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

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

Michael Yardney, who founded Metropole real estate in 1979, said MPs had a vested interest in maintaining the housing shortage which produces climbing prices because so many are property investors.

‘The sheer number of properties owned by Australian politicians has caused some voters to question whether their leaders are out of touch with the realities the “average Aussie” faces,’ he said.

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

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

Australia still has an ultra-tight rental vacancy rate of 1.4 per cent and median house prices are growing by double-digit annual figures across south-west Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide despite high interest rates.

Mr Yardney said population growth arguably plays a bigger role in determining market prices than do tax policies like negative gearing for rental income losses and the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount.

‘Critics argue that when politicians are heavily invested in the real estate market, they may have a vested interest in maintaining policies that protect property values and investor incentives, such as negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount,’ he said.

‘The housing crisis is driven by multiple factors, including population growth and supply issues, not just tax policies.

‘Politicians face the challenge of improving housing affordability without reducing property values, which could alienate many homeowners.’

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

More senior Labor government frontbenchers 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 in October bought a $4.3million clifftop house at Copacabana on the NSW Central Coast but last month sold a Dulwich Hill townhouse in Sydney’s inner west for $1.75million, or $150,000 below the $1.9million asking price.

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

The PM is among 20 out of 23 cabinet ministers who own multiple homes beyond just their principal place of residence.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in October bought a $4.3million clifftop house at Copacabana on the NSW Central Coast which he will share with fiancée Jodie Haydon

Michael Yardney, who founded Metropole real estate in 1979, pointed out that fact so many MPs were property investors meant they had a vested interest in prices climbing

Every cabinet minister owns at least one home, a check of pecuniary interest records show.

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

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 at Albury in her electorate and a rental property in the same city on the NSW-Victoria border.

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

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

Former home affairs minister Karen Andrews owns seven properties. 

The Labor side also has enthusiastic property investors with first-term Melbourne-based backbencher Michelle Ananda-Rajah also owning seven homes.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton owns a farm at Dayboro in Brisbane’s north, along with two investment properties in Brisbane’s city centre (he is pictured right with his wife Kirilly)

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

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

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

That was on top of a $16.1million mansion Fintry, at 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 home at Woollahra in Sydney’s east.

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

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

She also inherited a mansion at Woollahra from her late fashion designer mother Carla Zampatti, in a suburb where $4.8million is the median house price, along with holiday house 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 at beachside Avalon, a farm at Wee Jasper in southern NSW, an investment property at Terrey Hills, another investment property in north-west Tasmania and an investment home at Woollongabba in Brisbane.

The Greens were the only political movement where a majority of its senators and MPs did not own multiple properties, with just four of the 14 declaring a property apart from their home.

But deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi is a particularly busy investor, owning with her husband Omar an inner-city terrace at Beaconsfield in Sydney, now worth an estimated $2.1million, a rental property in the same suburb, a house near popular Lighthouse Beach in Port Macquarie, on the NSW Mid North coast, and land at 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 50 per cent capital gains tax discount to 25 per cent.