Anthony Albanese faces criticism over six figure rental income amid housing crisis
Anthony Albanese is under scrutiny over property investments, as revelations surface about his $115,000-a-year rental income.
Landlord Anthony Albanese is under fire over the $115,000-a-year in rental income he is pulling in on top of his salary as Prime Minister, as interest rates soar for struggling families.
Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather has taken aim at Anthony Albanese for owning investment properties as he stepped up his campaign to scrap negative gearing laws.
After growing up in public housing, the Prime Minister is now renting out two Sydney homes including a mortgage-free federation bungalow with a pool while he lives rent-free at the Lodge.
“Let’s be real, if Labor wants to deal with housing affordability then it’s time to phase out the billions of dollars in tax concessions property investors get every year in the form of negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions,” Mr Chandler-Mather said.
“We could be investing that money in building public housing but instead it is going to people like the Prime Minister with his three investment properties.”
He went on to question why Australia has a “property investor as a prime minister” during the “worst housing crisis we’ve seen in a generation”, accusing Mr Albanese of fighting to protect negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions.
“And I think what they’ve got to realise on the politics of this in the course of this year a lot of renters are going to start asking the question,” he explained.
Labor has brushed off suggestions this week it has plans to introduce negative gearing reforms without directly ruling out any changes.
“Mr Speaker, well, we’ve entered the twilight zone officially now. What we have before us is real legislation, real legislation about tax changes,‘’ the Prime Minister said.
“And what we have now is the Shadow Treasurer asking for details about things that are only happening in his head.”
Mr Albanese, who scored a huge pay bump after the election, now earns $564,356 a year.
He also earns $70,000 a year in rental income for one property and $45,000 for another.
That means Mr Albanese has a combined annual income of $679,356 before he pays tax on his income and two investment properties.
Mr Albanese quietly rented out his family home with a backyard swimming pool in Marrickville for $1350 a week after the election delivering a handy income stream of $70,000-a-year.
The house does not have a mortgage according to the parliamentary register of interests and Mr Albanese owns it outright.
The family home that is now being rented out is estimated to be worth over $2 million.
Asked last year by news.com.au whether the house would remain empty during his time living at his taxpayer-funded home in Canberra, Mr Albanese said in September that he had not decided.
In recent years, Mr Albanese made a tidy $500,000 profit after offloading his two-bedroom Canberra ‘bachelor pad’ (bedroom above). He bought the property 23 years ago for $162,000.
He also rents out a second property in Dulwich Hill for $880 a week. That property does have a mortgage with the Commonwealth Bank.
He purchased the investment rental property in Dulwich Hill for $1.175 million in 2015. It’s now worth between $1.6 and $1.9 million.
Before his divorce, Mr Albanese also owned a fourth property in Marrickville which he sold for $2.25 million in July 2021.
The Prime Minister amassed a property portfolio worth around $5 million before he offloaded several properties to take his holdings down to around $4 million last year.
He lives rent-free at the Prime Minister’s official residence The Lodge in Canberra where he has access to personal staff to clean and cook and can also sleep at Kirribilli House when in Sydney.
During a debate with Scott Morrison at the federal election, Mr Albanese backed the use of negative gearing to help property investors.
It followed Bill Shorten’s plan to tighten tax breaks to improve housing affordability. Mr Albanese promptly dumped the proposal when he took over the leadership in 2019.
“Negative gearing is a good thing. We had a policy that we took to the election where we were not successful,’’ he said.
Negative gearing allows investors such as Mr Albanese to reduce the tax they pay by deducting money lost to mortgage repayments
Mr Albanese’s climb up the property ladder began in 1990 when he bought his first home in Marrickville for $146,000.
Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison has previously had a dig at Mr Albanese’s property wealth in parliament.
“The leader of the Opposition has bought plenty of homes,’’ he said.
“He’s bought plenty more than I have. Good for him. Good luck to him. We celebrate success.”
News.com.au previously revealed Labor leader Mr Albanese claimed $17,169 in travel allowance from taxpayers to stay at his mortgage-free Canberra apartment for 59 nights during Sydney’s marathon lockdown while staging “guerrilla” campaign missions into Queensland and Tasmania.
He claimed a travel allowance for 74 nights in Canberra, Queensland and Tasmania, while parliament was only sitting for 19 days during the same period.
By basing himself in the nation’s capital during the lockdowns in NSW and Victoria, Mr Albanese was able to campaign in Queensland while the Prime Minister remained largely locked down in Sydney and unable to travel.
Now that he’s based in Canberra at the Lodge as his home base he can’t claim TA in the nation’s capital but can claim it when in Sydney or elsewhere.
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