Anthony Albanese outside his former home in Marrickville, which has been used as an investment property. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts
Calls for the Albanese government to ditch capital gains tax discounts for property investors could be coming at a convenient time for the Prime Minister, judging by recent property transactions.
A review of declared property sales in recent years have revealed Anthony Albanese has been quietly cashing out of his own investment portfolio, selling a range of properties for above the prices he paid.
This likely capital gain on his properties would have entitled him to the same huge tax-free profits that his government is being called on to scrap.
Under the current tax regime, investors who have owned their properties for more than a year are entitled to a 50 per cent discount on the profit they make on their properties when selling.
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Albanese sold this Dulwich Hill investment property in 2024. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers
The Australian Council of Trade Unions, one the ALP’s biggest union supporters, last week backed reforms that would see capital gains tax discounts slashed from 50 per cent to 25 per cent.
Mr Albanese has been systematically exiting his own property holdings in recent years.
In late 2024, the Prime Minister sold his Dulwich Hill investment townhouse in Sydney’s inner west for about $1.75m.
This was roughly $575,000 above the 2015 purchase price and a large portion of that profit would have been eligible to be shielded from tax by the very CGT discount up for repeal.
Earlier in his career, he and then-wife Carmel Tebbutt sold a Marrickville rental property for $2.35m, close to double what they originally paid. This again would have made him eligible for lower tax liability.
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Albanese offloaded this investment in Marrickville for close to double the price he paid.
He also sold a Canberra apartment in 2022 for a profit four times the original price he paid, rounding out a string of well-timed disposals that have boosted his personal wealth.
Mr Albanese still owns two investment properties but they are a former and future residence, the former in Marrickville and the latter on The Central Coast.
His former residence in Marrickville was bought in 2006 for about $997,000 and an automated valuation indicated it could currently be worth about $2.9m. A large part of that capital gain would be tax free under current ATO rules as it is understood he lived in the property for close to 16 years.
His former Marrickville residence was advertised for rent at $1,450 per week in 2025.
Mr Albanese also has a clifftop mansion in The Central Coast suburb of Copacabana, which records show is currently rented out for $1,450 per week.
But the Prime Minister has told media that he plans to make The Central Coast property his long-term home and move there after retiring from political leadership, which would imply no plans to sell any time soon.
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The Copacabana investment property of Albanese. He has told media he intends to move into the property one day.
There is no evidence that the timing of Mr Albanese’s property sales was motivated by any planned changes in capital gains tax policy and the Prime Minister has not committed to any reforms so far.
Property Investment Professionals of Australia president Cate Bakos said “the optics wouldn’t look good” for the Prime Minister if he were to reduce CGT discounts given his own recent sales.
She noted that there was nothing to suggest the prime minister’s personal motivations had anything to do with policy but his own portfolio would be something “he has to reconcile if he is asked that question … it could be confronting for him”.
Ms Bakos said there was evidence that many renters, even those who were years from buying properties, did one day plan to become investors and wanted the same benefits as generations before.
Anthony Albanese, pictured next to then partner Carmel Tebbutt, holds up a bidder card at the auction for a home in Marrickville. Picture: Matthew Vasilescu.
She noted this was a key reason then Labor leader Bill Shorten lost the “unlosable” election of 2019: many people actually wanted to access the incentives that the ALP promised to remove (the ALP proposed cutting negative gearing and the CGT discount at the time).
“A much more important consideration is that normal homeowners could actually see the value of their properties drop if the discounts were removed,” Ms Bakos said.
“There would be a huge rise in sales and that would push down prices and remove a lot of rental properties at a time of shortages.
“I cannot believe a lot of politicians think this policy change is well-timed”.
Housing affordability advocates have long criticised the CGT discount and negative gearing, arguing these breaks inflate demand and lock lower-income Australians out of the market.
Economists have suggested reform could moderate prices and improve homebuyer access, though impacts on rental supply are debated.
Some reports show the CGT discount has been a decisive factor in driving up investor activity within the market.
SuburbTrends analysis conducted in 2024 revealed affordability issues plaguing capital cities can be traced to when the policy was introduced by Howard Government treasurer Peter Costello in 1999.
Analysis of Treasury estimates showed the discounts currently cost the government about $13 billion in lost tax revenue.
Defenders of the policy have argued that it has supported growth in the supply of rental accommodation and that most of the investors who have benefited from the scheme are middle-income households preparing for retirement.
The Property Investment Professionals of Australia said changing the policy could trigger a wave of investor sell offs ahead of any formal start date for new tax measures.
The sell-off would deepen Australia’s rental crisis, PIPA said.
Albanese has yet to announce or commit to any kind of change in the CGT discount.
The 2025 PIPA Investor Sentiment Survey found that 35 per cent of investors would stop investing in property if CGT were reduced to 25 per cent after 12 months of ownership.
About one in five of the investors who had sold one or more properties over the previous year said they did so because of the perceived risk of Federal Government tax reforms.
About half of current investors cited the same concern as a key reason why they may sell in the next 12 to 24 months.
Ms Bakos said the findings reveal a rental market on the brink.
“These numbers are not hypothetical because investors are already leaving,” Ms Bakos said.
“When vacancy rates are this tight, removing investors from the market is economically reckless,” she said.
“Every investor who sells to an owner occupier removes a rental home from the system and tenants are the ones who suffer the consequences.”
Ms Bakos said any changes to CGT discounts needed to be clearly thought out.
“Investors provide more than 90 per cent of Australia’s rental homes,” Ms Bakos said.
“If governments want a functioning rental market, they must stop treating investors as expendable because the rental system collapses without them.”
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