Construction is booming in South Australia, with huge increases in building approvals and work done across both engineering and residential sectors, while low deposit lender HomeStart has provided a record number of construction-related loans over the past financial year, supporting South Australia's housing supply.
HomeStart's 2024-25 annual report shows a record annual lending of $1.4 billion through 2,923 new loans.
Of the new loans, almost half – 1,424 loans – were construction-related.
First home buyers accounted for 1,803 – or 62 per cent of all new loans.
More than 40 per cent of customers used HomeStart's Shared Equity Option, with a record 1,170 Shared Equity Option loans, up 32 per cent on the previous year.
Meanwhile, more homeowners who got their start through HomeStart have discharged their loans, returning record funds to enable the lender to help more South Australians.
The total value of loans discharged was $826 million, up 93 per cent on the previous year.
HomeStart contributed $100.6 million to the State Government in 2024-25. Its headline profit was $65.1 million and pre-tax underlying profit $48.1 million.
The new record for HomeStart comes amid buoyant construction-related data for the state, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics confirming a strong uptick in construction work in South Australia for the September quarter, both in residential and engineering construction – which includes state-shaping projects such as building a non-stop South Road.
Total construction work done rose 3.5 per cent in the quarter to $5.3 billion – 14 per cent higher than a year earlier.
Building work done amounted to $2.7 billion and was 15 per cent higher than a year earlier. Residential work done was $1.7 billion, 21 per cent higher than a year earlier, while non-residential work done was $1.1 billion, 6.5 per cent higher than a year earlier.
Engineering work done rose 7.4 per cent in the quarter to $2.5 billion, 13 per cent higher than a year earlier.
This compares to a fall of 0.7 per cent for total construction work done nationally in the September quarter, while engineering work done fell 5.8 per cent nationwide and was 1.2 per cent lower than a year earlier.
Over the year to September 2025, a total of 14,734 new homes were approved in South Australia, equivalent to 26.2 per cent more homes than in the 12 months to September 2024 - the biggest increase of any state in the nation.
As put by Tom Koutsantonis
These figures tell a compelling story: South Australia is building.
We are seeing huge gains in home building approvals, actual construction-related activity and loans for people investing in new builds.
This is exactly how we will see the crucial supply-side issues in our housing market addressed, helping remove barriers to entry.
In line with the State Government's Housing Roadmap, which is driving housing supply, HomeStart continues to help thousands of South Australians each year to achieve their dream of home ownership with record construction-related lending.
These outstanding results demonstrate the success of the HomeStart model.
As put by HomeStart CEO Andrew Mills
HomeStart is proud to have helped more than 91,000 South Australians since our inception.
Our record $1.4 billion in lending over the past financial year demonstrates the importance of breaking down barriers to home ownership at a time when there is great need in the community.
HomeStart is supporting the state's housing supply with construction related loans making up almost half of new loans in 2024-25.
