HomeStart has set a new lending record in the 2023/24 financial year, with $1.25 billion worth of loans helping thousands of South Australians achieve the dream of homeownership, including first homebuyers, graduates and low-income earners.

HomeStart settled 2,869 loans last financial year, the highest level of lending since 2006 and up 40 per cent on the previous financial year.

Encouragingly, lending to first home buyers surged to 1,905 loans in the 2023/24 financial year, the highest on record, spurred by the government’s abolition of stamp duty for first home buyers who buy or build a new home.

Around two thirds of all new customers with HomeStart were first home buyers.

Meanwhile, South Australians secured a record 1,142 Graduate Loans through HomeStart, up 24 per cent on the last financial year.

This year HomeStart made its 2 per cent deposit loan available to first home buyers building a home, delivering on a Malinauskas Government election commitment.

Unlike the major banks, and to make it easier for South Australians to enter the housing market, HomeStart does not charge Lenders Mortgage Insurance for loans with a loan to value ratio greater than 80 per cent, saving homebuyers over $10,000.

HomeStart’s record result has been a solid contributor to our residential construction sector leading the country.

Growth in residential construction led the nation through the year to the June quarter of 2024. Following this, we saw building approvals in South Australia jump by 18 per cent through the year to July 2024, ahead of the national increase of 14 per cent.

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Attributable to Stephen Mullighan

We know it’s getting harder for South Australians to get into the housing market, and these figures show the State Government’s HomeStart is making it possible for thousands of people unable to get finance from the traditional banks, to achieve their dream of home ownership.

These results show the value of HomeStart providing a pathway for South Australians otherwise locked out of the property market.

We abolished stamp duty for first homebuyers who buy or build a new home and expanded the First Home Owner Grant – making now a good time to consider a HomeStart loan.