Aussie renters are coughing up billions every year — and not all of it is staying in Australia.
Aussie landlords are collecting more than $50bn in rent nationwide, but a shocking $2.08bn is being sent overseas.
And with investor numbers dropping by 7000, one of the biggest falls recorded by the Australian Taxation Office in 25 years, there are growing concerns about impacts to both tenants and the nation’s coffers.
NSW claimed the bulk of the nation’s rental revenue in the 2023 financial year, with about $22.891bn declared in the latest tax return data, followed by Victoria at $12.78bn and Queensland at $8.744bn.
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But the international haul, which represents about 3.7 per cent of the national total, is close to the $2.5bn paid to landlords living across South Australia in the 2023 data.
Property Investment Professionals of Australia chair Lachlan Vidler said government policy changes around property taxes and tenancy requirements were likely to have been major drivers behind what was the biggest drop in investor numbers in the tax stats for the past 25 years, outside of the GFC and Covid era.
He said it was probable many of them had sold homes in Queensland and Victoria, where major land tax changes were announced in the 2022-2023 financial year.
“These are not long-term investors cashing out after decades,” Mr Vidler said.
“They’re people who entered the market with good intentions and were forced out by rising costs and policy uncertainty.”
Property Investment Professionals of Australia chair Lachlan Vidler said the loss of landlords uncovered in the tax data was concerning.
Based on average rental returns from the tax data, the reduction would equate to about $175m in lost rental revenue for the government to tax.
Even at a just 30 per cent tax rate, paid by those earning $45,00-$135,000, that would mean a more than $50m hit to government coffers in the 2023 financial year.
How each state is tracking for landlords varies.
Mr Vidler said he expected landlord numbers would have continued to decrease in the years that have followed, and were being felt with rental vacancy rates at critical lows around the nation.
NEW SOUTH WALES
Landlords across Greater Sydney are shifting a significant share of the cost of their properties onto taxpayers, with new data revealing over half of city investors are using negative gearing to support their expenses — with net losses on rental properties exceeding $3 billion a year in Greater Sydney alone.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Blue chip locales aren’t the only postcodes that are hosting the bulk of South Australia’s landlords, with thousands of them living in some surprising neighbourhoods.
MELBOURNE
Property investors in Melbourne are grappling with some of the highest loss-making rental investments in the country.
Victorian landlords have reported massive losses on their investments in tax data, sparking concerns from experts about the weight of state government policies on investors.
GEELONG
Tax figures reveal a staggering $536m in rental income across Geelong, yet more than half of landlords propped up their income through negative gearing.
SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND
The average Queensland property investor doesn’t live in an inner-city hotspot, but deep in the state’s outer suburbs.
NORTH QUEENSLAND
The Townsville region is home to about 15,000 landlords, with the biggest share living on Magnetic Island.
NORTHERN TERRITORY
From Darwin to Alice Springs, the Territory’s property investors are pulling in close to half-a-billion dollars in combined rent. Picture: Che Chorley.
Territorian landlords received almost $500m in rent in just one year as new data reveals the postcodes home to the most investors.
AN ALTERNATE VIEW
Australia Institute senior economist Matt Grudnoff said it was important to note a 7000 investor reduction was less than 1 per cent of the nation’s total, and many of their properties would be going to first-home buyers escaping the rental market.
Mr Grudnoff added that with interest rates rising in the 2023 financial year, and home prices having “dipped a little bit” there could have been a natural motivation for landlords to sell.
As a result, he said home ownership rates were now likely higher as any reduction in investor numbers typically meant an increase in owners.
While the nation’s population has subsequently risen, Mr Grudnoff said over the longer term housing construction had outpaced this.
Australia Institute senior economist Matt Grudnoff said as landlord numbers fell, home ownership levels should rise. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman
He argued that changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing would be most likely to discourage investing, which could be good for reducing competition with home buyers and potentially limiting price growth.
However, he said keeping some sort of “carve out” for investors who financed new builds would be worthwhile if it helped drive the construction of additional homes.
While not overly concerned by international investors at current levels, he noted that if that led to more homes being built that would be a good thing overall.
While addressing rental money going overseas and not necessarily being spent in the Australian economy might need to be addressed in the future, Mr Vidler agreed that for now it was more important to encourage investment no matter where it came from as a way to boost housing supply.
“It’s better overall for Australia having a housing crisis being solved than some money going overseas,” he said.
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