sets those prices. The government's advice for new owners is plain: plan the move carefully and let every utility provider know in good time.

Then the ongoing costs begin. Council rates, body corporate levies where there is a scheme, insurance premiums and maintenance become part of the household budget from the first month. They are not upfront costs, but a first home buyer who spends every last dollar at settlement meets them with nothing left over.

A worked example, step by step

The figures below are illustrative. They assume an established home, not a new build, bought for $750,000 by a buyer who qualifies for the first home concession under a contract signed on or after 1 August 2026, with a dutiable value equal to the price, one lot, one mortgage and one title search. Every amount comes from a schedule published by the Queensland Revenue Office or Titles Queensland and in force on the article's date. Costs set by private providers, such as legal fees, inspections, lender fees, insurance and moving, are left as lines to fill in from quotes.

Three things stand out. First, the duty is by far the largest line, and it is highly sensitive to price near the cap: the same buyer at the general rate would pay $26,775, so the concessions are worth $15,850 here. Second, the registry fees add $3,175.71 whether or not any duty relief applies. Third, the government charges alone come to $14,100.71 before a single private quote is added.

The order in which these costs fall due is the last part of the picture.

Putting a budget together

Read in that order, the costs give a simple method. The government charges can be calculated almost to the cent once the price is known: the Revenue Office publishes the duty rates and concession bands, and the Titles Queensland schedule gives the registry fees. The private costs need quotes, and the Legal Services Commission's disclosure rules mean a law practice has to put its estimate in writing above the thresholds. The settlement adjustments are known only near the end, which is a good reason to leave a margin.

Two dates also deserve a place in the plan. Titles Queensland fees are reviewed every year and change on 1 July, and the alert for 2026-27 confirms the old fees applied only up to 30 June, so a transfer lodged after a 1 July change pays the new schedule. And the first home concession's value depends on the dutiable value falling in the right band, so a small change in the agreed price near $710,000 or $800,000 can move the duty by more than the change in price itself. Each case depends on its own contract and its own buyer, and the conveyancer's estimate is the figure to rely on before signing.

Kooky, from Shaka

Kooky edits Queensland Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for Queensland property professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.

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