Victoria · Land tax · 2026
Victorian land tax, without the panic.
A lot of the people who ring us from Melbourne open with land tax. Fair enough, it changed, and the stories are loud. Here is the actual scale, what it costs on a real house, and how it changes where we buy. Numbers, not opinions. Then you decide.
The scale, as the SRO publishes it.
General rates for individuals and companies, 2024 to 2033 land tax years, COVID debt levy included. Charged on the combined site value of everything you own in Victoria other than your home, as at midnight on 31 December.
| Total site value | Land tax a year |
|---|---|
| Under $50,000 | Nil |
| $50,000 to under $100,000 | $500 |
| $100,000 to under $300,000 | $975 |
| $300,000 to under $600,000 | $1,350 plus 0.3% of the amount over $300,000 |
| $600,000 to under $1,000,000 | $2,250 plus 0.6% of the amount over $600,000 |
| $1,000,000 to under $1,800,000 | $4,650 plus 0.9% of the amount over $1,000,000 |
| $1,800,000 to under $3,000,000 | $11,850 plus 1.65% of the amount over $1,800,000 |
| $3,000,000 and over | $31,650 plus 2.65% of the amount over $3,000,000 |
Absentee owners pay a further 4% on top. Trusts run on a separate scale from $25,000. Source: State Revenue Office, current land tax rates.
What it costs
A $600,000 regional house, then a second, then a third.
Site value on a typical regional Victorian house runs around 55% of the price, so a $600,000 house carries roughly $330,000 of taxable land. Here is what the scale does as the holdings stack up.
| Holdings | Calculation | A year | A week |
|---|---|---|---|
| One house, site value $330,000 | $1,350 + 0.3% × $30,000 | $1,440 | $28 |
| Two houses, combined site value $660,000 | $2,250 + 0.6% × $60,000 | $2,610 | $50 |
| Three houses, combined site value $990,000 | $2,250 + 0.6% × $390,000 | $4,590 | $88 |
Twenty-eight dollars a week on the first one. Eighty-eight across three. Real money, and it compounds as you add. It is also a line most people never put in the holding budget until the first assessment lands, which is the actual problem. Run your own numbers through the cash flow calculator, which estimates land tax by state and structure on every result.
The other one
Vacant residential land tax
Separate from land tax, and statewide since 1 January 2025. A home left empty for more than six months in a calendar year is charged 1% of its capital improved value the next year, rising to 2% and 3% for consecutive vacant years. From 2026 it also reaches residential land in metropolitan Melbourne left undeveloped for five years. A tenanted investment property never meets it. An empty one does.
How it changes the search
Where we buy in Victoria now, and where we do not.
Land tax is proportional to site value, so it bites hardest where land is dear and the house is cheap: inner Melbourne, big blocks in the middle ring. It barely registers where a solid house sits on modest land in a regional centre with a hospital and a jobs base. That is where our Victorian purchases have been, and the results page shows what they have done. The number decides, not the state line.
See the Victorian purchasesStraight answers
The land tax questions we get on the phone.
Is land tax charged on the purchase price?
No. On the site value, which is the land without the house on it, set by the Valuer-General each year. On a typical regional Victorian house the site value runs around half the purchase price, which is why a $600,000 house lands in the $300,000 band, not the $600,000 one.
Does my own home count?
No. Your principal place of residence is exempt. Land tax is on everything else you hold in Victoria at midnight on 31 December, added together, and taxed as one total. That aggregation is the bit that catches people on their second and third purchase.
What is the COVID debt levy?
A temporary increase baked into the rates above. The $50,000 threshold, the flat $500 and $975 amounts and the 0.1% added to each marginal rate all come from it. It runs to the 2033 land tax year, then the scale is meant to revert. We model the rates as they are, not as they are promised to be.
What about a trust?
Trusts have their own scale with a $25,000 threshold and a surcharge on top until the holdings pass $3 million. Whether a trust is the right structure is a question for your accountant, and it is the kind of thing Tom raises in the strategy session. We will not answer it on this page.
Does this mean you stop buying in Victoria?
No. It means land tax is a line in the holding budget, next to insurance and rates, and the purchase has to carry it. On a $600,000 regional house it is about $28 a week. If the growth case covers that with room to spare, Victoria stays on the shortlist. If it does not, we go where the number works. Our last eight purchases are on the results page, by state, so you can see the split.
Want it run on your numbers, not a worked example?
Fifteen minutes on the phone. Bring what you hold and what you are thinking of buying, and you will leave knowing whether Victoria still works for you or whether we look interstate.
General information, not tax or financial advice. Rates are the SRO's published scale and can change at any state budget. What any of it means for you is a question for your accountant, and Tom is a CPA, so it gets asked in the strategy session.