Homeowner Darryl Martin-Healey purchased his Semaphore home 4.5 years ago. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt.
Stamp duty has become a significant barrier to buying a home, with new data revealing the tax has climbed more than 30 per cent in some Adelaide suburbs over the past three decades.
Exclusive PropTrack analysis comparing transfer duty on median-priced homes today with around 30 years ago shows the suburbs that have recorded the biggest jump.
Findon units topped the list, with a 32.1 per cent increase in stamp duty over the period.
An owner-occupier would have paid $900 on a median-priced unit, which was $44,000, three decades ago.
Today, that cost has climbed to $28,915 based on a median price of $637,880.
Campbelltown units followed, with the stamp duty bill growing from $1168 to $35,080 over the period – a 30 per cent rise – then Goodwood units, where it jumped from $1178 to $35,080 – a 29.8 per cent increase.
Top 20 Adelaide suburbs with the biggest change in the average stamp duty costs on median-priced SA homes now compared to 30 years ago. Source: PropTrack.
The figures highlight just how much one of the biggest upfront costs of buying a home has escalated, and how more affordable areas and property types have not been immune because of bracket creep.
While many premium Adelaide suburbs feature on the list, stamp duty jumps appeared significantly worse in the areas that were once considered affordable.
In Somerton Park, for example, buyers paid around $4930 on a median-priced house, which was $152,500, around 30 years ago – that was now $123,080 on a median-priced house of $2.35m.
The analysis compares the transfer duty payable on the median house price in each suburb today with the duty that would have been paid on the suburb’s median house price in December 1990.
Only suburbs that recorded at least 20 sales over the past year were included.
The findings show how stamp duty has evolved from a relatively modest cost to one of the biggest hurdles facing homebuyers.
Real Estate Institute of South Australia chief executive Andrea Heading. Picture: Supplied.
Real Estate Institute of South Australia chief executive Andrea Heading said the state had some good stamp duty concessions but “not enough”.
“I think it’s one of the most significant barriers to buying in terms of saving for that,” she said.
Stamp duty in SA has been abolished for eligible first-home buyers purchasing a new home or land to build, people over the age of 60 who are downsizing to a new home or off the plan apartment valued up to $2m, as well as victims of domestic, family or sexual violence.
Mrs Heading understood offering relief to those purchasing or building new homes was an incentive designed to increase housing supply.
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However, she said it needed to be extended into the established market particularly for first-home buyers to make it fairer.
Ray White Semaphore agent Kate Smith said reviewing stamp duty could help increase supply as more people would be able to afford to move.
“Stamp duty has probably had its biggest effect over the past three years,” she said.
“Where I see the biggest issues is in the case of clients who are wanting to move, either upsizing or downsizing, and they’re taking into account the fees of doing so.
Ray White Semaphore agent Kate Smith. Picture: Ben Clark.
“I’ve had clients that are limited because of that – I’ve had clients who have probably stayed in their current properties for an extended period because of that.”
Homeowner Darryl Martin-Healey said he noticed the increase in stamp duty when he and his husband purchased their Semaphore property four-and-a-half years ago.
As he had previously worked in banking and bought several properties over the years, Mr Martin-Healey knew how important it was to factor the cost in when buying.
“There are a lot of people who go and look at properties and forget it’s going to be a significant amount,” he said.
“I always did a rough calculation on what it would be.”
Mr Martin-Healey said the tax today was “just getting ridiculous”.
“I think it needs to be reviewed – for some people it would be a deterrent.”
A State Government spokesperson said it regularly reviewed the taxation mix, which was what more recently prompted the move to abolish stamp duty for those over 60 purchasing a new home or off-the-plan apartment up to $2m.
Darryl Martin-Healey outside his Semaphore home. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt.
They said offering stamp duty relief for first-home buyers purchasing new builds only was important to increase housing supply.
“Many economists and industry experts recognise that removing stamp duty on established properties with no complementary increase in supply would result in upward price pressure on the cohort of homes purchased by first-home buyers, making those homes even less affordable,” they said.
“Stamp duty relief for first-home buyers buying new homes is only one aspect of the Government’s Housing Roadmap to increasing housing supply and there are currently no plans to expand stamp duty relief to established homes.
“Approximately 9400 applicants have benefited from the government’s stamp duty relief for first-home buyers, totalling around $184 million in relief under the program.”
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