Buying property in SA: questions and answers

Most lenders want 20 percent of the purchase price to avoid LMI. On a $700,000 house in Adelaide that's $140,000, plus around $35,000 of stamp duty and fees, so roughly $175,000 cash to settle without LMI. With LMI you can get in for 5 to 10 percent deposit but pay a one-off insurance premium (often $10,000 to $25,000) on top. First Home Guarantee scheme places let eligible FHBs buy with 5 percent deposit and no LMI. True Cost Calculator breaks down every line item.

Not on purchases under $650,000, thanks to the SA first home buyer stamp duty concession. Between $650,000 and $700,000 the concession phases out. Above $700,000 you pay full stamp duty. The concession also has eligibility tests around residency, prior property ownership, and whether you're buying to live in. See stamp duty and FHOG.

Yes, partially, through the First Home Super Saver Scheme (FHSSS). You can release up to $50,000 of voluntary super contributions (plus earnings) for a first-home deposit. The release process takes 15 to 25 business days through the ATO, so plan ahead. You cannot withdraw compulsory employer contributions, only your own voluntary ones.

Roughly $735,000 to $745,000 all-in for a non-first-home-buyer. The breakdown: $700,000 purchase price + ~$32,000 SA stamp duty (RevenueSA general rate) + ~$3,000 Lands Titles Office transfer and mortgage registration fees + ~$1,500 to $2,000 conveyancer + $500 to $800 building inspection + $300 to $500 pest inspection. First-home buyers under the concession save the entire stamp duty figure. Use the True Cost Calculator with your real numbers.

Between $1,200 and $2,500 for a standard residential transaction in 2026. Higher for more complex matters (off-the-plan, strata title issues, contested boundaries). Fixed-fee is more common than hourly in SA. Plus disbursements (title searches, council searches, etc.) typically $300 to $700. See the conveyancer explainer for what they actually do.

Yes. Under the Land and Business (Sale and Conveyancing) Act 1994, advertising a property at a price below 10 percent of the vendor's reasonable expectation is unlawful. Consumer and Business Services (CBS) is the regulator. The catch is that enforcement is reactive and proof of intent is hard, so the rule is widely breached. Treat any price guide as the floor, not the expected sale price. More in our underquoting guide.

Because the price guide isn't a market estimate, it's a marketing tool to maximise open-home attendance. Agents pitch the guide below what they expect, knowing more interest creates more competition on auction day. Look at recent comparable sales in the same suburb instead, that's the realistic price floor. The Price Estimator gives you the suburb median plus adjustments.

If recent comparables show $800k is the going rate, the realistic sale price is $800k or above, not $650k. Treat the guide as ignorable and bid based on the comparables. If you want to win, $800k to $830k is in range. If you offer at $650k you're likely wasting time, the vendor won't accept it and the agent isn't presenting it.

They can, but they're not obliged to and they often won't, or they'll mislead. In SA there's no legal requirement to disclose competing offers. Some agents use vague phrases like "we have strong interest above your offer" to push you higher without giving real numbers. Always anchor on the comparable sales data, not what the agent claims other buyers are offering.

The SA Valuer-General publishes settled-sale medians quarterly, and comparing this quarter against the same quarter last year gives the year-on-year change for any suburb. The free Live SA Market Heatmap on this site does this automatically across every metro Adelaide suburb, sorted by hottest, cooling, and most-traded, with the underlying numbers shown for each. The data refreshes live every time the Valuer-General publishes a new quarter. Editorial analysis in the Adelaide suburb trends post.

It depends on the zone, the locality-specific TNVs, any overlays, the existing block size, and frontage. Most metro residential zones allow subdivision in principle but the minimum lot size after subdivision varies by locality, typically 200 to 350 m² per resulting lot. Run the address through the Subdivision and Zone Check for the actual TNVs that apply.

