Real estate expert blasts Anthony Albanese’s super change – as auction rates slump across Australia

A property expert has criticised the Albanese government for closing a loophole that allowed Australians to buy property through self-managed super funds.

An overhaul of negative gearing and capital gains tax reforms is expected to pass parliament this week after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese struck a deal with the Greens.

Labor firmed up minor party support by moving to stop Australians avoiding the changes by borrowing through a self-managed super fund (SMSF) to buy residential property.

‘These changes don’t in any way change the tax arrangements for superannuation, [they] don’t impact any existing SMSF borrowing arrangements and provide time to finalise arrangements that are in train,’ the government said in a statement.

But real estate coach Tom Panos said the reforms had hit auction clearance rates, which have slumped in recent weeks.

He accused the government of closing the property door on everyday Aussies following the SMSF amendments.

‘I’m talking about tradespeople, small business owners, farmers, mum and dad investors – that’s the group of people that were using the superannuation fund,’ he said this week.

‘In many cases, these people use their super fund to buy buildings their own businesses operate from.

‘Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, it just did. You can’t believe this is actually happening.

‘Don’t forget, this is another thing the Labor government said they weren’t doing a year ago.’

Panos said the new rules were much more than a tax change to those impacted.

‘This is an absolute signal that if the government can change the rules on one of the most popular long-term retirement strategies that they were encouraging people to use, what gets changed next,’ he said.

‘Whether you support the policy or not, Australians are looking at this and you know what they’re asking? Why would I take risks? Why would I invest?

‘The property industry sees this as a direct hit on investment confidence and, if you thought things were hard at the moment, they’re about to get worse and I suspect this debate is only getting started.’

Property investor Jack Henderson shared a similar sentiment in a social media post.

‘The old mum and dad investor has just been f***ed again,’ he said. 

‘The normal mum and dad property investor, or investor in general, is going to become more limited.

‘My belief is that this has nothing to do with the property market. 

‘This has everything to do with Labor and the Greens wanting to keep more of your superannuation in industry funds that are controlled by their good friends, the union.’

Combined auction clearance rates in capital cities fell to 47.4 per cent last Saturday – the lowest level since the early stages of the Covid pandemic in 2020.

Australia’s two biggest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, posted their weakest results in years.

Meanwhile, Brisbane has recorded a clearance rate of below 50 per cent for five consecutive weeks. 

Mr Panos described the slump in the market as a warning signal.

‘Almost one quarter of auctions were withdrawn and nearly half of successful sales occurred before auction day,’ he said.

‘Vendors are increasingly saying, “Man, we’re not taking it to market on auction day”.

‘When these numbers get finalised in the next 48 hours, we’re going to be in the low 40s when we get the true auction rates.

‘The $64million question now is this – is this the best buying opportunity we’ve seen in years, or is it going to get worse?’

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil conceded on Wednesday that the tax reforms flagged in the Budget had played a role in lower clearance rates.

However she insisted that property prices will continue growing again once the market corrects itself.

‘We’ve just been through what has been extremely high house price growth in the period from Covid… and we are seeing a correction to that,’ she told ABC Radio.

‘We see periods of very significant house price growth, and then we see the market make a correction, and that’s what we’re seeing at the moment.

‘In the short run, it is what goes on with interest rates that directly and immediately affects how much borrowers can bid in an auction, but the tax system is a part of this.’