You can sell your house as soon as you like. No law sets a minimum time you have to own a home before you sell it, and there's no penalty for selling early as such.

If you're selling sooner than you planned, perhaps for a new job, after a separation or because the home doesn't suit you, what it costs depends on how you bought and how you've used the property:

• A first home grant or stamp duty concession may have to be paid back if you don't live in the home for long enough. A concession means you paid less stamp duty, or none. In most states, the rule is six or 12 months in a row, starting within a year of settlement (the day the home became yours).
• Capital gains tax (CGT), the tax on the profit when you sell, usually doesn't apply if the house has been your home the whole time you've owned it, however soon you sell. If it hasn't, some or all of the gain is taxed. With less than 12 months' ownership, there's also no CGT discount (which halves the taxable gain if you've owned the property 12 months or more).
• You pay costs at both ends. The stamp duty you paid when you bought isn't refunded, and selling brings agent's fees, marketing and legal costs, and possibly a break fee if your loan is on a fixed rate.

Is there a penalty for selling a house within a year?

There's no penalty for selling a house within a year as such. What can cost you is breaking a condition of a grant or concession you received when you bought. So can tax, if the property wasn't your home the whole time.

If you bought to renovate or build and sell at a profit, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) may also tax the profit as income.

First home buyers: how long do you have to live in the home?

Most first home grants and stamp duty concessions require you to move in within 12 months of settlement (or of a new build being finished), then live there for six or 12 months in a row. If you sell before meeting the rule, or rent the home out instead, you'll usually have to repay the grant or pay the stamp duty.

The table shows the main first home buyer schemes and their live-in rules as at 16 October 2026, from each state's revenue office (the agency that collects stamp duty and pays the grants) or its law. We've left out grant amounts and price limits because they change often.

"Move in within" counts from settlement, or from when a new build is finished.

A few things the table can't show:

• There's some room for hardship. Many schemes let the revenue office shorten or waive the live-in period for good reasons, such as serious illness. Some allow it only in exceptional circumstances, and the move-in deadline for Queensland's stamp duty concessions can't be extended. Ask before you sell, not after.
• Not telling the revenue office costs more. You can face interest and penalties on top of the grant or duty.
• Buying with someone else? NSW's stamp duty scheme and the schemes in Victoria, the ACT and the NT need only one of you to live there. Queensland's grant and the schemes in South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania generally need every applicant to live there, unless the revenue office exempts one.
• Renting it out before you move in is allowed under some schemes, including both South Australian schemes and Queensland's grant, if you still meet the live-in rule in time. But it does cost you Queensland's stamp duty concession.
• The rules depend on when you signed and what you bought. NSW, for example, required six months rather than 12 for contracts signed between 1 July 2017 and 30 June 2023. The NT's 12 months applies to contracts from 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2027. For vacant land, several states allow longer to move in.
• Check which rules apply to you. Your approval letter and your revenue office's page will show them. If you're not sure what you received, your conveyancer or the revenue office can tell you.
• Tasmania's stamp duty relief for established homes has closed, but buyers who used it still have to live in the home for six months and keep it until then.
• Some concessions open to any home buyer, not just first home buyers, have live-in rules too, such as Queensland's home concession, Victoria's principal place of residence (main home) concession and the NT's house and land exemption.
• Off-the-plan homes (bought before they're built): NSW's stamp duty deferral and Victoria's ongoing off-the-plan concession need you to live there for 12 months. Victoria's temporary concession for off-the-plan apartments and townhouses has no live-in rule of its own. It covers contracts from 21 October 2024 and before 21 April 2027.

Federal schemes work differently. If you bought with the Australian Government 5 per cent Deposit Scheme (formerly the Home Guarantee Scheme), the scheme itself doesn't require you to repay anything when you sell. Selling ends the government's guarantee on your loan.

If you move out or rent the home before it sells, though, the guarantee can end while the loan is still running, and your lender may then charge lenders mortgage insurance (LMI, insurance that protects the lender, not you) or other costs.

If you bought with Help to Buy, you can sell at any time. It's the government's shared equity scheme, where the government pays part of the price in return for a share of the home's value.

Before you start the sale, tell your lender and Housing Australia, the agency that runs the scheme. You repay the government's share, worked out from whichever is higher: the sale price or a current valuation. When you accept an offer, tell Housing Australia the sale price straight away.

If you used the First Home Super Saver scheme (saving for your deposit through super), the test is what you intended when you bought: to move in as soon as you practically could and live there for at least six of the first 12 months after that. If you're selling sooner, it's worth checking the ATO's guidance or asking a registered tax agent.

Will I pay capital gains tax if I sell within 12 months?

If the house has been your home (your main residence) for the whole time you've owned it, you generally won't pay CGT, however soon you sell. There's no minimum time you have to live there.

If it has never been your home and you've owned it for less than 12 months, the whole gain (less any capital losses) is added to your taxable income, with no CGT discount.

For your home to be fully exempt, generally all of these need to apply:

• you moved in as soon as you practically could after settlement, and actually lived there (an intention to move in isn't enough)
• it hasn't been rented out or used to earn income (though the six-year rule can sometimes keep a home you moved out of exempt), and you didn't buy it to renovate and sell at a profit
• the land is 2 hectares or less
• you're an Australian resident for tax purposes when you sign the contract to sell (foreign residents generally can't use the exemption)

If it was your home for just part of the time, for example because it was rented when you bought it, only part of the gain is exempt. Our guide to how long you need to live in a house to avoid capital gains tax explains how the exemption is worked out, including the six-year rule.

What is the 12-month rule?

