‘Not the problem’: Property investors living it up on boat party hit out criticism

The celebratory scenes rubbed many Aussies the wrong way but this group of property investors are refusing to back down.

A group of property investors slammed for bragging about their portfolios at a boat party have hit back, claiming they are “part of the solution”.

Earlier this week, a clip of a work boat party in Sydney Harbour enraged the internet after attendees were asked to share the number of homes they rented out.

Every single one of them had at least one investment property, and the highest came in at a whopping sixteen.

The clip’s caption online read “From admin to the top we are all property investors at APS”.

Those at the party work for Australian Property Scout, a property investment firm that claims to help people retire by 50.

Social media users were quick to point out how tone deaf the clip seemed amid a cost of living and housing crisis rippling through the country.

Now Sam Gordon, the founder of APS, and himself the owner of 76 investment properties, has defended his firm and defended landlords, saying they are “not the problem”.

On Friday night, the investment property boss claimed that the property market would be worse off without landlords.

“Australia relies heavily on private investors to supply rental properties, with less than 1 per cent provided by the government,” Mr Gordon said.

“If private landlords exited the market, we’d face a rental crisis far worse than what we’re already experiencing. Where would people live if there were no rental properties?”

The APS founder pointed to a move the government in the 1980s to wind back social housing, and proposed that private property investors had plugged that gap.

“Now, more than ever, we need solutions, not finger-pointing,” he added.

“Rather than being part of the problem, property investors are often part of the solution,”

He ended on the not that his team provided “much-needed housing options”.

Sam Gordon clapped back against criticism.

He said property investors were “not the problem”.

Mr Gordon also responded online to other backlash his business was copping in the original viral video.

“Everything wrong with Sydney in a reel,” one person complained.

The Australian Property Scout Instagram account replied and said, “Barely any of the properties are in Sydney”.

“You make it so easy to hate you,” another commented noted, prompting a reply from Mr Gordon which read “the feeling is mutual”.

“Big Short vibes,” someone else wrote, a reference to the 2008 financial crisis movie which showed how the economy was about to collapse because everyone had property but couldn’t sustain the bank repayments.

Two boat party attendees counting up how many investment properties they have.

Mr Gordon, 34, has previously been in the news for turning his fortunes around by investing in property.

He had dropped out of high school and was making $38,000 a year shovelling animal feed as a farm labourer when he bought his first property at the age of 19.

As of August this year, he told Realestate.com.au he has $43 million worth of real estate spread around the country and makes $2 million in passive income per year.

According to financial comparison website Finder’s Wealth Building Report, nine per cent of Australians surveyed own at least one investment property.

More than one in 10 say they are thinking about buying an investment property in the next 12 months.

The median rental price nationally is over $600 a week, and the median house price, according to the Australian Bureau of Statics, has risen to over $900,000.

Finder also reported that 47 per cent of homeowners struggled to pay their mortgages in October 2024.

Originally published as ‘Not the problem’: Property investors living it up on boat party hit out criticism