Opposition calls for greater stamp duty relief, but SA Premier Peter Malinauskas government backs in policy

Only about 1000 first home buyers have benefited from stamp duty abolition, data shows, opening up the possibility of tweaks to the scheme.

The opposition says house hunters are being left behind by the stamp duty abolition scheme, with just over 1000 first home buyers accessing relief since its launch a year ago – but the premier has stood firm behind the policy.

On Sunday, Premier Peter Malinauskas said his government would consider raising the eligibility cap for the scheme as house prices soar, but ruled out extending the program to established homes.

To have stamp duty abolished, the property must be a new build and cost less than $650,000, or be vacant land costing less than $400,000.

The current median house price in metropolitan Adelaide is $740,000, while the median house price across SA is $665,000.

Treasury data shows just 1169 applications – versus a predicted 3800 – had been made since the scheme came into effect.

Chloe Roberts and Matt Scroby, a junior lawyer and a plumber by trade, began saving for their dream home when they both started full-time work.

Matt Scroby and Chloe Roberts at home in Torrensville. Picture: Matt Loxton

Ms Roberts said she hoped the stamp duty scheme would be the relief they needed to be able to afford their first property after a two-year house hunt during Covid – but the couple was unable to find any appropriate new builds within their budget.

“In that period we gave up and thought: ‘It’s too hard’,” Ms Roberts said.

“We were watching house prices go up by $20,000 each month and every sales report we saw you’d go: ‘Wow, that’s not what it cost six months ago’.

“Eventually we just had to bite the bullet and spend far more than we wanted to, because we knew they were only going to keep rising.”

In October last year, the pair bought a two-bedroom home in Torrensville for $822,000, forking out more than $40,000 in stamp duty.

Due to the price and nature of the property, they were ineligible for relief.

With their budget now stretched to the extreme, Ms Roberts said they often went to three different grocery stores just to find the cheapest way to feed themselves.

She believed restricting the scheme to new builds meant young people were being locked out of inner suburbs.

“We just didn’t see any new builds within the city parameters that was within our budget,” she said.

“We’re constantly talking to our friends and you can just see in their faces the toll that’s taking on them to now be able to buy a first home.”

Mr Scroby said the couple was lucky they could make their budget work, but the stress had taken an emotional toll.

“You save all this money and you think you’re sweet – and then you have a panic attack when you realise you have to pay for it,” he said.

The couple said their budget had been stretched to the limit, but they weren’t eligible for stamp duty relief. Picture: Matt Loxton

Opposition treasury spokesman Matt Cowdrey said the “lacklustre” performance of the scheme should prompt an urgent review, labelling it a “massive failure”.

But Mr Malinauskas staunchly defended the scheme, saying the policy’s focus was not just to help young buyers into the market, but to increase housing stock.

The premier said the government would not rule out raising the $650,000 threshold for stamp duty relief, but was “definitive” about not extending the scheme to established homes.

“If you do existing homes, you’re not changing people’s behaviour,” he said.

“Our objective here isn’t just to provide tax relief per se, but to provide tax relief to stimulate the construction of more homes in South Australia, which is why the stamp duty relief exclusively applies to vacant land and new homes being built.

“We will continue to assess all our options about stimulating more housing supply in South Australia, whether it be around land release (or) tax relief.

“The opposition is criticising policy that actually provides countless South Australians tax relief … that’s a pretty unusual type of criticism.”

Mr Cowdrey said the opposition was “working on” its policy for first home buyers and declined to provide specifics on how it would overhaul stamp duty relief, but said a Liberal government would commit to raising the price threshold.