In the years since the Hawke government drew negative gearing to a close in June 1985, a great deal of mythology about the era and the impact of its removal has propagated.
Claims of a mass investor exodus driving rents up dramatically are relatively common in some quarters, despite being debunked by hard data and declassified cabinet documents.
Now, as we stand at another negative gearing-related fork in the road, this report is a snapshot of Australia’s rental market before the proposed changes were set to take place, providing a moment frozen in time with which to assess all the future claims about this era and the impact of negative gearing’s limitation to currently held properties being grandfathered in and newly built homes.
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