Albo’s property profits in focus amid calls to scrap tax breaks for investors – realestate.com.au

The call for the Albanian government to abolish capital gains tax rebates for real estate investors could come at an opportune time for the prime minister, judging by recent real estate transactions.

A review of property sales in recent years has revealed that Anthony Albanese has quietly cashed in on his own investment portfolio by selling a string of properties for more than the price he paid.

This likely capital gain on his properties would have entitled him to the same huge tax-free profits that his government must now scrap.

Under the current tax regime, investors who have owned their property for more than a year are entitled to a 50 percent discount on the profit they make on the sale of their property.

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Albanese sold this investment property in Dulwich Hill in 2024. Photo: Max Mason-Hubers

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The Australian Council of Trade Unions, one of the ALP’s biggest union supporters, last week backed reforms that would see capital gains tax credits cut from 50 percent to 25 percent.

Mr Albanese has systematically abandoned his own real estate holdings in recent years.

In late 2024, the Prime Minister sold his mansion in Dulwich Hill in Sydney’s west for about $1.75 million.

This was roughly $575,000 above the 2015 purchase price and much of that gain would have qualified for tax protection through the CGT rebate that had to be withdrawn.

Earlier in his career, he and his then-wife Carmel Tebbutt sold a rental property in Marrickville for $2.35 million, almost double what they originally paid. This would have again qualified him for a lower tax liability.

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Albanians sold this investment in Marrickville for almost double the price he paid.

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He also sold a Canberra apartment in 2022 for a profit four times the original price he paid, completing a series of well-timed sales that have increased his personal wealth.

Mr Albanese still owns two investment properties, but they are a former and future home, the former in Marrickville and the latter on the Central Coast.

His former home in Marrickville was bought in 2006 for around $997,000 and an automated valuation indicated it could currently be worth around $2.9 million. Much of that capital gain would be tax-free under current ATO rules as he is believed to have lived in the property for almost 16 years.

His former home in Marrickville was offered for rent in 2025 for $1,450 per week.

Mr Albanese also has a cliff-top mansion in the Central Coast suburb of Copacabana, which records show is currently rented for $1,450 a week.

But the Prime Minister has told the media he plans to make The Central Coast his long-term property and move there after he steps down from political leadership, which would imply there are no plans to sell in the short term.

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Albanese’s Copacabana investment property. He has told the media that he plans to move into the property one day.

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There is no evidence that the timing of Mr Albanese’s property sales was prompted by planned changes to capital gains tax policy, and the Prime Minister has so far introduced no reforms.

Property Investment Professionals for Australian President Cate Bakos said “the optics would not look good” for the Prime Minister if he were to cut 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 that his own portfolio would be something “he would have to come to terms with if he were asked that question… it could be confrontational for him”.

Ms. Bakos said there is evidence that many renters, even those who were years away from buying property, planned to one day become investors and wanted the same benefits they enjoyed generations before.

Anthony Albanese, pictured next to then partner Carmel Tebbutt, holds up a bidder card at the auction for a house in Marrickville. Photo: Matthew Vasilescu.

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She noted that this was a key reason why Labor leader Bill Shorten lost the “unlosable” 2019 election: many people actually wanted to access the incentives that the ALP promised to remove (the ALP at the time proposed reducing negative gearing and the CGT rebate).

“A much more important consideration is that normal homeowners could actually see the value of their properties drop if the rebates were eliminated,” Bakos said.

“There would be a huge increase in sales and that would drive down prices and take away many rental properties at a time of shortages.

“I can’t believe many politicians think this policy change is well timed.”

Housing affordability advocates have long criticized the CGT discount and negative gearing, arguing these breaks inflate demand and exclude lower-income Australians from the market.

Economists have suggested that reforms could moderate prices and improve access for homebuyers, although the impact on rental supply is under debate.

Some reports suggest that the CGT discount has been a key factor in boosting investor activity in the market.

The SuburbTrends analysis, conducted in 2024, found that the affordability problems facing capitals can be traced back to when the policy was introduced by Howard Government Treasurer Peter Costello in 1999.

Analysis of Treasury Department estimates shows that the cuts 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 housing and that most of the investors who have benefited from the scheme have been middle-income households preparing for retirement.

Australia’s Property Investment Professionals said a change in policy could trigger a wave of investor sell-offs ahead of a formal start date for new tax measures.

The sell-off would worsen Australia’s rental crisis, according to PIPA.

Albanian has not yet announced or committed to any changes to the CGT discount.

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The 2025 PIPA Investor Sentiment Survey found that 35 percent of investors would stop investing in property if the CGT was reduced to 25 percent after twelve months of ownership.

About one in five investors who sold one or more properties in the past year said they did so because of the perceived risk of tax reform by the federal government.

About half of current investors cited the same concern as a key reason why they might sell in the next 12 to 24 months.

Ms Bakos said the findings point to a rental market that is on the verge of existence.

“These numbers are not hypothetical because investors are already leaving,” Bakos said.

“When vacancy is this tight, it is economically reckless to remove investors from the market,” she says.

“Every investor who sells to an owner-occupier takes a rental property out of the system and tenants are the ones who suffer the consequences.”

Ms Bakos said any changes to CGT rebates would need to be clearly considered.

“Investors provide more than 90 percent of Australian rental housing,” Bakos said.

“If governments want a functioning rental market, they must stop treating investors as expendable because the rental system will collapse without them.”

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