The South Australian budget comes out this week, and the state’s building industry says the State Government should use it to kickstart the housing sector.

Master Builders Association (MBS) SA chief executive officer John Stokes says building is “pretty depressed across all sectors”

“If we just take housing, then home starts are almost at an historic low in South Australia,” he told ABC reporters.

Interest rates mean borrowing costs are at the lowest in a generation, but the industry says this has not translated into new homes being built.

Some companies are reporting record volumes of people turning up to inspections, but Mr Stokes says actual purchases are low “partly because of a lack of confidence”.

The MBA wants budget provisions to create incentives for building and housing.

The building lobby is pushing for a reduction of compliance costs paid by builders as well.

It says that for every dollar spent in construction, $5 flows into the broader economy.

“It is probably one of the best ways the Government can help kickstart our state and our economy,” Mr Stokes said.

“All our members are reporting that the sheer compliance costs, the difficulty of red tape etcetera, adds to the cost of building homes, building commercial buildings, and [has] a flow on effect.”

With the budget due on Thursday, the closest thing Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis has mentioned were possible changes to the state's tax system.

A recent tax discussion paper mentioned removing transaction taxes like stamp duty and replacing them with a broad based land tax.

Koutsantonis has ruled out the broad based land tax idea, but has made no announcements on stamp duty.