BEFORE YOU READ: This article was first published during the 2019 Federal Election campaign, when Labor’s proposed changes to negative gearing dominated the property conversation. Labor lost that election, so these changes never came into effect. We’ve kept this article here because it captures our thinking and the market sentiment at the time. If you’re looking for our current perspective following the negative gearing changes introduced in 2026, we’ve published an updated guide.

There are few things more predictable than an Australian election campaign.

Somewhere between the promises, the opinion polls and the political point scoring, property inevitably finds its way into the spotlight. Every election seems to produce one issue that dominates the conversation and, in 2019, it was negative gearing.

Depending on who you listened to, Labor’s proposed changes were either going to solve Australia’s housing affordability crisis or bring the property market to its knees. Television panels filled with commentators. Newspapers declared winners and losers before a single vote had been cast. Social media did what social media does best and amplified every opinion, whether it was informed or not.

The headlines were loud.

We weren’t convinced they were asking the right question.

If you’ve followed us for any length of time, you’ll know we don’t spend a great deal of time glued to the news. It’s depressing, it’s built on fear and it’s designed to hold your attention rather than give you perspective. Property is no different. Every election seems to produce the same predictions: the market is about to boom, it’s about to crash or one policy is supposedly going to change everything.

Reality is rarely that simple.

While everyone else was debating tax policy, we found ourselves thinking about something else entirely.

What Labor’s negative gearing changes actually proposed

Much of the debate centred around the tax benefits of negative gearing, but very little was said about whether people were buying the right property in the first place.

That’s an important distinction because negative gearing isn’t an investment strategy.

It’s simply a tax outcome.

Buying an investment property on the Gold Coast purely because it’s negatively geared means you’re starting with the wrong question. Instead of asking whether it’s a genuinely scarce, high-quality asset with strong long-term prospects, you’re asking how much tax it might save you. They’re two very different conversations.

At best, negative gearing means you’re losing a dollar to get back part of it in tax. Unless you’re buying a property that you genuinely believe will outperform over the long term, that equation simply doesn’t stack up.

Labor’s proposal was to grandfather existing investment properties while limiting negative gearing to newly built homes purchased from 1 January 2020. At the same time, the capital gains tax discount would be reduced from 50 per cent to 25 per cent.

Whether you supported or opposed the policy almost became irrelevant.

For us, the bigger concern was what would inevitably follow.

Restrict negative gearing to new property and you’ve handed spruikers the perfect sales pitch. Mum and dad investors who’d never previously considered an off-the-plan apartment would suddenly be told it’s the only way to access the tax benefits they were about to lose.

We’ve watched that movie before. It rarely ends well.

Tax should support a good investment decision.
It should never be the reason you make one.

What we were seeing in the Gold Coast property market

While Canberra debated tax policy, the Gold Coast property market quietly kept doing what property markets have always done.

Average property became harder to sell.

Great property didn’t.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is talking about the Australian property market as though it’s one market.

It isn’t.

There are hundreds of individual markets operating at the same time and, even here on the Gold Coast, suburbs only a few kilometres apart can behave completely differently.

Confidence had undoubtedly softened. The election had created uncertainty, finance had become considerably tighter and investors were becoming more cautious. Those who didn’t need to buy or sell immediately were understandably choosing to sit on their hands until the picture became clearer.

Despite that, quality property was still attracting strong competition.

We recently secured a property at auction against six registered bidders. The home was packed throughout the inspection campaign and competition on auction day was genuine. During that same week we secured four A-grade properties for four different clients. Listed on Friday, shown over the weekend and under contract by Monday.

Average listings, meanwhile, sat for months. That’s not the market contradicting itself.
That’s exactly what happens when buyers become more selective.

Why quality property always wins

We talk alot about A-grade, B-grade and C-grade property.

In a rising market, almost everything performs reasonably well. As conditions become more uncertain, however, the gap between average and exceptional property becomes much more obvious.

A-grade properties are genuinely scarce. They occupy superior positions, appeal to owner-occupiers, have stronger underlying land value and possess qualities that simply can’t be replicated. Those are the properties buyers continue competing for because they know another one may not come along for quite some time.

The same principle applies when you’re selling.

Quality homes continue to attract competition, even when confidence softens. We recently helped Mark and Kristen sell their Paradise Point home through our Sales Strategy service. Their property sold within four days for $168,000 more than they expected.

No, that’s not a typo. It was simply a genuinely good property, presented well and taken to the right buyers.

Trying to perfectly time the market is often a losing game. Recognising quality when it presents itself is usually far more important. Great properties don’t wait for a favourable election result. They come to market when owners decide it’s time to sell.

Looking beyond the headlines

Governments come and go.
Tax policies change.
Markets move through cycles.

None of that changes the fundamental question every buyer should ask before purchasing an investment property.

If there were no tax benefits attached to this property, would I still want to own it in ten years’ time?

We’ve always believed that’s the better question.

Because long after the election signs have been taken down and the headlines have been forgotten, you’ll still own the property you chose to buy.