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National housing campaign Everybody’s Home is encouraged by reports the Albanese Government is leaning towards scrapping the capital gains tax discount on property and returning to the pre-1999 system. 

Media reports today suggest Treasurer Jim Chalmers is considering returning to the original way of taxing capital gains on homes instead of reducing the current 50 per cent discount on capital gains.   

Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize said the move would be a turning point for housing affordability and fairness. 

“Scrapping the CGT discount would be one of the most positive steps any government has taken on housing in a generation,” Ms Azize said. 

“We are really encouraged by media reports that the federal government is looking to end the CGT discount and return to a much fairer system.

“The CGT discount and negative gearing are fuelling the housing crisis. Billions of taxpayer dollars line the pockets of property investors every year while first home buyers are locked out and renters are stretched to breaking point.

“The government continues to say it wants to improve intergenerational equity and the housing crisis, so it makes sense to cut the property investor tax breaks that are making both of these things worse, and use the savings to build homes that are affordable. 

Most Australian voters want the government to reduce tax breaks for property investors and put more money into social housing, according to new polling.

It comes as new analysis from Everybody’s Home also found that these tax breaks have fuelled a landlord boom with more than one million now reaping the benefits, yet housing affordability has never been worse.

The polling conducted for The Australia Institute in March found of the 1,502 Australians surveyed:

The Senate inquiry report into the capital gains tax discount adds to mounting evidence that the investor tax break is making Australia’s housing crisis worse, with social housing advocates warning the federal government can not afford to delay reform.

The report handed down on Tuesday highlighted that the CGT discount, in combination with negative gearing, is driving up home prices and worsening inequality, while foregoing much-needed revenue that could fund social housing.

The report also included warnings against grandfathering and carving out exclusions for different assets in the reforms, which would worsen inequity and weaken the impact on housing affordability.

Last month, Everybody’s Home analysis of organisation submissions to the inquiry found more than seven in 10 want the investor tax break to be abolished or reformed.

Around half of all organisation submissions supported or raised the idea of redirecting the billions in savings toward building affordable rentals.

Everybody’s Home, Australian Council of Social Service, Tenants’ Union of NSW and Better Renting said appetite for tax reform is growing and the government has no excuse not to act.

The groups are urging the government to wind back the capital gains tax discount and negative gearing, and use the billions in savings to build more public and community housing.

Social housing has emerged as a top priority for capital gains tax reform, with half of all organisation submissions to a Senate inquiry backing or raising the idea of redirecting the billions in savings toward building affordable rentals.

Ahead of hearings kicking off today, Everybody’s Home has analysed the submissions and found that more than seven in 10 organisations want the investor tax break to be abolished or reformed.

The hearings will be held in Melbourne today, followed by Canberra and Sydney later this week.

Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize said: “These responses show strong support for winding back tax breaks that reward property investors while renters fall further behind.

“The capital gains tax discount is unfair, and it’s making the housing crisis worse. It lines the pockets of investors and pushes up the cost of homes, benefiting people on the highest incomes. It is locking everyday people out of homes they can afford.

“Experts, community organisations and frontline services across the country see the impact of these tax breaks every day. When more than seven in ten groups tell the Senate this tax break should go or be wound back, the message couldn’t be clearer.

“People want tax reform that actually makes homes more affordable. Many of the organisations backing change want the savings to be used to build more public and community homes – rentals that people can actually afford.

Frontline organisations responding to Australia’s housing crisis are operating at breaking point, reporting sustained increases in demand, escalating complexity, and diminishing capacity to help, according to Everybody’s Home.

The national housing campaign’s ‘No Way Out’ sector survey of dozens of frontline organisations found nine in ten (89%) reported increased workloads over the past year, while almost all (98%) expect demand for their services to rise further in 2026.

More than four in five (82%) organisations reported the housing crisis is either significantly affecting their daily operations or severely threatening the effectiveness of their programs. 

The crisis is increasingly affecting the workforce itself, with seven in ten frontline organisations (71%) reporting increased stress or burnout among their workforce, while more than three quarters (78%) said housing insecurity is impacting their staff or volunteers. 

