SA Labor to abolish stamp duty – the Retirement Living Council reacts

The South Australian Election is on Saturday (21 March), and Labor and the Liberal Opposition have laid out promises to entice Baby Boomers.

Labor, the party which won 27 of 47 seats in 2022 and secured two more seats at by-elections since then, is heavily favoured to be re-elected.

Premier elect Peter Malinauskas has made a pitch to Baby Boomers who will save more than $100,000 in stamp duty if they move to smaller homes, opening up their large homes to young families desperate for housing.

Stamp duty will be abolished for “downsizers” buying new homes in a one-off $70 million election pledge, though strict criteria will apply:

• downsizers must be aged 60-plus, be buying a smaller home than their existing principal place of residence and must sell their existing home; and
• they also must purchase a new or off the plan residence, in a bid to further stimulate the construction industry.

Under the Liberal pre-election policy, South Australians over the age of 55 could be eligible for a one-off $15,000 concession on stamp duty to move into a smaller home priced at under $1.2 million.

The Retirement Living Council Executive Director Daniel Gannon welcomed the fact that both major parties are now talking seriously about rightsizing.

“Helping older South Australians move into homes that better suit their needs is not just good housing policy – it’s good health, ageing and economic policy,” Daniel said.

“The South Australian Government deserves credit for recognising that older South Australians are central to housing flow and for increasingly treating retirement living as essential social and housing infrastructure. Both stamp duty proposals acknowledge the important role older people can play in freeing up larger homes for families, but they are aimed at an earlier stage of the rightsizing journey than retirement living typically serves.

“That is why reforms to support earlier rightsizing are welcome, but they should sit within a broader policy framework that also recognises retirement living as a critical later-life housing and care pathway, especially given there is no stamp duty cost when moving into a retirement village.

“We support practical reforms that make it easier for older people to move, but they must strengthen the full rightsizing system – not skew it away from retirement living or pit rightsizers against first home buyers.”