Large property investors buying up Australia's homes are often speculated about. But there has never been an accurate measure of just how many of these landlords there are, or how many properties they own, until now.
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00:00We've got properties across Australia apart from Northern Territory, Tasmania and ACT.
00:08As Victor Kumar drives the streets of South West Sydney he points out the homes he's accumulated,
00:13the houses he's built and his plans for development.
00:15We're going to knock this house down and put five townhouses here.
00:19In all he owns more than 100 rentals and is building 30 more.
00:23He also runs a business telling people how they too can build their own portfolios.
00:27It was hard slog in the initial stages.
00:30We sacrificed a lot.
00:31We started our family late.
00:32We didn't have much of a social life.
00:34Data obtained under Freedom of Information shows he's one of more than 2,500 people who
00:39own 10 or more rental properties in Australia.
00:42172 of this elite group own 20 or more properties.
00:46These mega investors own or part own over 33,200 rentals between them, roughly equivalent
00:51to the number of dwellings in the Melbourne suburbs of Richmond and South Yarra combined
00:56or the Waverley Council area in Sydney's east.
00:58The data also shows the landlords with 20 or more properties are losing the most money
01:02on them and are benefiting the most from negative gearing.
01:06Really highlights just how skewed the whole tax arrangement is and how much it really
01:11benefits those big investors rather than what we stereotypically hear about, oh no it's
01:17good for mums and dads.
01:19We've got a system that is actually assisting people more to buy their 10th property than
01:24their first.
01:25Investor Margaret Lomas, who owns more than 20 properties, agreed the system was unfair
01:30but says criticism of larger investors is unwarranted.
01:33The motivations behind many property investors isn't to create grand wealth for themselves.
01:40It's often to help their own families.
01:42Several economists say limiting negative gearing for people who own multiple properties could
01:45dampen house prices.
01:47For instance, the ATO data also shows that while only 10% of investors own three or more
01:51properties, they hold 25% of Australia's rental stock.
01:56Even if we were able to curtail these large number of investors, that would have a really
02:01strong dampening effect on the overall housing market.
02:05But Mr Kumar doesn't believe targeting big investors like him would have a long-term
02:08impact on prices.
02:10Ultimately it's supply and demand and we simply don't have enough supply.
02:14Despite speculation about the government's position, both the Labor and Liberal parties
02:18say they have no plans to change property tax concessions ahead of the next election.