SA Stamp Duty Calculator: Conveyance Duty Rates

South Australia uses one scale for most residential purchases, whether you will live in the property or rent it out. Each band charges a fixed amount plus a rate per $100, or part of $100, above its threshold. Above $500,000 every extra $100 costs $5.50 in duty.

Foreign persons pay a foreign ownership surcharge of 7% of the value of residential land on top of ordinary duty. On a $700,000 purchase that adds $49,000 to $32,330.

For contracts entered into on or after 13 February 2025, eligible first home buyers get full stamp duty relief, with no cap on the property value, when they buy a new home, an off-the-plan apartment, or vacant land to build their home on (including house and land packages). The relief does not cover established homes, so a first home buyer paying $600,000 for an established home pays $26,830, while the same price for a new home costs nothing in duty.

All applicants must live in the property as their principal place of residence for at least 6 continuous months. For a new home or apartment, that period must start within 12 months of settlement. For vacant land or a house and land package, it must start within 12 months of the date the home can lawfully be lived in, or 36 months from settlement, whichever comes first. You cannot claim the relief if you, another applicant, or your spouse or domestic partner has already received it, or an equivalent, in any state or territory.

The relief does not reduce the 7% foreign ownership surcharge for contracts from 13 February 2025. Earlier contracts had different rules: between 15 June 2023 and 5 June 2024, full relief applied only to new homes up to $650,000 and vacant land up to $400,000, with partial relief just above those values.

Because the top band starts at $500,000, most South Australian home purchases fall into it. Above that point every extra $10,000 on the price adds $550 of duty. Negotiating $20,000 off a $700,000 purchase therefore saves $1,100 in duty as well as the $20,000 itself.

The effective rate, which is duty as a share of the price, keeps climbing towards 5.5% but never reaches it, because the lower bands are always charged at their lower rates:

• $300,000: $11,330, or 3.78% of the price
• $500,000: $21,330, or 4.27% of the price
• $750,000: $35,080, or 4.68% of the price
• $1,000,000: $48,830, or 4.88% of the price
• $1,500,000: $76,330, or 5.09% of the price

The "or part of $100" wording means a price of $500,050 is charged as if it were $500,100: $21,330 plus one lot of $5.50, which is $21,335.50. The rounding never adds more than $5.50, but it explains why a conveyancer's figure can be a few dollars above a simple percentage calculation.

On the conveyance rates there is no cheaper scale for a home you will live in, so an owner-occupier and an investor pay the same duty on the same South Australian property. Several other states charge owner-occupiers less. For a $500,000 established home that you will live in:

• South Australia: $21,330
• Victoria (principal place of residence rate): $21,970
• Queensland (home concession rate): $8,750
• ACT (owner occupier rate): $8,408

That comparison leaves out first home buyer relief, which is often worth far more than any owner-occupier rate. In South Australia it removes duty entirely on a new home or vacant land, but does nothing for an established home, so the type of property matters more than the price.

On a $650,000 established property bought as an investment, South Australia charges $29,580, the third highest of the eight states and territories. The table uses each jurisdiction's general rates only, so it leaves out home, first home and foreign purchaser rules, which change the answer for many buyers.