Finance & Grants
What deposit do I need to build a house in Adelaide?
Short answer
For a house and land package you typically need 5-10% of the land price to hold the land, plus a 5% builder deposit at contract signing. Total upfront cash is usually 10-20% of the combined package price. First home buyers using government schemes can get in with as little as 5% via the Home Guarantee Scheme; standard buyers with LMI need 5-10%; borrowing without LMI needs 20%.
The longer answer
The land deposit is paid to the developer's conveyancer at contract signing. Your builder deposit sits in trust until the first construction stage begins. Both are refundable in specific contract-cooling-off conditions.
Ask a broker to model your actual cash requirement including stamp duty concessions (SA offers reductions for first home buyers on new builds), LMI premiums, and interest during construction. Cash needed at signing is usually well below the maximum "20%" figure.
Getting your budget right is the first real step in the building journey - but most people don’t know where to start. In this episode, we break down the full process of setting your game plan, from confirming your finance capacity to comparing quotes, and share a free Google Sheets budgeting template to help you stay on track from day one.
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