First home buyers in South Australia
South Australia gives first home buyers two things, and both are for a new home, an off-the-plan apartment or land to build on. The First Home Owner Grant is $15,000. Stamp duty relief means no stamp duty at all. Neither has a price cap for contracts signed from 6 June 2024. Buy an established home and you get neither, and since 13 February 2025 you can't have owned a home in Australia before.
What SA first home buyers can claim
The First Home Owner Grant. $15,000, or the price if that's less, for a new home, an off-the-plan apartment, a substantially renovated home bought from a developer, or a home you build. No price cap, and no income test.
Stamp duty relief. No stamp duty on a new home, an off-the-plan apartment or vacant land you'll build your home on. No price cap. You apply for it separately from the grant.
The 5% Deposit Scheme. Federal, not state: buy with a 5% deposit and no lenders mortgage insurance, up to $900,000 in Adelaide and $500,000 in the rest of SA. It covers established homes too.
Do you have to buy new?
For the state's help, yes. The grant and the stamp duty relief are both for a new home, an off-the-plan apartment or land to build on. A new home is one that hasn't been lived in or sold as a home before. An established home gets neither, whatever its price.
For the federal help, no. The 5% Deposit Scheme works on an established home, within its price cap. So a buyer choosing an established home in SA leans on the federal side and pays full stamp duty.
What stamp duty costs in SA, and what the relief saves
Here's the stamp duty on a home at each price, at South Australia's general rates, and what a first home buyer pays on a new home or an established one.
| Price | Stamp duty at general rates | First home buyer, new home | First home buyer, established home |
|---|---|---|---|
| $400,000 | $16,330 | Nil | $16,330 |
| $500,000 | $21,330 | Nil | $21,330 |
| $600,000 | $26,830 | Nil | $26,830 |
| $700,000 | $32,330 | Nil | $32,330 |
| $800,000 | $37,830 | Nil | $37,830 |
| $1,000,000 | $48,830 | Nil | $48,830 |
Worked out from RevenueSA's published rates. A foreign ownership surcharge isn't covered by the relief. Your conveyancer confirms the figure on your contract.
Where the relief cuts out: it doesn't
In most states first home relief fades out at a price, so the dearer the home, the less it's worth. South Australia removed its caps for contracts signed from 6 June 2024, for both the grant and the stamp duty relief. On a new home, the relief is worth the whole stamp duty bill, so it grows with the price: about $26,800 at $600,000 and about $37,800 at $800,000.
The line that matters in SA isn't a price. It's new against established. On a $600,000 home, that one choice is worth $26,830 in stamp duty plus the $15,000 grant.
Who counts as a first home buyer in SA
Be 18 or older, and buy as a person, not a company or trust.
At least one buyer is an Australian citizen or permanent resident, or a New Zealand citizen living here on a Special Category visa.
Neither you nor your spouse or partner has ever owned a home in Australia, for contracts signed from 13 February 2025. It doesn't matter whether you lived in it or how long ago. For the grant, owning vacant land, or a home overseas, doesn't count against you.
Neither of you has had a first home grant or first home stamp duty relief before, in any state or territory.
Live in the home for at least 6 months in a row, starting within 12 months of settlement, or of the home being ready to live in if you're building.
Your spouse or partner's details go on the application even if they aren't buying with you, because their history counts too.
If you're buying land to build on
Buying vacant land to build your first home on gets the stamp duty relief on the land, with no price cap. The grant doesn't apply to the land, but once you sign a contract to build the home, the build can get the $15,000 grant. The 6-month stay starts within 12 months of the home being ready to live in. For the stamp duty relief on land, it starts within 12 months of lawful use of the home as a residence or 36 months of settlement on the land, whichever comes first.
A knock-down rebuild doesn't qualify for either, because you'd already own a home.
The federal schemes you can use as well
The 5% Deposit Scheme. A 5% deposit with no lenders mortgage insurance, on a price up to $900,000 in Adelaide or $500,000 elsewhere in SA. No income limit. New and established homes.
Help to Buy. The government takes an equity share of up to 30% of an existing home's price, or 40% of a new one, from a 2% deposit. Income limits of $103,000, or $165,000 for couples and single parents, and every buyer must be a citizen.
