QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT AXES THE TAX AFTER LOBBYING FROM REIA

September 30th,2022

The Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) has welcomed the news that the Queensland State Government’s proposal to introduce an annual tax on investors who own property outside of Queensland has been shelved.

REIA President, Mr Hayden Groves said the cracks were already appearing with widespread reporting that Queensland investors were instructing their agents to sell their rental properties.

Mr Groves said it was a sensible decision to shelve the new tax and a relief for struggling tenants with investors leaving the market adding to the rental supply crisis already unfolding across Queensland.

“The proposal showed a total lack of understanding of the investment market with recent studies showing that investors were moving out of that market in response to the possibility of paying more tax.”

Mr Groves said REIA, along with the state institute there, has been lobbying the Queensland Government to drop the tax since its creation.

“You cannot treat investment in housing differently to that of other asset classes without significant consequences.

“Residential property investors have seen marginal rental increases over many years and often deal with negative returns.

“To put it in perspective, it has only been since September 2021 that annual rent increases have been greater than 2 percent annually. Prior to that there has not been an annual increase above 2 percent since December 2014. For the period June 2020 to December 2020 and for a twelve-month period in 2017, annual rents went backwards.