There's no single answer because it's set by the TNV for the specific locality, not by zone-level baselines (except in General Neighbourhood Zone, which has a 300 m² baseline). For most residential zones the locality TNV is between 200 and 400 m² per resulting lot, with a corresponding minimum frontage usually 6 to 9 metres. Always verify against the actual TNV for the exact address.

Yes, in most residential zones, but with constraints. The granny flat (formally a "secondary dwelling" or "ancillary accommodation") has size limits, setback requirements, and parking rules under the SA Code. Maximum size is usually around 60 to 70 m² internal area. Some councils require the granny flat to be occupied by family members only; others allow it as a rental. Check the planning rules for the specific address before committing.

Three options. The SA government planning portal (sappa.plan.sa.gov.au) shows zones but is slow and clunky. Your council can tell you. Or paste the address into the Subdivision and Zone Check, which returns the zone, every overlay, and the TNV values in one screen using the same PlanSA polygon data. More in our zoning guide.

TNV stands for Technical and Numerical Variation. It's the locality-specific override in the SA Planning and Design Code that supplies the actual minimum site area, frontage, and setback for any given block. For most residential zones in SA, the TNV (not the zone-level rules) determines what you can build. Two blocks in the same zone can have completely different TNVs and therefore completely different subdivision potential. See the TNV glossary entry.

Three things together determine whether a property is subdividable: the planning zone, the locality-specific TNV (Technical and Numerical Variation, which sets the minimum lot size and frontage after subdivision), and any overlays that restrict density. The fastest way to check all three for a specific SA address is the free Subdivision and Zone Check on this site. It runs the address against PlanSA's official polygon data and returns the zone, every overlay, and the actual TNV values in under 30 seconds. Rule of thumb: if the TNV minimum lot size is half (or less) of the current block size and no overlay restricts density, subdivision is usually viable subject to council approval and the cost of a development application.

Run the address through the Subdivision and Zone Check. It overlays PlanSA's bushfire overlay polygons and tells you if the address falls inside a Bushfire General Risk, Bushfire Medium Risk, or Bushfire High Risk area. If yes, you'll need a BAL (Bushfire Attack Level) assessment before building, and your insurance premiums will be higher. Detail in our bushfire overlay guide.

Heritage in SA comes in three tiers, State Heritage Place, Local Heritage Place, and Contributory Item in a Historic Area Overlay. The Subdivision and Zone Check returns all three for any address. State and Local listings are the most restrictive, requiring development approval for almost any external work, including paint colour in some cases. See the heritage cost guide for what each tier really means.

An easement is a right someone else has over part of your land, typically for sewer mains, drainage, electricity, or a right of way. They're on the Certificate of Title, not in the planning data, so they only show up in the Form 1. You can't build a permanent structure over most easements, the easement holder (usually SA Water or council) needs ongoing access. A pergola or driveway is usually fine; a house extension usually isn't. See easement.

No, character overlays are less restrictive than heritage listings. Character overlays preserve neighbourhood aesthetics (roof pitches, façade materials, setback patterns) but don't protect specific properties as historically significant. You can still demolish a character-overlay property if the planning approval supports it, though replacement designs need to match the character intent. A State or Local heritage listing makes demolition almost impossible.

SA's flood risk areas are mapped via the PlanSA Hazards (Flooding) Overlay. To check a specific address, use the Subdivision and Zone Check. It overlays the address against PlanSA's flood polygons and tells you immediately if the Hazards (Flooding) Overlay applies. If yes, expect higher insurance premiums, flood-resilient construction requirements (raised floor levels, water-resistant materials below the flood level), and in deep flood zones the possibility that standard insurance won't cover the property at all. Always check before buying anywhere near the Torrens, Sturt, Onkaparinga, or Gawler river systems.

Form 1 is the mandatory vendor disclosure statement under the Land and Business (Sale and Conveyancing) Act 1994 (SA). It must be given to the buyer at least 10 clear days before settlement and contains every legal encumbrance, council notice, infrastructure charge, contributing-item heritage, and easement on the title. The 12 things that hide expensive surprises (and the order to check them) are in the Form 1 Decoder and our Form 1 survival guide.

