South Australia has recorded the strongest annual growth in first-home buyer lending in the country, bucking a national downturn as the Malinauskas government points to its stamp duty changes as evidence that its housing policies are drawing more buyers into newly built homes.
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released on Friday show 2,181 owner-occupier first-home buyer loans were committed in South Australia in the June quarter, on a seasonally adjusted basis. That was 20.3 per cent higher than in the March quarter and 23 per cent above the same period a year earlier.
The result stands out against a national fall. Across Australia, the number of first-home buyer loans dropped 2.9 per cent during the quarter to 29,319 and was unchanged from a year earlier.
Among the states, Tasmania was the only other jurisdiction to record quarterly growth, rising 7.7 per cent. First-home buyer loan numbers fell 7.4 per cent in New South Wales, 3.3 per cent in Victoria, 1.2 per cent in Queensland and 5 per cent in Western Australia. South Australia’s 23 per cent annual increase was also the strongest among all states and territories.
The figures provide some support for the state government’s decision to target stamp duty relief at new housing rather than established properties. Eligible South Australian first-home buyers pay no stamp duty on new homes, off-the-plan apartments or vacant land on which they intend to build. The full exemption without a property value cap has applied to eligible contracts entered into since June 6, 2024. A First Home Owner Grant of up to $15,000 is also available for eligible new homes.
Premier Peter Malinauskas said, “We are making the Australian dream of home ownership achievable again for young South Australian families.”
“We scrapped stamp duty for first home buyers building new. This data shows exactly where that money went and that is into the hands of South Australians buying their first home,” he said.
The average first-home buyer loan in South Australia was about $578,450 in the June quarter, compared with approximately $627,000 nationally.
A lower average loan, however, does not mean Adelaide has escaped the affordability pressures affecting other capitals. South Australian Valuer-General figures put the median metropolitan Adelaide house sale price at $975,000 in the June quarter, up from $865,000 a year earlier. The median has risen by $190,000 in two years, from $785,000 in the June quarter of 2024.
That rise helps explain why housing remains politically contested despite the improvement in first-home buyer lending.
A lower average loan, however, does not mean Adelaide has escaped the affordability pressures affecting other capitals. South Australian Valuer-General figures put the median metropolitan Adelaide house sale price at $975,000 in the June quarter, up from $865,000 a year earlier. The median has risen by $190,000 in two years, from $785,000 in the June quarter of 2024
The Liberals went to the March state election proposing to abolish stamp duty for first-home buyers purchasing established properties worth up to $1 million, arguing buyers should have greater choice over where they live. Labor resisted extending the concession, maintaining that directing it towards new homes adds to housing supply rather than increasing competition for existing properties.
Opposition Leader Ashton Hurn has continued to argue that the government is not building homes quickly enough and has pointed to South Australia’s requirements under the National Housing Accord. The state’s housing industry has estimated that roughly 16,000 homes a year are needed to remain on pace with its share of the national target, while the Malinauskas government’s own current target is 13,500 new homes annually.
There has nevertheless been a marked lift in construction activity. ABS data show 14,130 homes were completed in South Australia in the year to March 2026, the highest annual total recorded by the state. A further 15,211 dwellings were approved in the year to June, up 4.4 per cent from the previous year and the strongest approvals result in more than four decades.
Malinauskas said, “Every measure shows our housing policy agenda is working. More homes completed and, in the pipeline, than at any other time in our state’s history.”
“And first home buyers getting into homes at a rate that is completely outpacing the rest of the country,” he said.
Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis defended the decision to confine the stamp duty abolition to new housing.
“The Malinauskas Government is carrying out perhaps the most concerted and targeted policy agenda to stimulate new housing growth this state has seen in the modern era. Our tailored abolition of stamp duty for first home buyers for new rather than established homes is geared towards incentivising new supply, and despite predictable calls for it to be expanded to existing properties it is clear that this approach is working to get first home buyers into homes while driving housing growth,” Koutsantonis said.
The government’s other first-home buyer measures include low-deposit lending through HomeStart and a development at Playford Alive where 400 homes are being reserved exclusively for first-home buyers. The 2026-27 state budget provided $50 million for infrastructure intended to accelerate those homes, with the government expecting them to be delivered by the end of 2027.
Housing Minister Nick Champion said, “Record approvals, record completions and record first home buyer numbers all in the same year.”
The approvals and completions figures are at record levels, although the latest quarterly first-home buyer loan figure itself is not an all-time record in the ABS historical series, which recorded higher seasonally adjusted numbers during earlier periods including 2009 and the pandemic-era housing surge.
Champion said, “That is not a coincidence, it’s a pipeline generated by the Premier’s Housing Roadmap and the Treasurer’s tax cuts for first home buyers.”
“We have scrapped stamp duty on new builds, we are building homes at record rates and we are building the country’s first neighbourhood just for first home buyers,” he said.
“These measures are ensuring even more South Australian families than ever before can get the keys to their first home.”
The June lending figures give the government a strong result at a time when first-home buyer activity has weakened nationally. But with Adelaide house prices still well above where they were a year ago and South Australia facing pressure to lift construction further to meet the Housing Accord task, the argument over whether governments should concentrate assistance on new supply or extend it to existing homes is likely to remain central to the state’s housing debate.
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