This policy sets out the Labor party's plan on housing. It includes strategies to address affordability and to support housing construction by reforming negative gearing and capital gains tax arrangements. All investments made prior to 1 January 2020 will be fully grandfathered.

LABOR’S PLAN

Labor has a comprehensive plan to improve housing affordability and support housing construction. A Shorten Labor Government will:

Limit negative gearing to new housing from 1 January 2020. All investments made prior to this date will not be affected by the changes and will be fully grandfathered.

Halve the capital gains tax discount for all assets purchased after 1 January 2020. This will reduce the capital gains tax discount from assets held longer than 12 months from 50 per cent to 25 per cent. All investments made prior to the 1 January 2020 will be fully grandfathered.

Put negative gearing to work by limiting it to new investment properties to help boost housing supply and jobs.

The grandfathering element of our policy applies to property and assets purchased prior to the start date of our policy. This means, for example, that if you own a property prior to 1 January 2020, you are able to negatively gear it after that date. The changes to the CGT discount will not apply to superannuation funds or to the 50 per cent active asset reduction concession that applies to small businesses.