Ep. 192 - The Federal Government Just Put the Final Nail in Negative Gearing's Coffin

Jim Chalmers handed down the 2026–27 Federal Budget last night — and Neil Gibb's phone hasn't stopped ringing since. Three massive changes landed for property investors. And if you've been building cashflow positive, new build properties? The government just validated everything. In this episode Neil breaks it all down piece by piece — what changed, what it means for your portfolio, and exactly what you should be doing right now. ───  THE 3 BIG CHANGES: 1. NEGATIVE GEARING — ABOLISHED FOR ESTABLISHED PROPERTIES Millions of Australians built their entire investment strategy around negative gearing because the government told them to for decades. Now the goalposts have moved. If you owned or contracted on a property before Budget night — you're grandfathered. Nothing changes until July 2027. After that, losses can only be offset against other property income, not your wages. New builds? Fully protected. The government is pointing every investor in one direction: new construction. 2. CAPITAL GAINS TAX — THE 50% DISCOUNT IS GONE Buy an established property after Budget night and the 50% CGT discount disappears from July 2027. It's replaced with CPI indexation — you only pay tax on the real gain above inflation, but a 30% minimum tax applies regardless. New build investors get to CHOOSE at the time of sale — whichever treatment is more favourable. That's a meaningful structural advantage handed exclusively to new build investors. And here's the kicker: if you've been quietly thinking about selling, you now have a 14-month window. Anyone who sells before 30 June 2027 gets the full 50% discount on the entire gain. The smart money is already doing the numbers. 3. DISCRETIONARY TRUSTS — THE RULES JUST CHANGED A lot of investors hold properties inside discretionary trusts to split income across family members on lower tax rates. From July 2028, a 30% minimum tax applies to all distributions first. The entire point of distributing to lower-income family members? Gone. Cycling income through bucket companies to get to 25%? Closed. There IS a rollover relief window — July 2027 to June 2030 — to restructure without triggering CGT or income tax. But you need to be planning now, not in 2028. ─── WHAT THIS MEANS FOR HMO PROPERTY CO CLIENTS Every single property we build is a new build. Cashflow positive from day one. Our clients have never relied on negative gearing to make the numbers work — not once. The capital gains changes actually favour our clients, who get to choose the best treatment at sale. And yes, we need to have a conversation with accountants about the trust changes. But the core strategy? The government just confirmed it was right all along. ─── WHAT THE GOVERNMENT ISN'T TELLING YOU Buried in the budget papers, Treasury's own modelling estimates these changes will produce 35,000 fewer dwellings over the next 10 years. The same government saying this budget fixes housing affordability has modelled it producing fewer homes. Fewer rental properties. Same demand. Rents go up. Yields increase. Investors come back. Neil explains the full cycle — and why he thinks the market impact started at 7:30pm last night, not July 2027. Learn how we build cashflow positive HMO properties: https://www.thehmopropertyco.com Follow us on Instagram: @thehmopropertyco Subscribe to The HMO Property Show for weekly property insights #FederalBudget #Budget2026 #NegativeGearing #PropertyInvesting #AustralianProperty #HMOProperty #PerthProperty #CapitalGainsTax #NewBuilds #CashflowProperty #PropertyInvestor #FinancialFreedom #RealEstate #WealthBuilding