Record plunge in investor loans as tax overhaul hits property market

Résumé détaillé

Labor’s tax changes, along with high interest rates and falling prices, are now hitting the property market. But one sector is showing surprising growth.

The federal government’s budget overhaul of negative gearing and capital gains tax has been blamed for the biggest fall in home loans taken out by investors on record, with warnings the property market will struggle well into next year.

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics released this morning showed loans to investors dropped by 30.6 per cent in the three months to September. Over the past 12 months, investor loans are down by 38.6 per cent.

The drop, however, is concentrated among investors who purchase existing homes. In NSW, investor loans for new builds fell by 18.4 per cent through the September quarter but for existing dwellings they collapsed by almost 50 per cent.

It was a similar story across the rest of the country. Loans by investors for existing homes fell by 27 per cent in Victoria, by 40 per cent in Queensland and by 38.1 per cent in Western Australia.

Nationally, the ratio of investors buying existing homes to building new properties fell to its lowest level on record.

The sharp falls occurred after the May budget in which Treasurer Jim Chalmers revealed plans to limit negative gearing - the ability to offset losses on a rental property against a person’s total income - to new builds from July 1 next year.

The 50 per cent capital gains tax concession, blamed by critics for the step-up in property prices and investor activity after it was introduced by the Howard government, will return to an inflation-adjusted basis on July 1 next year.

The changes were announced after the Reserve Bank began lifting interest rates and the start of a fall in national property prices now in its seventh consecutive month.

Overall new home loans fell by 15.5 per cent through the quarter to be 21.4 per cent down over the past year. This included first home buyers with loans to new entrants to the property market falling 8.6 per cent in the quarter and 12.3 per cent over the year.

Début de l'article, extrait de WAtoday. Pour lire la suite, ouvrez l'article chez le média.