Two clear business days after the contract is signed and the Form 1 is served, whichever is later. You can withdraw without giving a reason, but you may forfeit a portion of your deposit (cooling-off forfeiture, typically 0.25 percent of the purchase price). Auctions do not have cooling-off, the contract is binding immediately. Private treaty sales (the standard) do.

Yes, in the cooling-off period (above) without giving a reason. After cooling-off, you can only exit if a contract condition isn't met (finance unapproved, building inspection turns up a defect, Form 1 has material error). If you walk away after cooling-off without a contractual reason, the seller can keep your deposit and pursue damages for any further loss they suffer on resale.

A material error or omission in the Form 1 gives the buyer the right to rescind the contract or claim compensation, depending on the timing and severity. "Material" means it would have changed your decision to buy or how much you paid. Examples: undisclosed easements, hidden infrastructure charges, undisclosed council notices. Notify your conveyancer immediately if you find one, the remedies have strict time limits.

You can do a first-pass review of the Form 1 yourself by focusing on the 12 items that hide the most expensive surprises. The free Form 1 Decoder walks through each item with a risk score and the exact questions to ask your conveyancer about each one. It's not a substitute for legal review (your conveyancer still has to check the title search, statutory disclosures, and signatures), but it dramatically speeds up your own pre-conveyancer triage so the paid time gets spent on the actual problems instead of initial reading. Deeper walk-through in the Form 1 survival guide.

Roughly $480,000 to $620,000 as a single borrower with no debt and a 20 percent deposit in 2026 conditions, depending on the lender. As a couple combining to $120,000, similar range. Add a second income of $80,000 and the joint capacity rises to around $760,000 to $900,000. The APRA 3 percent serviceability buffer is the biggest constraint. Run your real numbers through the Borrowing Power Estimator.

Yes. HECS shows up in the bank's serviceability calculation as a monthly cost based on your income bracket. A $90,000 salary with HECS reduces borrowing capacity by roughly $60,000 to $80,000 versus the same income with no HECS. Paying down HECS only helps borrowing power if the paydown drops you under a threshold; otherwise the marginal rate stays the same and there's no benefit. Full breakdown in our borrowing power guide.

APRA (the bank regulator) requires lenders to test your repayments at 3 percentage points above the actual interest rate. If your loan rate is 6.5 percent, the bank calculates serviceability at 9.5 percent. The buffer protects you from rate rises but also shrinks your borrowing power by roughly 25 percent versus an unbuffered calculation. It's the single biggest reason your borrowing capacity feels lower than you expected.

LMI (Lenders Mortgage Insurance) is a one-off premium charged when your deposit is under 20 percent of the purchase price. It protects the lender if you default, not you. On a $700,000 house with a 10 percent deposit you'd pay roughly $15,000 to $22,000 of LMI, usually capitalised onto the loan. See LMI for the full picture.

Three legitimate ways. First Home Guarantee scheme (10,000 places per year nationally for eligible FHBs, lets you buy with 5 percent deposit, government underwrites the rest). Family Home Guarantee (single-parent variant, 5,000 places, 2 percent deposit). Family guarantor loan, where a parent uses equity in their own home to secure the gap, no LMI but the parent is liable if you default. Some professions (doctors, lawyers, accountants) also get LMI waivers from specific lenders.

Both conveyancers and both banks log into PEXA (the electronic settlement platform) at the scheduled time, usually 1, 2, or 3 PM. The loan funds, the cash component, and the title transfer all execute simultaneously, the whole exchange takes 20 to 30 minutes. You don't attend. Within an hour of settlement, the agent contacts you to collect the keys. See our full settlement day guide.

Standard is 30 to 60 days from contract date. 30 days is common for cash-funded purchases, 45 to 60 days when a new mortgage is involved (banks need time to process loan documents). The exact date is set in the contract and can only be moved by mutual written agreement. The Settlement Calendar maps every milestone from your contract date.

