Property investors face continued uncertainty over tax settings, with new research showing broad voter support for rolling back the 2026 changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax (CGT) discount.
A nationally representative survey of 1,018 Australians by comparison platform OurTop10 found 66% would vote for a party promising to unwind the changes. That includes 18% who would back it on that promise alone and 49% who would also weigh its other policies, while 34% said it wouldn’t win their vote (figures are rounded).
Under the measures, announced in the May 2026 Federal Budget and passed by Parliament in June, residential properties bought after Budget night on 12 May 2026 can no longer be negatively geared, although new builds and existing holdings are exempt. From 1 July 2027, the 50% CGT discount will be replaced with a 30% minimum tax rate on capital gains.
The government has said the changes are designed to better support first-home buyers and younger Australians working towards home ownership.
Early lending data suggests investors are already adjusting. Investor loans for established homes fell by more than 7,000 in the June quarter, while lending for new homes edged higher. Ray White’s Nerida Conisbee said higher interest rates are also weighing on demand.
Both the Coalition and One Nation have pledged to restore the 50% CGT discount and negative gearing, although One Nation would cap negative gearing at two properties per investor. The stakes are significant: the reforms are projected to raise more than $40 billion over a decade. The next federal election is due by May 2028.
Support was broadly consistent across age groups, at 68% among Gen Z, Millennials, and Baby Boomers, and 63% among Gen X. But younger Australians were more likely to make it their deciding issue: 20% of Gen Z and Millennials would vote on that promise alone, compared with 14% of Baby Boomers.
Homeowners were more likely than renters to support rolling back the changes, at 69% compared with 59%.
OurTop10 head of research Mansour Soltani (pictured) said the results suggest the reforms haven’t won over the voters they were meant to help, warning that “the generation these reforms were supposed to help could help vote them out”.
With rising rates squeezing borrowing capacity, he argued that some younger buyers see the loss of strategies their parents relied on as unfair. “To them, that looks less like levelling the playing field and more like pulling up the ladder,” he said.
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