The First Home Super Saver Scheme. Save part of your deposit through your super, up to $15,000 a year and $50,000 in total.
What you can combine, and what you can't
You can't use the 5% Deposit Scheme and Help to Buy together; you choose one. Help to Buy also rules out other state shared equity schemes and state loans or guarantees, but the government says stamp duty concessions and grants still apply. The SA grant and stamp duty relief can sit alongside either federal scheme.
One difference to watch: the 5% Deposit Scheme looks back 10 years at property you've owned, and SA's grant and relief look back forever. Someone who sold a home 12 years ago can still use the federal scheme in SA, but not the state's help.
What the whole package is worth
An illustration, not a client file. A first buyer pays $650,000 for a newly built home in Adelaide. The grant is $15,000. Stamp duty is nil instead of $29,580. Through the 5% Deposit Scheme, a $32,500 deposit is enough, with no lenders mortgage insurance; on one insurer's rate card we hold, that insurance would otherwise be $27,849 on a 95% loan. That's $72,429 of help on a $650,000 home.
Buy an established home for the same $650,000 and the state's help falls away: no grant, and $29,580 of stamp duty to pay. The 5% Deposit Scheme still applies.
When to apply, and when the money arrives
Check every condition before you sign. The grant, the stamp duty relief and the federal scheme each have their own test, and the date on your contract decides which SA rules apply.
Apply for the grant and the relief separately. Qualifying for one doesn't mean you've applied for the other.
Need the grant for settlement or your first progress payment? Apply through an approved agent, usually your lender. If you apply to RevenueSA yourself, it's paid later, so it can't fund settlement.
Let your conveyancer lodge the stamp duty relief at settlement. If it wasn't claimed then, you have 5 years from settlement to apply for a refund.
Move in on time, and live there for at least 6 months in a row. If something changes and you can't, RevenueSA wants to hear in writing within 14 days.
SA first home buyer questions
$15,000 for a new home, an off-the-plan apartment or a home you build, or the price if that's less. For contracts from 6 June 2024 there's no price cap, and the grant isn't means tested. An established home doesn't qualify.
Buying your first home in SA?
Tell me where you're buying, roughly the price, whether it's new, established or land, and what you've saved. I'll tell you what the grant, the stamp duty relief and the federal schemes would give you, and what to have in place before you sign.
You'll hear back within the hour in business hours, and by 9am the next business day after hours.
Sources
- 1
RevenueSA, First Home Owner Grant: Eligible properties (page modified 8 September 2026). Read 2 October 2026.
- 2
RevenueSA, First Home Owner Grant: Eligible applicants (page modified 30 July 2025). Read 2 October 2026.
- 3
RevenueSA, First Home Owner Grant: Grant details (page modified 13 February 2025). Read 2 October 2026.
- 4
RevenueSA, First Home Owner Grant: Residence requirement (page modified 30 July 2025). Read 2 October 2026.
- 5
RevenueSA, Stamp Duty Relief for Eligible First Home Buyers (page modified 16 September 2026). Read 2 October 2026.
https://
www.revenuesa.sa.gov.au/ stampduty/ first-home-buyer-relief - 6
RevenueSA, Stamp duty relief: Eligible properties (page modified 24 August 2026). Read 2 October 2026.
https://
www.revenuesa.sa.gov.au/ stampduty/ first-home-buyer-relief/ eligible-properties - 7
RevenueSA, Stamp duty relief: Relief available (page modified 17 February 2025). Read 2 October 2026.
https://
www.revenuesa.sa.gov.au/ stampduty/ first-home-buyer-relief/ relief-available - 8
RevenueSA, Rate of stamp duty (page modified 11 November 2024). Read 2 October 2026.
https://
www.revenuesa.sa.gov.au/ stampduty/ rate-of-stamp-duty - 9
Housing Australia, 5% Deposit Scheme Information Guide for First Home Buyers, dated 1 July 2026. Checked 29 September 2026; its eligible property types re-read 3 October 2026.
- 10
firsthomebuyers.gov.au, Help to Buy scheme and 2026-27 thresholds. Checked 2 October 2026.
- 11
Australian Taxation Office, First Home Super Saver Scheme (published 8 July 2026). Read 2 October 2026.
- 12
The duty table and illustration: Money Brain's arithmetic on the rates above.
Updated 3 October 2026