Under the current rules, if you've owned a property for at least 12 months and you're an Australian resident, a taxable capital gain is generally halved (after any capital losses) before it's added to your income. That's the 50 per cent CGT discount. The gain counts in the financial year you sign the contract to sell.

The 12 months runs from contract to contract, not settlement to settlement. It counts from the day after you sign to buy until the day before you sign to sell. For example, if you signed to buy on 10 March 2026, a contract to sell signed on 11 March 2027 or later would meet the 12 months.

The rules change for contracts signed from 1 July 2027. They don't affect a home that's fully exempt as your main residence. Otherwise, the part of the gain made after that date generally won't be halved.

Instead, the property's value at 1 July 2027 (or its cost, if you buy after then) is adjusted for inflation. That adjustment also needs 12 months of ownership, and isn't available to foreign or temporary residents.

A minimum 30 per cent tax can also apply to that part, mainly in a year when your other income is low. It doesn't apply if you receive certain government payments that year, such as the Age Pension or JobSeeker.

Owners of eligible new homes can choose to keep the 50 per cent discount instead.

For how the gain is split before and after the change, see our guide to tax on selling an investment property.

Timing rules that catch people out

• If you first rented out your home less than 12 months before you sell, you generally can't use the discount on the taxable part. If the home was fully exempt until then, the tax rules treat it as bought again, at its market value, on the day you first rented it out.
• If you've bought a new home before selling the old one, both can be treated as your main residence for up to six months. But you must have lived in the old home for at least three months in a row in the year before you sell it, and not rented it out in that year while it wasn't your home.
• If you build a home on land you own, you can choose to treat it as your main residence from when you bought the land, for up to four years. That only works if you move in as soon as you practically can after it's finished and live there for at least three months.

The ATO's main residence exemption page has the full conditions, and a registered tax agent can tell you how they apply to your sale.

Can I build or renovate a house and sell it straight away?

You can, but the ATO may tax the profit as ordinary income rather than as a capital gain. That means no CGT discount and no main residence exemption, however long you hold it.

If you renovated your home for yourself, lived in it and later sold it, the sale is generally still taxed under the CGT rules, so the main residence exemption can apply. What changes things is your purpose when you bought, built or renovated, and how you went about it.

Buying with the aim of selling at a profit and doing the work in a businesslike way points to income, even if it's a one-off. Owning the property for a short time is one of the signs the ATO weighs, alongside others such as how much work was involved and what it cost.

GST: you generally don't pay GST when you sell an existing home, though a substantial renovation can make it count as a new home for GST.

Building new homes to sell can count as running a business (an enterprise) for GST, even for one project. You may then need to register for GST (required once your GST turnover reaches $75,000 a year) and pay GST on the sale. Sometimes that's only on your margin, under what's called the margin scheme.

The ATO's page on the tax consequences of selling property sets out the signs it looks for. If you're not sure whether your project counts, ask a registered tax agent before you start.

What else does selling soon after buying cost?

Selling soon means paying selling costs on top of the stamp duty you paid to buy.

• Stamp duty on your purchase is gone. It's a one-off tax on buying. Revenue NSW, for example, refunds duty only in limited cases, such as a contract that's cancelled before settlement, not when you resell.
• Selling costs: agent's fees, marketing and legal or conveyancing fees. Our selling costs calculator, below, gives an estimate for your property.
• A break fee: if your loan is on a fixed rate, your lender may charge one when you sell. Moneysmart, the government's money guidance site, says it may be very high, especially if interest rates have fallen since you fixed. Ask your lender for a figure before you list.
• A discharge fee to close the loan. Your lender can tell you how much.
• Lenders mortgage insurance (LMI): if you paid it, it protected the lender, not you. Ask your lender whether any of it can be refunded.

If you're selling because you can't keep up with the repayments, talk to your lender about hardship options first. The National Debt Helpline (1800 007 007) offers free financial counselling.

Can I sell before my own purchase settles?

Sometimes. Some contracts let you nominate someone else as the buyer, or pass your contract to them (assign it) before settlement. Whether you can depends on the contract.

In Victoria, for example, passing on your contract before settlement can mean paying stamp duty twice in some cases. GST may also apply if selling an off-the-plan contract is part of a business. Ask your conveyancer or solicitor before you sign anything.

Before you list: a quick check

• Grants and concessions: find your approval letter, check your state's live-in rule, and contact the revenue office if you can't meet it.
• Your loan: ask your lender for a payout figure, including any break fee or discharge fee.
• Tax: note the date you signed the contract to buy, and whether the property has been your home the whole time. If it hasn't, talk to a registered tax agent before you sign a sale contract.
• A clearance certificate: each Australian resident owner selling property generally needs one from the ATO, to show they're not a foreign resident for tax. Without it, the buyer must generally hold back up to 15 per cent of the price. It's free, but it can take up to 28 days, so apply early.
• Your agent: compare agents' fees and recent results in your area, and ask how they'd answer buyers who want to know why the home is back on the market so soon.

Where to check the details

• NSW: First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme and First Home Owner (New Homes) Grant
• Victoria: first home buyer duty exemption or concession and First Home Owner Grant
• Queensland: selling or leasing after a home concession and First Home Owner Grant obligations
• South Australia: stamp duty relief residence requirement and First Home Owner Grant residence requirement
• Western Australia: first home owner rate of duty and First Home Owner Grant
• Tasmania: First Home Owner Grant
• ACT: Home Buyer Concession Scheme
• Northern Territory: the First Home Owner Grant Act
• Federal schemes: 5 per cent Deposit Scheme, Help to Buy and the ATO's First Home Super Saver scheme
• Tax and loans: the ATO's capital gains tax reform page and Moneysmart on break fees

Frequently asked questions