Almost three-quarters (72%) said the increased workload has contributed to staff turnover in the past year, and more than one quarter of respondents (27%) said they’d considered leaving their role due to workload or housing-related pressures.

Everybody’s Home is pleased to see reports that the Albanese Government is considering winding back the capital gains tax discount for property investors.

Media reports today suggest the government is considering scaling back the 50 per cent CGT deduction as it prepares for a “significant reform” budget in May.

The national housing campaign has consistently been calling on the government to abolish the CGT discount and negative gearing – property investor tax breaks that cost taxpayers billions of dollars annually and make the housing crisis worse.

“Tax breaks for property investors are making the housing crisis worse and everyday Australians are paying the price. Lining the pockets of investors largely benefits higher income earners and makes housing more expensive for everyone else,” Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize said.

“The federal government spends billions more on property investor tax breaks than on providing rentals that people can actually afford. That is the opposite of what we need to do to fix the housing crisis.

“What matters now is whether any changes actually help fix the housing crisis. That means changes big enough to stop fuelling speculation and to free up money to build the public and community homes that Australia desperately needs – not just small tweaks that raise money for the budget.

New data shows Australia’s housing and homelessness crisis is worsening, prompting calls to curb property investor tax breaks and build more social homes.   

The Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services released today shows that 41% of people waiting to get into public housing are homeless or at risk of homelessness – up from 26% in 2015.

New ROGS data shows:

• Social housing makes up only 3.6% of all dwellings, down from nearly 5.7% in the 1980s
• 41% of the public housing waitlist is made up of households that are homeless or at risk of homelessness, up from 26% in 2015.
• Around 190,000 households are on the public housing waitlist, up from around 169,000 in 2024 and around 141,000 in 2018
• 18.3% of Commonwealth Rent Assistance households are in severe rental stress (paying more than 50% of income on rent), up from 8.1% in 2004.
• 27.4% of people using homelessness services are experiencing persistent homelessness (experiencing homelessness for more than 7 months in a 2 year period), up from 22% in 2019.

Separate ACOSS analysis shows:

National housing campaign Everybody’s Home is urging the federal government to make 2026 the year it significantly stumps up funding to plug the social housing shortfall, as an affordable housing scheme comes to an end.

The National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS), designed to provide affordable rentals to people earning low and middle incomes, has been winding down since 2018 and is set to end in June 2026.

The latest federal figures reveal more than 4,500 affordable homes will exit NRAS this year – the final lot of the more than 36,000 affordable homes that have phased out of the scheme over the past decade.

The NRAS rentals will take years to be replaced by the 40,000 social and affordable homes set to be built under the federal government’s Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF).

According to Housing Australia, as of November 2025, 889 homes under the HAFF had been completed, with a further 9,501 described as under construction. 

Confronting new analysis reveals renters in some of Australia’s capital cities are thousands of dollars worse off this Christmas compared to last, with Sydneysiders facing an extra $3,770 in rent annually.

Everybody’s Home has analysed SQM Research data on weekly asking rents to find the annual increase in rents from December 2024 to December 2025 across capital cities.

The analysis reveals renters in Sydney are paying an extra $72.50 per week to rent a house this year compared to last year, adding up to $3,770 extra annually, while unit renters face an additional $2,109.

Brisbane renters are paying $2,839 extra annually for a house, while renters in Perth are facing an additional $2,639.

On average across the capital cities, renters are paying $2,567 more annually to rent a house compared to last year, and an additional $1,823 to rent a unit. 

The only capital city that is bucking the trend is Canberra where rent caps have kept increases significantly lower – just $0.79 extra per week to rent a house this Christmas compared to last. 

Rent increases for units and houses

Reducing energy use is the most common sacrifice Australians are making to afford their rent or mortgage, while many are limiting driving, skipping meals and delaying medical appointments, a new national survey has exposed.

Everybody’s Home’s report ‘Breaking Point’ captures the results of a survey of more than 1,100 Australians. Of those surveyed:

Tax breaks for investors using homes as short-stay accommodation could be costing Australian taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars per year, according to a new report by Everybody’s Home.

The Short-Stay Subsidy report estimates that this financial year the budget could be losing between $111 million and $556 million in forgone revenue through negative gearing deductions claimed on short-stay rental properties.

