By year built

Depreciation by the year your property was built

The capital works deduction is a share of what the building cost to construct, claimed for a fixed number of years from completion. So the year it was built decides the rate (4% or 2.5%), how many years are left, and the cost the rate applies to. Pick the year.

A 200 m² brick veneer house in New South Wales, by the year it was built. The bar is its construction cost; the figure, the deduction a year.

For 1987, 1988 and 1989 the figure is for construction begun on or after 16 September 1987: a house finished then may have been begun before it, and then nothing is left on the building.

2026 is priced at 2025's rates, the latest our cost database holds from a published figure.

The states' order changes from year to year; each year's page names its cheapest and dearest.

1985 to 1987

The first years of the capital works deduction. Construction begun between 18 July 1985 and 15 September 1987 was deducted at 4% over 25 years and has now run out; after 15 September 1987 the rate became 2.5% over 40 years.

1985 1986 1987

1988 to 1999

Houses of this age are in the last stretch of their 40 years: the final deductions fall in an income year from 2027–28 (begun in 1988) to 2038–39 (begun in 1999). Most have had a kitchen, bathroom or roof replaced since, and each renovation is new capital works with its own 40 years.

1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

2000 to 2009

The GST (from 1 July 2000) and a construction boom lifted building costs over the decade: by our cost database the same standard house cost about 54% more to build in 2009 than in 2000, and the value per m² of the new houses built, which follows the kind of house as well, rose about 83%. The deductions reflect that, and end in an income year from 2039–40 (begun in 2000) to 2048–49 (begun in 2009).

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

2010 to 2016

Modern inclusions as standard: ducted air conditioning, stone benchtops, solar hot water or PV. The building's deduction ends in an income year from 2049–50 (begun in 2010) to 2055–56 (begun in 2016). Plant that came with the property is deductible only in some cases: for example, a house bought new that nobody had lived in and whose plant no earlier owner could deduct for, or one held before 9 May 2017 and let, or available for rent, in the year to 30 June 2017.

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

2017 to today

The largest deductions. A house bought new that nobody had lived in (or that the developer let only in the six months after completion and sold within them) carries new plant, generally deductible as well as the building, provided no earlier owner could deduct for it, unless the owner lives in it before renting it out, and its buyer has nearly all of the building's 40 years to claim.

2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026

Before 1985

Residential construction begun before 18 July 1985 attracts no capital works deduction. What is added later can still claim: a new kitchen, bathroom, roof or extension begun after 15 September 1987, or a structural improvement such as a driveway or fence begun after 26 February 1992, is deducted from its own completion date, and plant bought new for the property while it is let is deductible.

What an older property still claims

General information only, not advice about your circumstances. Speak to a registered tax agent before relying on it.