Albo’s property interest is concentrated among the tax calls of the ax investor

Calls for the Albanian government to end capital gains tax rebates for property investors could come at a good time for the Prime Minister, given recent property deals.

A review of property sales announced in recent years revealed that Anthony Albanese has been quietly cashing out his investment portfolio, selling a variety of properties for more than he paid for them.

This money that may have been gained from his properties would have given him a huge tax free profit which his government is said to have wasted.

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

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Albanese sold this Dulwich Hill investment property 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 changes that would see capital gains tax rebates reduced from 50 per cent to 25 per cent.

Mr Albanese has been systematically moving out of his positions in recent years.

In late 2024, the Prime Minister sold his investment house in Dulwich Hill in Sydney’s inner west for an estimated $1.75m.

This was almost $575,000 more than the 2015 purchase price and most of that gain was eligible for tax protection by the CGT rebate which will be scrapped.

Earlier in his career, he and then-wife Carmel Tebbutt sold a Marrickville rental property for $2.35m, nearly double what they had originally paid. This would also qualify him for a lower tax rate.

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Albanese took this investment out of Marrickville to almost double the amount he paid.

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He also sold a Canberra apartment in 2022 for a profit four times what he paid, compounding a series of timely disposals that boosted his wealth.

Mr Albanese now has two investment properties but they are former and future residences, the first is in Marrickville and the second is on The Central Coast.

The property he lived in Marrickville was bought in 2006 for around $997,000 and an automatic valuation revealed it could currently be worth $2.9m. A large portion of that capital gain will be taxable under current ATO rules as it is understood that he has lived in the property for nearly 16 years.

The place he lived in Marrickville was advertised for rent for $1,450 a week in 2025.

Mr Albanese also owns a luxury mansion in the Central Coast suburb of Copacabana, which records show is currently being rented for $1,450 a week.

But the Prime Minister has told reporters he plans to make the Central Coast property his long-term home and move there after retiring from political leadership, which would mean there are no plans to sell it soon.

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Albanese Copacabana Investment Property. He told the media that he is determined to enter this area one day.

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There is no evidence that the timing of Mr Albanese’s asset sale was motivated by any planned changes to capital gains tax policy and the Prime Minister has not committed to any changes so far.

Property Investment Professionals Australia president Cate Bakos said the “optics would not look good” for the Prime Minister if he were to reduce CGT discounts given his recent sales.

He noted that there is no indication that the prime minister’s reasons are related to policy but his portfolio will be something “he has to come to terms with if he is asked that question … it could be a problem for him”.

Ms. Bakos said there is evidence that many tenants, even those who have been buying land for years, have planned to become investors and are looking for the same benefits as the previous generation.

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

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He noted that this was a key reason Labor leader Bill Shorten lost the “unloseable” 2019 election: many people actually wanted access to the incentives the ALP had promised to remove (the ALP proposed cutting negative gearing and the CGT discount at the time).

“The most important consideration is that average homeowners would actually see the value of their properties drop if the rebates were removed,” Ms. Bakos said.

“There will be a huge increase in purchases and that will drive down prices and take away a lot of rental properties during the shortage.

“I don’t believe that many politicians think that this policy change is timely”.

Housing advocates have long criticized the CGT rebate and negative gearing, saying the breaks increase demand and lock low-income Australians out of the market.

Economists have suggested that the changes may moderate prices and improve homebuyer access, although the effects on rental supply are disputed.

Some reports indicate that the CGT discount has been a key factor in driving investor activity within the market.

SuburbTrends’ analysis of 2024 reveals that the affordability problems plaguing major cities can be traced back to when the policy was introduced by Howard Government treasurer Peter Costello in 1999.

An analysis of Treasury estimates showed that the rebates are currently costing the government about $13 billion in lost tax revenue.

Defenders of the policy have argued that it has supported an increase in the supply of rental housing and that most of the investors who have benefited from the program are low-income families preparing for retirement.

Property Investment Professionals of Australia said the policy change could trigger a wave of investors selling ahead of any official start date for the new tax measures.

The sale will deepen Australia’s rental crisis, says PIPA.

Albanese is yet to announce or commit to any kind of change to the CGT discount.

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The 2025 PIPA Investor Sentiment Survey found that 35 per cent of investors would stop investing if CGT was reduced to 25 per cent after 12 months of ownership.

About one in five investors who sold one or more properties last year said they did so because of the perceived risk of the Federal Government’s tax reform.

About half of current investors cited similar concerns as the main reason why they may sell in the next 12 to 24 months.

Ms. Bakos said the findings reveal a rental market on the edge.

“These numbers are not imaginary because the investors are leaving,” said Ms. Bakos.

“If the vacancy rates do not work like this, taking investors out of the market is an economic recklessness,” he said.

“Every investor who sells to a landlord removes a rental house from the system and the tenants are the ones who suffer the consequences.”

Ms Bakos said any changes to CGT discounts needed to be clearly considered.

“Investors provide more than 90 per cent of Australia’s rental housing,” Ms Bakos said.

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

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