Every scheme, one number
First Home Buyer Calculator - SA
An Adelaide first home buyer building new at $650,000 needs about $20,900 up front: 5% deposit, zero stamp duty, $15,000 grant credited, no LMI. SA is new-build-or-nothing: established first homes get no duty relief and no grant.
- Rates verified
- 2026-08-03
- Source
- RevenueSA
- Scheme cap
- $900,000
Your purchase
Total cash to buy
$20,900
With the 5% Deposit Scheme: 5% deposit, no LMI.
- Deposit (5%)
- $32,500
- Transfer duty
- $0
- Duty concession applied
- saves $29,580
- Conveyancing, inspections, loan setup
- $3,400
- First Home Owner Grant
- -$15,000
- LMI avoided via the scheme
- saves ~$20,995
Want duty on its own, across investor, owner-occupier and first-home scales? That's the full SA transfer duty calculator.
Scheme caps per firsthomebuyers.gov.au; duty and grants from RevenueSA (source). Eligibility criteria apply to every scheme - confirm before committing. General information only.
Every benefit a SA first home buyer can claim in 2026
Status chips update live against the price, location and build type set above.
First home buyer duty relief
Zero duty, no cap
Full stamp duty relief on new homes, off-the-plan apartments and vacant land to build on - no price cap since 6 June 2024. Established homes get no relief. From 13 Feb 2025 neither applicant nor spouse can ever have owned Australian residential property.
Official sourceFirst Home Owner Grant
$15,000
For new homes with no property value cap (contracts from 6 June 2024) - new, off-the-plan, substantially renovated, house-and-land or owner-build. Knock-down-rebuilds excluded from 13 Feb 2025.
Official sourceHomeStart shared equity
Up to 25% interest-free
SA's state lender: interest-free shared equity of 5-25% of the property value (price cap $750,000, net household income cap $120,000) alongside HomeStart loans from a 2% deposit (Graduate Loan) with no LMI on any product.
Official source5% Deposit Scheme
5% deposit, no LMI
Buy with 5% down and the government guarantees the rest - no lenders mortgage insurance, no income cap, unlimited places. Cap here: $900,000.
Official sourceHelp to Buy
Up to 40% shared equity
The government co-buys up to 40% of a new home (30% existing) with a 2% deposit. Income caps $103,000 single / $165,000 couple; 10,000 places a year.
Official sourceFirst Home Super Saver
Up to $50,000 from super
Release up to $15,000 of voluntary super contributions a year ($50,000 total per person, plus earnings) for the deposit, taxed at your marginal rate less a 30% offset.
Official sourceHow the SA first home buyer stack works
South Australia has made the starkest policy choice in the country: every dollar of first home buyer support is aimed at new construction. Duty relief is total and uncapped - but new homes, off-the-plan apartments and build-ready land only. The $15,000 grant follows the same line, also uncapped. An established first home gets nothing: full duty, no grant, on the same scale an investor pays.
What SA adds that no other state has is a genuine state bank: HomeStart lends from a 2% deposit with no LMI on any product, and its Shared Equity Option puts up to 25% of the price interest-free alongside. Stack the federal 5% Deposit Scheme (Adelaide cap $900,000) or Help to Buy on top and a new-build buyer at $650,000 reaches settlement with about $20,900 - roughly what the established buyer pays in duty alone.
The deposit is only the entry ticket - if the home ever becomes an investment property, the new-build-vs-established choice also decides its tax treatment under the 2026 negative gearing reform, and the repayment calculator shows what the loan itself costs from day one.
Frequently asked questions
Do first home buyers pay stamp duty in South Australia?
Not on new homes - eligible first home buyers pay zero stamp duty on a new home, off-the-plan apartment or vacant land to build on, with no price cap, for contracts from 6 June 2024. Established homes get no first-home duty relief at all: a $650,000 established first home pays the full $29,580. That is the sharpest new-vs-established gap in the country.
How much is the First Home Owner Grant in SA?
$15,000 for building or buying a new home, with no property value cap for contracts from 6 June 2024. Eligible properties include off-the-plan apartments, substantially renovated homes, house-and-land packages and owner-builds - but not established homes, and knock-down-rebuilds are excluded from 13 February 2025.
What is HomeStart and how does it help first home buyers?
HomeStart is South Australia's state-owned lender. Its Graduate Loan needs just a 2% deposit (any Certificate III or higher), the standard loan 5%, and none of its products charge lenders mortgage insurance. Its Shared Equity Option adds an interest-free stake of up to 25% of the property value, capped at $750,000 purchase price and $120,000 net household income.
What is the 5% deposit scheme cap in South Australia?
$900,000 for Adelaide and $500,000 for the rest of the state, per the official 1 July 2026 caps - no income caps, unlimited places. Note the sharp drop outside Adelaide: a $600,000 regional purchase is over the federal cap, where HomeStart's no-LMI products become the fallback.
Should a first home buyer in SA buy new or established?
The numbers lean heavily new: a $650,000 new build attracts zero duty and a $15,000 grant, while the same-price established home pays $29,580 duty and gets nothing - a $44,580 swing before considering the negative gearing reform, which also favours new builds if the home ever becomes an investment. These tools never recommend; the calculator above prices both paths against your own criteria.