Capital gains tax reform needed to address inequality

Original article by Michael Bleby
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 25 : 27-Aug-25

The National Housing Supply & Affordability Council’s chair Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz was one of the participants in the federal government’s economic reform roundtable. She contends that a "very large conversation" is needed with regard to intergenerational inequity and intra-generational inequality; Lloyd-Hurwitz adds that any such discussion must include changes to the capital gains tax regime for investment properties, in order to address the issue of housing inequality. Lloyd-Hurwitz is the former CEO of listed property developer Mirvac Group.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. NATIONAL HOUSING SUPPLY AND AFFORDABILITY COUNCIL, MIRVAC GROUP – ASX MGR

‘Bad enough now’: Property investor tax breaks soaring to $22 billion a year by 2035

Original article by Matthew Elmas
The New Daily – Page: Online : 2-Jul-24

Parliamentary Budget Office data has revealed that property investors received $85 billion in tax breaks over the decade between 2014-15 and 2023-24. The PBO also found that the cost of negative gearing and capital gains discounts will jump to $165 billion over the next decade, with tax breaks to property investors to be worth $22 billion a year by 20235. Australia Institute senior research fellow David Richardson claims that property tax breaks will continue to push up property prices, with Richardson noting things are "bad enough now; he notes the cost of a median house in Sydney is around 13.5 times annual average weekly earnings.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. PARLIAMENTARY BUDGET OFFICE, THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE LIMITED

Homeowners rush to refinance their loans

Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian – Page: 4 : 5-Oct-22

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that a record $19bn worth of home loans were refinanced in August. This is five per cent higher than in July, and 10 per cent higher than a year ago. Owner-occupiers refinanced some $12.8bn worth of home loans, while property investors refinanced $6.1bn worth of loans. The figures also show that new mortgage loan commitments fell 3.4 per cent to $27.4bn in August; there has been a 15 per cent decline in housing loan commitments since the Reserve Bank started increasing the cash rate in May.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

FIRB investment fees set to jump on property and business

Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 12 : 18-Sep-20

The federal government has previously reduced to zero the ‘dollar value threshhold’ for foreign bids to be assessed by the Foreign Investment Review Board. It has now adjusted the fees that are applied to foreign investment applications, so as to reflect the costs of reviewing them under the new threshold process. The change will see some fees increased and some reduced; in the case of residential property, all fees will rise, except for properties valued at $38 million or more.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD

Record 1.3 million landlords cash in on negative gearing as shake-up looms

Original article by Ben Butler, Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 19 & 26 : 17-Apr-19

Data from the Australian Taxation Office shows that the number of property investors who use negative gearing rose from 631,000 to about 1.3 million between 2000 and 2017. In contrast, the number of investors who broke even or made a profit rose from 532,000 to around 856,000. The figures also show that the proportion of investors who are aged 60+ rose from around 15 per cent to about 23.5 per cent. Robert Deutsch of the Tax Institute does not expect Labor’s proposed negative gearing reforms to have much effect on housing prices.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, THE TAX INSTITUTE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, BIS OXFORD ECONOMICS PTY LTD, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Property tax crackdown from Jan 1

Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 29-Mar-19

Labor is set to announce that its proposed changes to the negative gearing and capital gains tax regimes will take effect from the start of January 2020 if it wins the federal election. Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen will state on 29 March that this will give investors sufficient time to prepare for the reforms, which Labor had initially flagged more than three years ago. Labor’s reforms would most likely require the support of at least two independents in the upper house, in addition to the Greens.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, ONE NATION PARTY, CENTRE ALLIANCE, FINANCIAL SERVICES COUNCIL

Greens’ $20m man now says no more tax breaks

Original article by Chip Le Grand, Christine Lacy
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 15-Mar-19

Prominent barrister and Greens candidate Julian Burnside has declined to disclose whether he used negative gearing to build a property portfolio that is estimated to be worth about $20m. The Greens want to abolish negative gearing on all future residential property purchases, while its policy would restrict existing investors to negatively gearing just one property. Burnside says it is not fair that the system benefits wealthy people such as himself at the expense of first-home buyers. The Greens policies will not affect his investment portfolio.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, MELBOURNE SAVAGE CLUB, MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, PATRICK STEVEDORES HOLDINGS PTY LTD

‘Time to pounce’: Investors rush to beat change

Original article by Ingrid Fuary-Wagner
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 18-Feb-19

Real estate investors are preparing to acquire established properties in the event that Labor wins the upcoming federal election. Labor intends to abolish negative gearing on established properties, although it will still allow it for newly-built homes. However, any such changes would be unlikely to take effect until 1 July 2020. Victor Kumar of Right Property Group says he would expect to see a big increase in sales of established properties in the period between the election and when any legislation takes effect.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, RIGHT PROPERTY GROUP

Banks turn off the investor tap

Original article by Joyce Moullakis
The Australian – Page: 13 & 18 : 3-Jan-19

Data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority shows that the nation’s four largest banks held $471.4bn worth of investor mortgage loans in the year to November 2018. This compares with $471.1bn for the same period in 2017. Westpac and National Australia Bank increased their investor loan books slightly, while the Commonwealth Bank and ANZ recorded declines. Meanwhile, Richard Wiles of Morgan Stanley says APRA’s recent move to abolish caps on interest-only loans is unlikely to boost the major banks’ growth in housing loans.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, BANKWEST, ST GEORGE BANK LIMITED, BANK OF MELBOURNE LIMITED, BANK OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA LIMITED, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, MST FINANCIAL SERVICES PTY LTD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, COUNCIL OF FINANCIAL REGULATORS, CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, P&N BANK, FINDER.COM.AU, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG

Aussie John warns Labor’s property plan a nuclear bomb

Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 19-Nov-18

Aussie Home Loans founder John Symond has warned that Labor’s proposed changes to the negative gearing regime could lead to a recession in Australia. He says that although the "grandfathering" provisions of the Labor reforms would benefit people who are buying their first home, they would cause property prices to fall and result in many existing homeowners having negative equity in their home. Symond supports negative gearing reforms, but he argues that they should primarily target people on high incomes.

CORPORATES
AUSSIE HOME LOANS LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, THE TAX INSTITUTE, SQM RESEARCH PTY LTD