Recent figures from the Australian Tax Office show the number of landlords who own a minimum of five rental properties has risen more than six per cent between 2014 and 2015.
Earlier this week the boss of National Australia Bank suggested that tax concessions are the principle driver of the housing boom in the country. The number of people who own at least five properties was 37,213. For those with a minimum of six, the figure stands at 19,198 and there were 118,412 individuals with at least three properties.
Brendan Rynne, the chief economist at KPMG, said: "It seems that once you’re hooked on the drug of investing in property, you want more and more."
A spokesperson for the Property Council of Australia claimed that the figures were not quite as startling as they may seem at first glance. They argued that people with a minimum of five properties make up an incredibly tiny percentage of the property market, explaining: "People with six or more investments made up just 0.009 per cent of property owners."
They also argued that many people who were mobilising a process called negative gearing were earning under $80,000 per annum.
However, Labor claimed that using table incomes was 'totally meaningless' and this sum was after deductions had taken place.
Data from the Grattan Institute shows that those in high earning professions such as lawyers and surgeons were greater beneficiaries of tax benefits such as negative gearing than their lower paid counterparts such as teachers and nurses.
Tax in Australia is a currently a political hot potato as many people are priced out of the housing market particularly in large cities such as Sydney and Melbourne.
