The simple reason why politicians can’t be trusted to manage Australia’s housing crisis

Politicians cannot be trusted to solve Australia’s housing crisis because most of them own multiple properties and benefit from rising prices, an industry veteran has claimed.

Michael Yardney, who founded Metropole Real Estate in 1979, said MPs have an interest in perpetuating the housing shortage, which is driving up prices, because so many are property investors.

“The vast amount of property owned by Australian politicians has led some voters to wonder whether their leaders are out of touch with the realities facing the ‘average Australian’,” he said.

“In fact, the perception of a conflict of interest can be almost as damaging as an actual conflict, eroding public confidence in the government’s ability to manage the housing crisis impartially.”

Over the past two decades, governments from both sides of politics have presided over high immigration, with annual overseas inflows tripling to 315,700 in the 2000s and rising to a record high of 548,800 last year.

Australia still has an extremely tight rental vacancy rate of 1.4 percent and average house prices are growing by double digits in south-west Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, despite high interest rates.

Mr Yardney said population growth arguably plays a greater role in determining market prices than tax policies such as negative gearing for rental income losses and the 50 per cent capital gains tax credit.

“Critics argue that when politicians invest heavily in the property market, they may have an interest in maintaining policies that protect property values ​​and investor incentives, such as negative gearing and the capital gains tax credit,” he said.

“The housing crisis is caused by multiple factors, including population growth and supply issues, and not just tax policy.

“Politicians face the challenge of improving housing affordability without driving down property values, which could alienate many homeowners.”

More than 40 percent of Australia’s 227 federal MPs and senators own three or more properties, compared to 15 percent of all Australians, based on data from Open Politics and the Australian Taxation Office.

There are more senior Labor government frontbenchers who own investment properties than their coalition counterparts in opposition.

There are MPs on both sides who own more than half a dozen properties.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese bought a $4.3 million clifftop home in Copacabana on NSW’s central coast in October, but last month sold a mansion in Dulwich Hill in inland Sydney for $1.75 million, or $150,000 below the asking price of $1.9 million.

But he still owns a house in Marrickville, also in Sydney’s west, after selling a unit in Canberra in 2022 for $662,500.

The Prime Minister is one of 20 out of 23 ministers who own multiple homes beyond just their main residence.

Every minister owns at least one house, according to a check of financial interest data.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton owns a farm in Dayboro in Brisbane’s north, along with two investment properties in Brisbane’s city center.

His Liberal Party deputy, Sussan Ley, still owns the Gold Coast apartment she bought in 2015 during a ministerial trip – leading to her resignation as health minister in January 2017, when Malcolm Turnbull was prime minister.

She also owns a house in Albury in her electorate and a rental property in the same town on the NSW-Victoria border.

Of the 23 shadow cabinet ministers, 18 own multiple properties.

But Liberal MPs own the most properties, while West Australian shadow assistant minister Nola Marino owns eight properties, including seven farms.

Former Home Secretary Karen Andrews owns seven properties.

The Labor side also has keen property investors, with Melbourne-based backbencher Michelle Ananda-Rajah also owning seven homes.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland owns five properties, including three through an investment trust.

The first Labor member for Parramatta in Sydney’s west, Andrew Charlton, bought a $12 million mansion in Palm Beach called ‘La Palma’ earlier this year.

That was on top of a $16.1 million Fintry mansion, on Bellevue Hill in Sydney’s east, which he bought in November 2020, along with a terrace in nearby Woollahra.

Mr Charlton owns four properties, including a Parramatta apartment and another house in Woollahra in Sydney’s east.

Of the climate change-focused Teal independents in both houses of parliament, six out of eight owned multiple properties.

Allegra Spender, member for Wentworth in Sydney’s east, owns a house in Darling Point overlooking the harbour, where the average house price is $6.6 million.

She also inherited a mansion in Woollahra from her late mother, fashion designer Carla Zampatti, in a suburb where $4.8 million is the average house price, along with a holiday home at Mackeral Beach on Pittwater.

Sophie Scamps, the teal member for Mackellar on Sydney’s northern beaches who previously worked as a doctor, owns five properties including a house on Avalon beach, a farm at Wee Jasper in southern NSW, an investment property in Terrey Hills , another investment property in North West Tasmania and an investment house in Brisbane’s Woollongabba.

The Greens were the only political movement where a majority of its senators and MPs did not own multiple properties, with only four out of fourteen declaring a property next to their home.

But deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi is a particularly busy investor and, with her husband Omar, owns a terrace in Sydney’s downtown Beaconsfield, now worth an estimated $2.1 million, a rental property in the same suburb, a house near the popular Lighthouse Beach in Port Macquarie. , on the NSW Mid North coast, and land in Lahore in Pakistan.

Labor won the 2022 election after losing in 2019 and scrapping plans to abolish negative gearing for future purchases of investment properties and halve the capital gains tax credit from 50 percent to 25 percent.