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The Malinauskas government has announced that South Australians aged 60 and over who are downsizing to a newly built home or off-the-plan apartment will no longer have to pay stamp duty on the transaction for contracts signed after 25 March 2026.
The change will apply to new homes up to $2 million in value and has the potential to save eligible downsizers up to $103,830.
Speaking on Broker Daily Uncut, Finni brokers Eva Loisance and Costa Arvanitopoulos said the government’s new policy could change incentives and help free up housing supply in the state.
“We have talked before about how there needs to be exemptions to incentivise people to downsize later in their life,” Arvanitopoulos said.
“Before it costs too much to move. Even if you want to downsize, just the stamp duty alone – you’re looking at over $100,000 and no one’s going to want to pay that. What’s the point? I might as well just stay where I am and do my thing.
“There’ll be big savings here, and $2 million will get you a lot in Adelaide.”
However, Loisance noted the policy’s impact may be limited by its restriction to new builds.
“If people have been living in their home for 30 years, they’ve got their community, their friends – they’re not going to go out to the outskirts of the city where the new builds are. They would feel isolated,” Loisance said.
“They would need to move to a unit right next door, or in the same suburb, near their kids and their grandchildren so they still feel part of where they’re from and have that support if it’s ever required. So it’s a step in the right direction, but you’ve got to start somewhere.”
Stamp duty had become a point of contention at the election in South Australia’s last election in March, with the Liberal Party pledging to abolish the tax entirely by 2041.
The South Australian Liberals claimed that the South Australian Labor government collected $1.6 billion from stamp duty last year.
Other states
While South Australia’s new tax exemption is among the most generous in the country, other states are also adjusting stamp duty settings in an effort to boost housing supply.
In Victoria, the government is providing a one-off stamp duty exemption for eligible pensioners and concession cardholders downsizing to a residence valued up to $750,000.
The Victorian government has also introduced a temporary off-the-plan stamp duty concession, extended to 20 October 2026, allowing all buyers – including investors and companies – to deduct post-contract construction costs from the dutiable value of new strata-subdivided apartments and town houses.
Similarly, the Western Australian government has expanded its stamp duty concession scheme for off-the-plan and under-construction homes, with stamp duty relief available for properties up to $800,000 and concessions extending to $900,000.
The Tasmanian government is also offering eligible pensioners a 50 per cent concession on stamp duty when downsizing to a home valued up to $600,000.
Arvanitopoulos said similar policies should be considered nationwide to better align housing supply with occupancy needs.
“Governments are going to have to really start looking at that cohort of people who just won’t leave that family home, where it might just be one or two people in a three- or four-bedroom house,” Arvanitopoulos said.
“If you can put in policies that they benefit from to move, it will free up those homes. But if there’s no policy involved, they’re not going to move. So the South Australian government – I think it’s a good policy.”
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