Bold moves that got PM Anthony Albanese a $8.8m property empire
Our PM has been an astute investor since buying his first home in 1990, taking clever steps to create an $8.8m source of personal wealth, including a new beach mansion.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made some savvy moves in the housing market prior to his recent splurge on a $4.3m beach home in The Central Coast.
Analysis of historic real estate records showed Mr Albanese pocketed large sums from properties he purchased years ago while still a backbencher on a more modest salary.
Many of those astute moves were likely the foundation for a now fairly substantial property portfolio that was capped off last month when he snapped up a clifftop home near Copacabana Beach.
His most recent purchase could push the total value of his real estate holdings to roughly $8.8m – although he is in the process of trying to offload a property.
Mr Albanese has also used property as a vehicle to create wealth beyond his base prime ministerial salary.
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He was reported to have a $5m property portfolio just prior to getting the nation’s top job, part of which has since been sold.
Then Prime Minister Scott Morrison even commented in parliament about Albanese’s success.
“The leader of the Opposition has bought plenty of homes,’’ he said at the time.
“He’s bought plenty more than I have. Good for him. Good luck to him. We celebrate success.”
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One of the Labor leader’s most successful real estate investments was a property in Marrickville in Sydney’s inner west, according to transaction records.
The then leader of the house bought the property for $1.115m in 2012 – a time when the suburb was rapidly gentrifying.
Mr Albanese and then partner Carmel Tebbutt later rented the home out, with the 2014 rent listed as $915 per week, property records showed.
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Values in the area shot up over the following years and the property was sold in 2021 for $2.35m – $1.235m higher than the couple paid.
Mr Albanese’s first home purchase was on the same Marrickville street: a two-bedroom, single-level house that he purchased in 1990 for $146,000.
This was marginally below the Sydney median house price at the time.
He sold it in 1995 for $186,000, a 27 per cent increase on the price he paid.
Mr Albanese made a profit again in 2022 when he sold a Canberra apartment he had purchased in 1996 – roughly the time he first joined parliament as the Member for Grayndler.
The 2022 sale price was $662,500, about $500,000 above the $162,000 price he paid.
The Canberra property was sold a few months into his tenure as Prime Minister.
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He is also in the process of trying to sell off an investment property in Sydney suburb Dulwich Hill. The property was due to go to auction last week with a $1.9m guide.
It was later pulled from auction and the guide was dropped to $1.85m.
Mr Albanese bought the property in 2015 for $1.175m. Were he to sell it for the new guided price, he would make a resale profit of about $675,000.
Prior to buying his Central Coast property last month, the jewel in the Prime Minister’s property portfolio was a Marrickville house estimated to be worth over $2.6m.
The three-bedroom house with a pool, on the same street as both his first home and later Marrickville investment property, last changed hands in 2006 for $997,500.
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Mr Albanese’s declarations to parliament revealed there was no mortgage on the property.
An automated valuation from research group CoreLogic pinned the value of the home as anywhere from $2.27m-$3.01m, with $2.65m deemed the most likely estimate. That’s about $1.65m more than the property last traded at.
The property, once Albo’s home, was listed for rent at $1,350 per week in 2022.
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Originally published as Bold moves that got PM Anthony Albanese a $8.8m property empire