South Australia’s Liberal opposition has unveiled a plan to give eligible downsizers a $15,000 stamp duty discount, in a move it says will help older homeowners who are “trapped” in properties they can no longer manage, Yahoo Finance reported.
The policy, announced ahead of next month’s state election, would apply to older South Australians selling their existing home and buying a cheaper property worth up to $1.2 million.
Under the pre‑election policy, South Australians over the age of 55 could be eligible for a one‑off $15,000 concession, which the Liberals estimate will cost $46 million over four years.
“Stamp duty is a major barrier for older South Australians looking to sell large family homes and move into a more manageable space,” SA Liberal leader Ashton Hurn said on Sunday. “Under a Liberal government, those moving out of their existing home will pay $15,000 less stamp-duty on their next home purchase, up to a property value of $1.2 million.”
The concession sits alongside a broader Liberal promise to abolish stamp duty for all first‑home buyers purchasing a new or established property under $1 million, widening today’s relief beyond the current Labor settings.
Hurn framed the downsizer policy as a way to unlock under‑used housing stock and improve mobility in a tight market.
“We want to ensure that big families can move into big homes and the way to do that is by providing this type of incentive so that downsizers as well don't feel that financial strain, they can make this move that is good for them and good for the next generation of South Australians as well,” she said at the campaign launch at Adelaide casino.
Shadow housing minister Michelle Lensink said many retirees were staying put to avoid the cost of moving.
“We've heard from so many retirees who've been paying taxes all their lives that they just can't afford to move, they're asset-rich but they're income-poor,” Lensink said. “They are people who are trapped in their own homes as we speak because it's all too hard. They may end up in a crisis situation where a partner dies or they need to enter aged care and suddenly it's an emergency sale.”
Premier Peter Malinauskas has criticised the Liberals’ shifting stamp duty stance, noting “three different stamp duty policies in less than three months” since former leader Vincent Tarzia’s earlier pledge to phase out the tax by 2041, ABC reported.
Under the current Labor government, first home‑owners who buy or build a new house are already exempt from paying stamp duty, and Labor is countering with a health‑focused platform, including a plan to turn the existing Women’s and Children’s Hospital into a 600‑plus‑bed aged care precinct and a $250 million no‑interest loan scheme to help providers build 720 more beds.
Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock has called stamp duty a “tax on mobility”. “It’s not only a barrier to downsizing, it’s a barrier to people moving to find jobs. So it’s also a barrier to dynamism in the economy,” she said in October – a reminder for brokers that duty settings can materially shape both borrowing decisions and housing turnover.
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