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I wasn't meaning to take a dig at anyone, but rather it strikes me that investors are optimistic on the returns that they'll get. (And there's academic research to back this up.) We live in an era of relatively low growth, inflation and wage increases. For most Western countries if they're...

I'd like to see how the losses are distributed. My guess is that they're concentrated at the top end, then a lot of noise about how the abolition of negative gearing is simply the richest segment of society campaigning for the preservation of its favourite tax break. But if there are a lot of...

The budget deficit in Australia was $47.7 billion last year, and will exceed $40 billion this year. The cost of negative gearing is growing, and reached $5.5 billion last year rising from $600 million a decade earlier. If the capping of payments into Super are part of a general austerity...

There's a story over at The Age about tax breaks for super being cut as a way of helping balance the budget. I wouldn't want to bet against the same thing happening for negative gearing too.

There was an article at the SMH a few days back about calls (from two experts only :)) calling for its abolition. http://smh.domain.com.au/blogs/talking-property/calls-for-negative-gearing-review-20120417-1x50i.html What really puzzles me is why property prices are so high in Australia...

It's hard to say how negative gearing affects the market, and what would happen if it was removed. Home ownership rates are broadly similar in Australia, the US, UK and a number of European countries despite differing tax treatments and incentives. House prices are generally higher in...

I don't doubt that people have made sacrifices to get on the property ladder. But there has been a massive step change in prices over the last ten or fifteen years. Taking examples from London. One of my older brother's friends bought a one bedroom flat in Fulham (traditionally where people...

I meant to reply to this earlier. The argument in the report is that planning regulations in Sydney allow for either apartments or McMansions. The former are generally unpopular, whereas the latter are expensive to build and maintain, and don't really suit a singleton or childless couple...

The coalition government in the UK recently brought in a cap on housing benefit, with the maximum payable being between £250 ($375) a week for a single bedroom property, and £400 ($600) for four or more bedrooms. There's been an outcry on the left of the political spectrum. But if you look at...

The big problem, according to the report, is that Sydney property prices are deeply unaffordable on virtually any measure, and that this is down to a number of policy decisions that largely favour existing owners at the expense of those who don't. Investor incentives, including negative...

I've listened to the interview, and Tim Williams makes the following points: Stamp duty should be phased out and replaced with a land tax. Negative gearing is too generous an incentive for investors and existing owners. Too few homes are being built. McMansions are the wrong kind of...