Key insights from the 2026-27 Western Australia State Budget

The 2026-27 Western Australia (WA) State Budget was delivered on 7 May 2026 by Deputy Premier & Treasurer, the Hon Rita Saffioti MLA.

This Budget places a clear emphasis on housing affordability, cost of living relief and health system investment.

The most immediate impacts of these budget measures arise from expanded first home buyer concessions, continued infrastructure investment, and targeted support measures designed to ease short-term financial pressures.  

Highlights include:  

• First home buyer stamp duty thresholds increased by $100,000.
• Expanded concessions for off-the-plan purchases and foreign-backed development.
• Over $1bn in cost-of-living support measures.
• Record investment in health, hospitals and infrastructure.
• Continued focus on housing supply and economic diversification. 

Breaking down the 26-27 WA State Budget

Housing and property measures

The Cook Labor Government has cooked up several budget measures to address housing concerns in WA through its 2026-27 Housing Taxation Package and Stamp duty relief – First Home Buyers measures.

Significantly, these budget changes apply from the announcement date of 7 May 2026.  

Expanded relief for first-home buyers

The State Government has increased support for first-home buyers, with budget measures easing eligibility for the first home owner grant and increasing stamp duty concession and exemption thresholds for first home buyers by $100,000. 

Key changes:  

• No stamp duty on newly built or established homes valued up to $600,000 (previously $500,000)
  • Stamp duty concessions are available for homes up to $800,000 (up from $700,000)  
• No stamp duty for vacant land valued up to $450,000 (previously $350,000)
  • Concessional rates for vacant land valued up to $550,000 (previously $450,000).
• The property cap for the $10,000 First-Home Owner Grant (FHOG) will also increase from $750,000 to $800,000 for homes south of the 26th parallel of South Latitude meaning eligible purchasers are not disadvantaged by increases in costs associated with building a house.
  • This is achieved by removing the link between the first-home owner grant value caps and eligibility for the first-home owner rate of duty, enabling eligible first-home buyers to access a duty concession if the value of the transaction exceeds the FHOG cap.
• No stamp duty is paid for dwellings purchased pre-construction up to $800,000, tapering to a 50% concession for homes above $900,000. (See below for further details.)

These budget changes apply to transactions entered into on or after 7 May 2026 (announcement date).

Table of stamp duty concessions for FHB in WA: 

Purchasing a newly built or established home 

Purchasing vacant land and building a home 

*assumes property value up to revised FHOG cap of $800,000. 

Off-the-plan transfer duty concession extended and expanded

The Government has extended the off-the-plan transfer duty concession by two-years, from 30 June 2026 to 30 June 2028.  

In addition, for eligible pre-construction and under construction transactions entered into on or after 12 March 2026, the Government has made the concession more generous in the following ways:

• Expanding the concession to include off-the-plan dwellings in survey strata schemes such as units and villas, in addition to apartments, townhouses and other build strata developments.
• Increasing the concession’s lower and upper property price thresholds to $800,000 and $900,000 (up from $750,000 and $850,000, respectively).

As a result of the changes, eligible pre-construction contracts will receive a 100% concession on properties valued up to $800,000, phasing to a 50% concession for properties valued at or above $900,000 (capped at $50,000).  

For eligible under construction contracts, the concession phases down from 75% to 37.5%.  

This measure is estimated to reduce transfer duty revenue by $73.1m from 2025-26 to 2029-30 and is expected to encourage housing choice, including for first home buyers and seniors seeking to downsize.   

Foreign buyer duty exemption for new dwellings

A new foreign buyers duty exemption will apply to foreign buyers who add housing supply to the market. This measure is designed to not penalise locally-based builders with foreign ownership.  

As with other measures, this exemption applies to transactions entered into on or after 7 May 2026 and is designed to support residential development activity that adds to Western Australia’s housing stock.  

The new exemption will require that the foreign buyer constructs and sells new dwellings within two years of the original purchase. A wide variety of development activities that add to housing supply will be eligible for the new exemption, including:  

• purchasing vacant land and constructing a dwelling(s)
• purchasing and completing a partially constructed dwelling(s)
• purchasing land with established property on which more dwellings will be constructed than demolished
• repurposing or refurbishing commercial or industrial buildings into residential dwellings.  

Cost of living support

The 26-27 WA State Budget delivers over $1bn in cost-of-living relief, including:

• $100 Fuel Support Payment for those holding a WA driver’s licence  
• A third round of the WA Student Assistance Payment
• Expanded Energy Assistance Payments and rent relief programs
• Overall reduction in the basket of household fees and charges. 

$83m has been allocated to the reintroduced WA Student Assistance Payment, providing targeted relief to support WA families with schooling expenses. It includes:

• $150 for eligible kindergarten and primary students
• $250 for eligible secondary students 

The third round of the WA Student Assistance Payment will commence from Term 3 of the 2026 school year.

The concession of Free public transport for school children on Transperth busses, trains and ferries is continued, as well as the limited $3.50 ‘Go anywhere’ Transperth cash and contactless fare per trip public transport for all other commuters.  

The $3.50 ‘Go Anywhere’ Transperth cash and contactless fare, which allows for travel across the entire network with a single low-cost fare, was introduced on 1 January 2026 and will remain unchanged across the forward estimates.  

There is a small sting in an increase of 10 cents to $2.90 (a 3.6% increase) of the Autoload SmartRider Go Anywhere fare from 1 January 2027.  

The $2 per day Park and Ride fee is unchanged, and concession fares will also be maintained at 46% of the equivalent standard fare across the forward estimates.  

Seniors, disability and age pensioner cardholders and their carers continue to travel free on weekdays before 6am, between 9am and 3.30pm, and after 7pm, and at any time on weekends and public holidays.  

Health and hospital investment

This Budget includes an unprecedented investment of $9.1bn on health and mental health, including $6.5 billion for hospital services.  

The Budget also provides a record $5.5bn for hospital and health infrastructure, with new spending including:

• $214.1m on maintenance and critical asset replacement
• $224.8m to acquire the Mt Lawley Hospital
• $92.8m on the new Tom Price Hospital
• $60m for the Albany Health Campus expansion
• a further $500m allocation to the Building Hospitals Fund.  

Infrastructure

• The Government continues to invest in economic diversification and decarbonisation, including funding for:
• Kalgoorlie vanadium battery projects
• green iron and steel pilot projects
• Made in WA Energy Affordability Investment program.

Housing supply remains a major focus, with key initiatives to boost housing supply, diversity and affordability comprising $4.7bn. This includes:

• $1bn for new social and affordable housing under the Housing Australia Future Fund
• $522m for enabling infrastructure to support new homes
• $375m to deliver 500 affordable homes for first home buyers. 

Revenue measures and outlook

A record $4.7bn additional investment to boost housing supply, diversity and affordability across the State, brings the Government’s total investment in new housing initiatives to $10.8bn since 2021-22.

Unfortunately, the $100 Fuel Support Payment to WA driver’s licence holders will be mainly offset with increases to the following services most Western Australians have to pay:  

• Electricity charges expected to increase by 2.75%  
• Water and waste expected to increase by 2.75%  
• Vehicle licence related fees to increase by 3.4% on average  
• Emergency services levy to increase by 5%