No. PEXA is electronic, no one attends in person any more. Your conveyancer signs and lodges all documents on your behalf. You should be contactable by phone in case any last-minute authorisation is needed, but you do not need to take the day off work or be at the property.

Run the address through the School Zone Check, which uses the SA Department for Education's official catchment polygons. It returns every government primary, secondary, and R-12 school whose catchment covers the address. Cross-reference against the DfE finder at education.sa.gov.au for boundary cases. Independent and Catholic schools are not address-zoned, contact them directly. Full guide: School zones in Adelaide.

Possibly, but it depends on the school having capacity. Out-of-zone enrolment is granted at the school's discretion, with sibling priority and academic considerations sometimes applied. Popular schools (Glenunga International, Marryatville High, Adelaide High, Norwood Morialta, Unley High) routinely turn out-of-zone applicants away. In-zone is the only guarantee.

Occasionally yes. The Department for Education reviews catchments periodically to manage enrolment pressure, especially in growth corridors (Mt Barker, Munno Para, Mawson Lakes, Aldinga). The DfE usually consults publicly before changes but doesn't grandfather existing residents. A property's current zone is the starting point, not a permanent guarantee.

Yes. If you win at auction in SA, you sign the contract on the spot and pay the deposit (typically 10 percent of the hammer price) within 24 to 48 hours. Have a bank cheque ready or be set up for an immediate EFT transfer. There's no cooling-off after auction, the contract is binding from the fall of the hammer. More tactical detail in our auction strategy guide.

Yes, and many SA properties actually sell pre-auction. The seller can accept any offer at any time before auction day. If you're serious, make a strong written offer 1 to 2 weeks before auction, with a short acceptance window (24 to 48 hours). It removes the auction risk and often gets you the property below what it would have made at competitive auction.

A vendor bid is a bid placed by the auctioneer on behalf of the seller, used to start the auction or push the price toward the reserve. It's legal in SA but must be clearly announced as a vendor bid (not disguised as a genuine bid). Only the auctioneer can make vendor bids, only up to the reserve, and the number is limited by the rules of auction. Watch for it. Don't bid against a vendor bid above the reserve.

No. Your principal place of residence (PPOR) is exempt from SA land tax. The exemption is unlimited (no value cap). Land tax only applies to investment properties, holiday homes, commercial land, and land held in trust. The home you actually live in does not appear in your land tax assessment. Full guide: SA land tax 2026.

Usually not, for SA land tax alone. The trust scale has a lower tax-free threshold ($25,000 vs $668,000 for individuals) and steeper marginal rates. Trusts can still be net-beneficial for asset protection, estate planning, or income tax distribution between beneficiaries, but the SA land tax cost has to be factored in. Get accounting advice before structuring.

Four weeks' rent if the weekly rent is $800 or less. Six weeks' rent if the weekly rent is above $800. The bond must be lodged with Consumer and Business Services (CBS) within 2 weeks of receipt, not held in your own account. You cannot ask for any additional security beyond the bond (no pet bond, no key deposit, no advance cleaning fee).

Yes. Private landlords in SA can prepare their own tenancy agreement provided it complies with the Residential Tenancies Act 1995 (SA). It must include all Section 48 mandatory terms, be in writing, signed by both parties, and a copy given to the tenant. The SA Lease Agreement Generator handles all mandatory fields and produces a compliant PDF for free.

Two options. SA Consumer and Business Services (CBS) publishes a free PDF template at consumer.sa.gov.au, but it requires manual entry and doesn't validate bond caps, condition reports, or the Section 48 mandatory disclosures. The other option is the free SA Lease Agreement Generator on this site, a step-form that walks through every RTA 1995 (SA) requirement, validates the bond against the 4 or 6-week rule based on weekly rent, and outputs a signed-ready PDF in around 5 minutes. Both produce a compliant agreement; use whichever fits your workflow. Full walk-through in our private landlord guide.