Investment Property in Queensland: What the State Charges You to Buy and Hold

What Queensland charges you to buy

Transfer duty comes first, and an investor pays the full tier. The Queensland Revenue Office publishes the table.

The home concession that cuts an owner-occupier's bill doesn't reach a rental. QRO's condition is that you move into the home with your personal belongings and live there daily within one year of settlement, and that year can't be extended. You also can't lease, rent or grant exclusive possession of the whole property before you move in, or within a year after you move in. Buy it to rent out and the concession is gone.

Buying as a foreign person, or through a foreign company or trust? Additional foreign acquirer duty of 8% applies to residential land in Queensland, and it sits on top of transfer duty.

• Nothing on the first $5,000
• $1.50 per $100, or part of $100, from $5,000 up to $75,000
• $1,050 plus $3.50 per $100 above $75,000, up to $540,000
• $17,325 plus $4.50 per $100 above $540,000, up to $1,000,000
• $38,025 plus $5.75 per $100 above $1,000,000

What it charges you every year you hold it

Land tax is the yearly one. The Queensland Revenue Office calculates it on the freehold land you own in Queensland at midnight on 30 June. Vacant land counts. Built-on land counts. Your principal residence is generally exempt, and an investment property isn't.

You become liable once the total taxable value of your Queensland freehold land reaches the threshold at 30 June. For an individual that's $600,000. For an absentee, a company, or a trustee of a trust or a super fund, it's $350,000. Here's the individual scale.

An absentee surcharge of 3% then applies to taxable land worth $350,000 or more, on top of land tax. QRO works it out as the taxable value minus $350,000, times 3%. An absentee is broadly someone who doesn't ordinarily live in Australia. Australian citizens, permanent visa holders and people who usually live here are assessed at the individual rates above.

• Below $600,000: nothing
• $600,000 to $999,999: $500 plus 1 cent for each $1 over $600,000
• $1,000,000 to $2,999,999: $4,500 plus 1.65 cents for each $1 over $1,000,000
• From $3,000,000: $37,500 plus 1.25 cents for each $1 over $3,000,000
• From $5,000,000: $62,500 plus 1.75 cents for each $1 over $5,000,000
• From $10,000,000: $150,000 plus 2.25 cents for each $1 over $10,000,000

The land tax rule most pages still get wrong

Plenty of advice still tells interstate buyers that Queensland works out their rate using land they own all over the country. The AI-generated answer Google shows for this exact search says it right now, in 2026.

The Queensland Revenue Office puts it plainly. Land tax is calculated on the freehold land you own in Queensland at midnight on 30 June. Land you own in another state isn't counted in your Queensland assessment.

Worth getting right before you build a holding-cost model on the wrong number.

The rent rules that decide when your income can move

Queensland limits how often rent can go up, and the limit follows the property rather than the tenant. The Residential Tenancies Authority sets it out.

Buy an already tenanted property and you inherit the previous owner's clock. The last increase date comes with the house, so ask for it during due diligence.

Smoke alarms are the other dated obligation, and Queensland's fire service publishes the rules at fire.qld.gov.au. Alarms have to be photoelectric, interconnected so they all sound together, compliant with AS3786-2014, and free of any ionisation sensor. They go on each storey, in each bedroom, and in hallways connecting bedrooms to the rest of the home. Every existing private home, townhouse, unit and manufactured home in the state needs interconnected photoelectric alarms by 1 January 2027. Within 30 days before a tenancy starts, the lessor or landlord tests and cleans each alarm. During the tenancy the renter tests and cleans each one at least once every 12 months.

• Rent can't be increased unless at least 12 months have passed since the current amount of rent became payable.
• That 12 months attaches to the premises, not the tenancy. It still counts if the last increase was under a different tenancy agreement, with a different tenant, or by a previous agent or owner.
• A rent increase on a general tenancy needs at least two months notice in writing. Rooming accommodation agreements need at least four weeks notice in writing.
• Minimum housing standards have applied to all Queensland tenancies since 1 September 2024.

The federal change dated 1 July 2027

One federal change sits on top of everything Queensland charges. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 26 June 2026, and Schedule 2 limits negative gearing on residential property to new builds. What follows comes from the Federal Register of Legislation entry and the Treasurer's second reading speech.

We're not going to re-explain the Act here. The longer version, including what's still open, sits on our negative gearing page.

Once you know the duty, the land tax band and the holding costs on a specific property, put them in one place and look at the monthly number before you commit to anything.

• From the 2027-28 income year, losses on existing residential investment properties bought after 7:30pm AEST on 12 May 2026 can only be deducted against other residential property income, including capital gains. Excess losses carry forward to offset residential property income in future years.
• Properties held at announcement can keep being negatively geared in future years until they're sold.
• New builds can still be negatively geared. Build-to-rent developments and dwellings provided as social or affordable housing are exempt too.
• Nothing about current-year deductibility changes before the 2027-28 income year, which starts 1 July 2027.
• From 1 July 2027 the 50% capital gains tax discount is replaced by cost base indexation plus a 30% minimum tax rate on real capital gains accruing from that date, for assets held at least 12 months by individuals, partnerships and trusts. Gains accruing up to 1 July 2027 keep the 50% discount, and buyers of new builds can choose between the two when they sell.
• What qualifies as a new build isn't settled. Treasury consultation closes 21 August 2026.

Where the real Queensland numbers live

Demand and supply, from the ABS. At 31 December 2025 Queensland's population was 5,712.1 thousand, about 5.71 million. It grew by 92.2 thousand people over that year, or 1.6%, against 1.5% nationally, and net interstate migration into Queensland was 16,528 people. On the supply side, Queensland's total dwelling approvals were 4,841 in June 2026, up 33.4% on the previous month, seasonally adjusted, released 30 July 2026.

No Queensland median rent appears on this page, and that's deliberate. The Residential Tenancies Authority publishes median weekly rents every quarter, by postcode, suburb, local government area and whole of Queensland, worked out from new rental bond lodgements. Use the postcode you're actually buying in. A state average won't tell you what your property rents for.

The yield tables and boom-suburb lists you'll find for Queensland trace back to commercial blogs rather than a register. Check where a number came from before you price a deal off it.

How FAA works, and how we get paid

FAA Property Pty Ltd is a licensed Queensland real estate agency. Office of Fair Trading licence 4220395, type Real Estate Agent, expiring 5 June 2027. That licence permits acting for buyers. The Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld) s26 covers buying and negotiating for a client for reward, and Queensland has no separate buyer's agent licence class.

FAA Property earns a commission from builders and developers when a property purchase proceeds. The strategy session itself costs you nothing. Because we're paid by the supply side, you should weigh our recommendations with that in mind.

FAA sources new-build, house-and-land and off-market investment property across South East Queensland. Property management is provided on the Sunshine Coast, from the Maroochydore office. As at 5 August 2026 FAA had four properties on the market, in Meridan Plains, Battery Hill, Nirimba and Caloundra West. The opportunities feed syncs from PropertyMe every 15 minutes, so current stock changes through the day.

One office: Suite 3-7, Level 5, Tower 2, 55 Plaza Parade, Maroochydore QLD 4558. Phone (07) 5327 3469. Email property@faa.net.au.