An Aussie homebuyer has revealed the harsh reality of signing a property contract just five hours before the federal budget, leaving her family facing a six-figure loss.
Sydney woman Penny Vandenhurk was caught in a rare double property whammy after Treasurer Jim Chalmers delivered his tax reforms to negative gearing and capital gains tax, sending parts of the housing market into a sudden slump.
Ms Vandenhurk and her husband purchased a three-bedroom townhouse in Sydney on May 12, signing the contract while unaware that property values were about to slide.
Within weeks, the couple were forced to sell their existing home for $140,000 less than its appraised value to secure the capital needed for the upgrade.
“We didn’t have time to wait on our purchase – people asked why we didn’t sign the following day. We were buying our dream home,” Ms Vandenhurk told nine.com.au.
“The negotiations had been going for four to six weeks and the owners were going to market if it wasn’t sold to us.”
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Penny Vandenhurk and her husband after buying their new home in Sydney. Picture: Supplied
As a buyer’s agent, Vandenhurk was aware that real estate market shifts were fast approaching after pre-budget warnings flagged changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax indexing model.
However, she had no idea the immediate cooling effect would be so severe.
Her new home is now worth close to $100,000 less than the purchase price after broader Sydney house values slid by between 0.5 and 1.5 per cent.
The biggest blow came when the family reluctantly sold their former townhouse at auction for $1.56m to clear the capital for their new home.
It had been formally valued by an appraiser at $1.7m just weeks earlier, right before the housing market experienced a post-budget shift.
A smaller property on the couple’s same block, which faced west instead of north and lacked a dedicated study, had sold just a week prior for $1.66m.
“I’ve felt sick about the whole thing. And I work in the industry! I am not sure if it makes it better or worse,” Ms Vandenhurk said.
“It feels brutal to have sold for $100,000 less than a lesser property.”
“If people say selling for less is the government doing their job … that’s not true. I’m an owner-occupier, I sold my owner-occupier home to buy a new one.
“I’m not an investor who owns 50 properties. Just a middle-class working mum who sold my property to buy a new one.
“I’m the one left paying an extra $1000 a month on my mortgage, because of my property being devalued by their changes.”
Treasurer Jim Chalmers delivered his tax reforms to negative gearing and capital gains tax, sending parts of the housing market into a sudden slump. Picture: Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images
The Vandenhurk family is not alone in tracking rapid post-budget value corrections.
A similar price shock hit a vendor in Erskineville, in Sydney’s inner west, highlighting the sudden shift across highly competitive property pockets.
A three-bedroom house in the suburb sold for $1.905m in November 2025.
On July 4, a virtually identical property on the exact same street changed hands for $1.586m – representing a staggering $314,000 value drop in just eight months.
It comes as Australian home prices have fallen for the third straight month as the ongoing real estate downturn deepens across the country, including in cities where prices had, until recently, grown strongly.
Figures from PropTrack’s Home Price Index released last week showed national prices dropped 0.3 per cent over June, the largest monthly fall in the year to date.
Sydney and Perth led the declines, with median dwelling prices in both cities dropping by an average of 0.5 per cent.
There were also average price falls of 0.2 per cent in Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart and a 0.4 per cent average drop in Melbourne and Canberra.
-Additional reporting by Aidan Devine
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