Is it possible that the policy abolishing the scheme of negative gearing (1985) failed because those who owned property before this date were able to keep using the perk and reluctant to sell fearing they would lose it, creating a shortage of supply keeping house prices inflated?

Did it cause a flood of buyers before this date thereby collapsed the real estate market creating the recession we had to have?

Any unbiased mathematicians out there?

From memory, & it was a while back, I thought it was more simple than that. A growing shortage of rental properties, & and thus an increase in rents caused the about face.

I don't imagine that the bong smoking phooey is interested in facts like that, Hasbeen.

As a self-claimed expert on real estate s/he should be capable of a more informed analysis, but obviously not. From a previous thread,

phooey, "I currently own 4 investment properties .. and am retired living abroad to avoid the GST on working and middle class peoples money long enough but the gig is up".

C'mon phooey, the gig is up for you, the self-proclaimed 'Wolf of Real Estate'.

That is false flag bollocks. You wouldn't last five minutes in the tough, unrewarding business of 'investing' long term in rental housing.

The failure of the negative gearing restrictions under Keating happened pretty much as Hasbeen said.

The extra wrinkle was that once there was no longer a tax benefit available, the investors sold their properties, meaning there was then a shortage of rental accommodation and prices went up.

But the Sydney market was affected more immediately than most others. And that's where Labor's seats were.

Shot in both feet.

phooey,

The question is easily answered without mathematics.

Landlords not selling their houses would keep rental prices down, and given that rentals rose, it would be logical to deduce that more people sold investment properties than bought.

phooey,

The RWHTH was caused by high interest rates in the year leading up to it; nothing to do with negative gearing changes a few years before.