Labour's negative gearing and capital gains policies will "decimate the property market": PIPA/PICA

Two property investor bodies have attacked the federal Labour party's proposed changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax, claiming it will "will decimate the property market".

Independent research commissioned by Masters Builders Australia found Labor’s policies could result in a multi-billion dollar hit to the Sydney and Melbourne markets.

The Property Investment Professionals of Australia (PIPA) and the Property Investors Council of Australia (PICA) said the party has a fundamental misunderstanding of the sector.

“Property investors provide housing for 30% of Australians at a time when spending on social housing is at an all-time low,” PIPA Chairman Peter Koulizos said.

“Contrary to media headlines, only about 70% of investors own one property so the concept of ‘greedy investors’ is not supported by the facts.”

The 2018 PIPA Property Investment Sentiment Survey found about 60% of investors believe their portfolio will be positively geared within the next five years.

Koulizos said that this shows that negative gearing is primarily a result of high transactional costs associated with real estate investment, rather than a strategy. 

In the survey, 6% of investors said they were interested in buying a new property.

This means restricting negative gearing to brand-new dwellings would not increase supply, Koulizos claims.