Premier Daniel Andrews has sought to dismiss a new report that determined Victoria as the worst state to be a property investor.
On Tuesday, the Property Investment Professionals of Australia survey said that a quarter of investors in Melbourne sold off rental properties.
The report revealed that, across the nation, 217,000 investment properties had been sold off.
The survey of 1,724 investors, including 538 in Victoria, said increased taxes was a major reason to sell.
The Property Investors Council of Australia’s Ben Kingsley said the state government should be “very worried” by the findings.
“It’s very clear investors are ranking Victoria as the worst place to invest currently,” he said.
“It will send investors to other states or to avoid property as an asset. And that’s very concerning for future rental supply.”
When asked about it at a press conference on Tuesday, Mr Andrews said he had not read the report in its entirety.
“I haven’t seen the report in full, I’ve seen reports of the report,” he replied.
“I don’t know who conducted the survey, I don’t know what rigour was around that.”
Mr Andrews instead suggested that the Reserve Bank’s aggressive tightening of monetary policy could be to blame for the results.
“Maybe 12 interest rate rises in as many months was probably a pretty big part of why people might offload one property out of a portfolio of properties,” he said.
“The cost of those properties have gone up not because of anything the Victorian government’s done.
“But because the Reserve Bank increased interest rates a dozen times.”
Victoria has high rates of property taxes, payroll taxes, land taxes, as well as a COVID debt levy helping to pay off the state’s $30 billion “COVID credit card”.
Earlier this year, the Parliamentary Budget Office revealed the Andrews government is set to collect more in stamp duty and land tax per person than any other state until at least 2024-26.
The figures show Victorians will be slugged with $2,120 this year, nine per cent higher than NSW residents and this gap will widen to 21 per cent by 2024-25.
In July, Opposition leader John Pesutto conceded the state is becoming difficult to invest in as taxes soar.
Mr Pesutto said he wanted to “inspire people to invest in Victoria”, as he encouraged residents to provide feedback around how they would like the tax system improved.
(Sky News)
