Depreciation on a property built in 2013

On a 2013 building, 2.5% of what it cost to construct, each year until 2052–53. For a standard 200 m² brick veneer house that is about $5,697 a year in New South Wales, $5,367 in Victoria and $5,066 in Queensland, with 27 income years left. Plant new to you adds to that, as does any renovation since 2013.

No: a 2013 building's 40 years run from its completion, not from your purchase, so a buyer claims the 27 income years left, 2026–27 to 2052–53, on the original construction cost rather than the price paid. Fitted new in 2013, 127 of the 181 kinds of plant our catalogue prices have passed their effective lives, and the other 54 end from 2026–27 to 2042–43. Section 40-27 reaches plant acquired from 7.30 pm on 9 May 2017, when a 2013 house was 4 years old or so: bought from an earlier owner since then, the plant that came with a 2013 house is generally not deductible (the 2017 rules set out who it reaches and the exceptions).

2.5% a year over 40 years, for construction begun after 15 September 1987: counting from 30 June 2013, the 2013–14 to 2052–53 income years. Construction begun on any day of 2013 qualifies, the window having opened on 16 September 1987, and 13 of its 40 income years have passed.

In the year to 30 June 2013, our national series puts new houses at $1,189 per m² of floor area, 69% up over the ten years from 2003's $704, and the average new house, about 241 m², cost about $287,000 to build. At 2013's rates, our standard 200 m² single-storey brick veneer house, less the plant listed separately, cost about $207,351 at the national rate, against $200,830 in 2012 and $212,968 in 2014. In 2013 it was cheapest in South Australia, at $151,849, and dearest in the Northern Territory, at $352,141. Where the 2013 build's own cost is not documented, a schedule estimates it at 2013's rates, about $207,351 for that house nationally, by an appropriately qualified person, as Taxation Ruling TR 97/25 accepts.