Across Australia 167,955 entire homes are estimated to be operating as short-stay accommodation instead of long-term rentals, yet owners can still claim negative gearing and the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) discount.

The report found:

Billions of dollars in tax breaks that push up house prices and lock people out of a home must be wound back to tackle the housing crisis and productivity, a group of housing sector advocates, economists, and union leaders have urged the government.

In a letter to the Prime Minister and Treasurer, the group has called for negative gearing and the capital gains tax (CGT) discount to be on the table at this week’s economic reform roundtable, with savings to be invested in building public and community housing.

The letter has been signed by Everybody’s Home national spokesperson Maiy Azize, ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie AO, The Australia Institute Chief Economist Dr Greg Jericho, and ACTU Secretary Sally McManus.

Negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount are locking Australians out of secure, affordable homes. Reforming these would:

• Reduce inequality and rebalance the housing market
• Redirect billions into building new public and community housing
• Improve productivity by diverting capital to more productive uses.

Everybody’s Home national spokesperson Maiy Azize said: “Every year, billions of taxpayer dollars are handed to property investors through negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount, with everyday Australians paying the price.

National housing campaign Everybody’s Home said pressure is mounting on the federal government to reform unfair investor tax breaks, as the union movement adds to growing national support.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has today called for the winding back of negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount as the government prepares to hold its economic reform roundtable this month. 

The union’s call adds to mounting pressure from politicians, economists, think tanks, housing advocates and other organisations and experts demanding housing tax reform.

Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize said ending property investor tax concessions is good for housing affordability, wealth equality and productivity. 

“The union movement is showing real leadership by calling for property tax breaks to be wound back. Workers across Australia are being priced out by investor breaks, so the union’s push for reform makes perfect sense,” Ms Azize said.

“These tax breaks most benefit those who don’t need it, while the majority of hardworking Australians pay the price. Billions of taxpayer dollars are lost every year to these tax breaks that are making housing more expensive for everyone – and making inequality worse

With property investor tax breaks costing billions every year, making housing more expensive and hindering productivity, Everybody’s Home is urging the government’s economic reform roundtable to make housing tax reform a top priority.

The national housing campaign’s submission to the roundtable, closing today, highlights the urgent need to reform negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount to boost productivity and repair the federal budget.

Investor tax concessions are expected to cost the budget more than $180 billion over the next decade while disproportionately benefiting high-income earners and driving up housing prices.

Everybody’s Home urges the roundtable to consider:

1. Abolishing negative gearing and phasing out the capital gains tax discount
2. Funding a sustained pipeline of public and community housing.

It comes amid growing calls from politicians, economists, and think tanks for the government to reform the capital gains tax discount on housing.

Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azizie said: “It doesn’t make sense that we are losing billions of dollars every year through tax concessions that most benefit high-income earners, while everybody else is being pushed out of the housing market. Tax breaks for investors are widening the wealth inequality gap and pushing up the cost of housing for everybody else.

As politicians return to Canberra for the first sitting week of the new term, Everybody’s Home said the Albanese government has a chance to deliver a lasting legacy on housing or risk being remembered for letting it slip away.

The national housing campaign warns the housing crisis will get much worse if the government fails to deliver the investment and action needed to make homes more affordable for more Australians.

The call comes as Everybody’s Home’s new report, Out of Reach, shows that once-affordable cities are now suffering from some of the worst rental pressures in the country.

With rents surging 57% across capital cities over the past decade, and social housing declining to around 4% of all homes, the housing crisis has reached unprecedented levels that demand urgent government action.

As parliament starts for this new term, Everybody’s Home is calling on the government to:

Australia’s rental crisis has reached unprecedented levels with new data showing rents have increased by an average of 57 per cent across capital cities over the past decade.
 
The new report, titled Out of Reach, by national housing campaign Everybody’s Home has revealed that once-affordable cities have been hit the hardest.
 
It also shows that social housing has slipped to the lowest share on record, remaining stagnant at 4.1 per cent of all dwellings since the Labor government was elected in 2022. This is a further drop from 4.7 per cent a decade ago, putting even further strain on the rental market.
 
Key findings: