Seniors Downsizing Stamp Duty Relief in South Australia (2026)

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How the SA seniors downsizing stamp duty relief works

South Australia's seniors downsizing stamp duty relief was announced on 25 March 2026 and confirmed as a $77 million, five-year measure in the 2026-27 State Budget (handed down 4 June 2026). RevenueSA administers it as full relief from conveyance duty under the Stamp Duties Act 1923 (SA) — the duty bill goes to zero; it is not a percentage discount. The tests, per RevenueSA's published guidance: - **Age:** at least one applicant must be 60 or older when the purchase contract is signed. There is no upper age limit and no means test. - **Residency:** at least one applicant must be an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or NZ citizen holding a Special Category visa. - **You must sell:** applicants must be the titled owners of an existing principal place of residence and sell it within 12 months before or after settlement of the new property — or within 12 months of practical completion (evidenced by a Certificate of Occupancy) where the home is still being built. - **You must buy new:** only a newly built home or off-the-plan apartment, or vacant land on which you will build, qualifies. Full relief applies at a dutiable value up to $2 million (home or apartment) or $1.2 million (land), worth up to $103,830 and $59,830 respectively, with partial relief phasing out above those figures — see the cap rules below. - **Smaller block:** the replacement property's land size must be smaller than the land you are leaving. - **You must move in:** all applicants must live in the new home continuously for at least 6 months, starting within 12 months of settlement (extended to as long as 36 months from settlement where you are building on vacant land).

Worked examples: $800,000 townhouse and $1.5 million apartment

SA's general duty scale tops out at $21,330 plus $5.50 per $100 above $500,000 (Schedule 2, Stamp Duties Act 1923 (SA)). That formula drives every saving below. **$800,000 newly built townhouse.** Ordinary duty: $21,330 + 5.5% × $300,000 = **$37,830**. An eligible downsizing couple — one spouse aged 60+, selling the titled family home on a larger block — pays $0. That is a $37,830 saving, roughly 4.7% of the purchase price. **$1.5 million off-the-plan apartment.** Ordinary duty: $21,330 + 5.5% × $1,000,000 = **$76,330**. Under the relief: $0. Because an apartment carries minimal attributed land, the smaller-block test is straightforward for buyers leaving a suburban house. **$2 million cap check.** Duty on exactly $2 million is $21,330 + 5.5% × $1,500,000 = **$103,830** — precisely the maximum relief RevenueSA quotes, because $2 million is the highest dutiable value at which full relief applies. It is not an absolute eligibility ceiling: between $2 million and $2.1 million, RevenueSA reduces the relief progressively on a proportional basis, and it cuts to zero at $2.1 million or more. A buyer at $2.05 million receives partial relief; a buyer at $2.1 million receives none. **Vacant land at $1.2 million:** duty of $21,330 + 5.5% × $700,000 = **$59,830**, matching RevenueSA's published maximum for land purchases — again the full-relief threshold, not a hard cut-off. Partial relief phases out proportionally between $1.2 million and $1.3 million, with nothing from $1.3 million. Note that Lands Titles Office registration fees are separate from conveyance duty and, on current guidance, remain payable.

What doesn't qualify: the established-home catch

The headline catch: **established homes get nothing**. Buy a 30-year-old villa or an existing unit — even a small one, even at $400,000 — and full duty applies regardless of your age. The relief is deliberately confined to dwellings that add to housing supply: newly built homes, off-the-plan apartments, and land you will build on. Other disqualifiers under RevenueSA's guidance: - **Contract dated before 25 March 2026**, even if settlement happens later. - **Replacement land size equal to or larger** than the block you are leaving — the smaller-land test is literal. - **Price at or above the upper cut-offs:** full relief applies at a dutiable value up to $2 million for a new home or apartment, or $1.2 million for vacant land. Between $2 million and $2.1 million (or $1.2 million and $1.3 million for land), relief is progressively reduced on a proportional basis. At $2.1 million or more ($1.3 million or more for land), no relief applies. - **Existing property that is not your principal place of residence** — investment properties and holiday homes don't count as the home you are downsizing from. - **Missing the 12-month sale window**, or failing to live in the new home for 6 continuous months. - **Applicants who aren't titled owners** of the existing home — only owners named on the Certificate of Title can apply. The relief can also only be accessed once: RevenueSA's guidance states that applicants who have previously received the downsizer relief are ineligible to claim it again.

How it fits with first home buyer relief and the SA duty scale

South Australia already scrapped stamp duty for eligible first home buyers purchasing or building **new** homes: the 2024-25 State Budget removed all price caps from 6 June 2024, so an eligible first home buyer pays no duty on a new build at any price. The downsizer relief bookends the market at the other end of life — but unlike the first home buyer exemption it **is** capped: full relief up to $2 million (new home or apartment) or $1.2 million (land), with partial relief phasing out entirely at $2.1 million and $1.3 million respectively. The two schemes cannot stack, and in practice never meet: downsizers must already own and sell a principal place of residence, which disqualifies them from first home buyer status. Both share the same design intent — every dollar of relief is reserved for new dwellings that add to supply, while established homes attract full duty from every class of buyer. For everyone outside both schemes, the general scale in the Stamp Duties Act 1923 (SA) applies: $21,330 plus $5.50 per $100 above $500,000 at the top end. A $700,000 established home costs $32,330 in duty whether the buyer is 25 or 75. South Australia offers no general owner-occupier or pensioner duty concession — before 25 March 2026 there was no age-based duty relief at all, which is why this measure matters for retirees weighing a move.

How to apply through RevenueSA

RevenueSA administers the relief, and applications are open and being processed. In the scheme's first two months, the Premier's office reported 483 registrations of interest and 16 approved applications, at an average purchase price of $1,146,500. Verify current instructions at revenuesa.sa.gov.au before signing a contract. How the process works under RevenueSA's published guidance: - The representative managing your settlement — usually your conveyancer or solicitor — lodges the relief application through RevenueSA at settlement, so no duty is payable on an eligible purchase. If no representative lodges it for you, you can apply directly to RevenueSA. - Already paid duty without claiming the relief? Apply to RevenueSA for a refund within 5 years of settlement. - Documents to have ready: the purchase contract (dated on or after 25 March 2026), proof of age and citizenship or residency for the qualifying applicant, the Certificate of Title for the home being sold, and its contract of sale once signed. - Building on vacant land? Keep the Certificate of Occupancy — it evidences practical completion and anchors the 12-month sale window. - You can claim the relief at settlement even if your old home has not yet sold, provided it sells within the 12-month window. If the sale window is missed — or the 6-month continuous occupancy requirement isn't met — RevenueSA seeks repayment of the relief and reassesses the duty.

Should you downsize? Duty saved versus the full cost of moving

Duty is only one line in the downsizing ledger — run the full sum before deciding. Take a common Adelaide scenario: sell a $1.1 million family home on 700 m², buy an $800,000 new townhouse on 300 m². Typical costs to move: - Agent commission at 2% + GST: about $24,200 - Sale marketing: about $4,000 - Conveyancing on both transactions: about $3,600 - Removalists and incidentals: about $3,000 **Total: roughly $34,800.** Before 25 March 2026, you would have added $37,830 stamp duty — an all-in move cost near $72,600. Under the relief the duty line is $0, so the same move costs about $34,800: the exemption effectively pays your entire selling and moving bill. That is the real economics of the scheme — it doesn't make downsizing free; it removes the single largest deadweight cost. Two adjacent Commonwealth levers are worth checking with a licensed adviser: - **Downsizer super contributions** (s 292-102, Income Tax Assessment Act 1997): each spouse aged 55+ can contribute up to $300,000 of sale proceeds to superannuation outside the ordinary caps, if the home was owned for 10+ years. - **Age Pension assets test:** sale proceeds not rolled into the new home become assessable assets with Services Australia and can reduce pension payments — a frequent surprise when banking a large price difference. This page is general information, not financial advice; the pension and super interactions depend on personal circumstances.