Stamp duty abolished for SA first home buyers, as they hone in on north Adelaide

South Australian first home buyers, many of whom are zooming in on the northern suburbs of Adelaide, will no longer have to contend with stamp duty.

As part of the state’s 2024-25 budget being presented on Thursday (6 June), stamp duty has been abolished for first home buyers, with property value thresholds for the stamp duty exemption and First Home Owner Grant removed.

Those buyers were previously exempt from stamp duty if they purchased a new home that cost $650,000 or less.

South Australia becomes the first state to completely eliminate stamp duty for first home buyers.

The stamp duty exemption will be available to all first home buyers who buy a new home (including a house, flat, unit, townhouse or apartment), an off-the-plan apartment, a house and land package or vacant land to build a new home.

With the abolition of property value limits, a first homebuyer who purchases a new dwelling broadly in line with the median house price of $750,000 will receive a benefit of over $50,000, including the First Home Owner Grant of $15,000.

The South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said the state would also deliver two housing projects creating more than 1,900 homes across suburban Adelaide through more than $500 million in funding.

“We are amid a national housing crisis borne of successive governments failing to do enough to build new homes.

“In the last budget, we abolished stamp duty for some first homebuyers who build new homes.

“Now we are making that tax relief available to all of them.

“Every new home built in our state benefits the rest of the housing market. Every first homebuyer that can move into a new home means one less buyer or renter competing for existing stock.”

The new housing projects will be built in Seaton, to the north of the city, and will require more than 300 public housing residents to be forced to move out during demolition and construction. It includes 865 houses and townhouses, and 450 apartments, across a 36-hectare site at a cost of $425 million. The government has promised at least 15 per cent affordable housing and 30 per cent social housing.

In the southern suburbs, a $150 million development in Noarlunga has also been announced.

First home buyers targeting northern Adelaide

The budget announcement came as the number of owner-occupier first home buyers lifted sharply in South Australia.

Data released Thursday (6 June) by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that this cohort leapt by 4.2 per cent in the past year.

The same day’s data release from the ABS also painted a rosier picture of total dwelling approvals in the state. South Australia’s 13.9 per cent annual increase was more than double that of next placed Queensland (5.0 per cent).

Nick Smerdon, Valuer, Herron Todd White, said first home buyers in Adelaide were most active in the unit market in the city and inner ring suburbs, and in the northern outer suburbs.

“When it comes to the outer ring it’s a tale of the north and south, with each having significantly different market dynamics and price points.

“The northern suburbs comprised within the Playford Council area have the lowest entry price points of all metropolitan councils, with only five of the 38 suburbs with recorded data registering median house prices above $600,000.

“These were Virginia, Riverlea Park, Hillbank, One Tree Hill and Angle Vale.

“Differentiating these suburbs from the greater Playford Council area is the fact they comprise a mixture of modern infill development and rural living lifestyle properties, with first home buyers, upsizers and investors most active in this market.”

He added that price growth throughout Adelaide was expected to remain strong in the short to medium term.

Adelaide was among the three-mid-sized capitals leading property price growth in Australia to the start of June, going up by 1.8 per cent for the month.