How many Australians own investment properties, and how that's changed since 2010

Australian Taxation Office data shows that 2.34 million individual taxpayers held an interest in a rental property in 2023–24, up 32.3% from 1.77 million in 2010–11. A separate Australian Bureau of Statistics household survey recorded 2.02 million households owning one or more residential properties other than their usual residence in 2019–20. This is a related but different measure.

New South Wales and Victoria have the largest and fastest-growing investor populations when investors are classified by the address recorded on their tax returns. Investor loan commitments have also exceeded owner-occupier first home buyer commitments in every quarter since the June quarter of 2021.

SECTION 01 · SCOPE

How many Australians own an investment property?

Australian Taxation Office data shows that 2,335,540 individuals had an interest in a rental property in 2023–24. This is the latest annual figure in the ATO series, which begins in 1999–2000.

A separate Australian Bureau of Statistics household survey recorded 2.02 million households owning one or more residential properties other than their usual residence in 2019–20, equal to 21% of all Australian households.

These are two different official measures of related but separate populations, and they should not be added together or used interchangeably:

• ATO measure: individuals with a solely or jointly owned rental property interest, including properties bought or sold during the year.
• ABS measure: households, not individuals. This measure is broader than investment property ownership because it includes properties used for other purposes, such as holiday homes.

Source: Australian Taxation Office, Taxation statistics 2023–24; Australian Bureau of Statistics, Housing Occupancy and Costs, 2019–20 financial year.

SECTION 02 · GROWTH

How property investor numbers have changed since 2010

The number of individual taxpayers with a rental property interest has risen in most years since 2010–11. It grew from 1,765,130 in 2010–11 to 2,335,540 in 2023–24, an increase of 570,410 people, or 32.3%, over 13 years.

The growth was not steady. It moved in phases:

• 2010–11 to 2018–19: most of the 13-year increase happened during this period, with investor numbers rising by around 26%.
• 2018–19 to 2019–20: numbers were almost unchanged, declining by 333, from 2,227,174 to 2,226,841.
• 2021–22 to 2022–23: investor numbers recorded another decline, from 2,268,161 to 2,261,080, a fall of about 0.3%.
• 2023–24: numbers rose again, increasing by 3.3% from the year before.

Growth was fastest in the first half of the 2010s and has slowed considerably since.

The ABS household measure shows a similar broad trend over a different and shorter period. Households owning one or more residential properties other than their usual residence rose from about 1.5 million in 2013–14 to 2.02 million in 2019–20, an increase of around 520,000 households, or roughly 35%.

Because this measure includes holiday homes and other non-rental properties, it is not a direct read on investor numbers. However, it follows the same broad direction as the ATO series during the period covered by both measures.

SECTION 03 · PORTFOLIOS

How many properties do investors typically own?

Most individual investors hold only one rental property interest, and that pattern has changed little as total investor numbers have grown. In 2023–24, 71.6% of investors had one property interest, 18.8% had two, and 9.6% had three or more.

Source: Australian Taxation Office, Taxation statistics 2023–24, Individuals detailed tables.

SECTION 04 · GEOGRAPHY

Which Australian states have the most property investors?

New South Wales has the largest individual investor population of any state or territory, and the Northern Territory has the smallest:

• New South Wales: 824,638 investors, or 35.3% of the national total, the largest share of any state or territory.
• Victoria: 599,917 investors (25.7%), the second-largest total. Together, Victoria and New South Wales account for around 61% of all individual investors.
• Tasmania: 1.6% of the total, the second-smallest share, just ahead of the NT.
• Northern Territory: 19,545 individuals, or 0.8% of the total, the smallest share of any state or territory.

New South Wales and Victoria also recorded the fastest growth in investor numbers since 2010–11. Victoria's investor population increased by 44.7% and New South Wales's increased by 41.3%, both above the 32.3% national average. Western Australia and the Northern Territory recorded little or negative growth over the same 13 years.

This breakdown is based on the ATO's state and territory breakdown of individuals with rental property interests, which records the investor's own address, not the location of the property itself.

Queensland property investor numbers increased by 13.1% since 2010–11

Growth has not simply tracked the size of each state's investor population. Queensland, which had the third-largest investor population at 384,251, grew by just 13.1% between 2010–11 and 2023–24. This was slower than South Australia's 16.8%, even though South Australia has fewer than half as many investors.

Victoria and New South Wales were the only jurisdictions to grow faster than the 32.3% national average. The ACT and Tasmania also recorded substantial growth, but remained below the national rate, while Western Australia and the Northern Territory recorded next to no growth or an outright decline over the same 13 years.

Source: Australian Taxation Office, Taxation statistics, Individuals Table 27C, by state or territory, 2010–11 and 2023–24 income years. Overseas and unknown addresses are excluded.

SECTION 05 · PROFITABILITY

How many Australian property investors reported a rental loss?

Slightly more than half of individual investors reported a net rental loss in 2023–24, a reversal from the year before:

• Investors in net rental loss, 2023–24: 1,266,454 of 2,335,540 (54.2%).
• Average net rent, 2022–23: a profit of $704.
• Average net rent, 2023–24: a loss of $1,174.
• Share reporting a net rental loss over time: 58.6% in 2018–19, falling to a low of 41.9% in 2021–22, then rising back above half in 2023–24.

The net rental loss count provides related context for negative gearing, but it is not the same measure. A property is negatively geared when it is bought with borrowed funds and its rental income is less than its deductible expenses, including interest on the borrowings; the resulting net rental loss may be deductible against rental and other income, subject to the tax rules.

The ATO does not publish a standalone headcount of negatively geared investors as a named series. The net rent loss and net rent neutral-or-profit figures describe this broader outcome rather than a confirmed negative-gearing count, because a net rent loss can arise from any deductible expense, not loan interest alone.

Net rent measures taxable rental income less deductible rental expenses. It is not a measure of an investor's total return and does not include capital gains or losses. The change in average net rent therefore does not show whether investors' overall returns increased or decreased.

Source: Australian Taxation Office, Taxation statistics 2023–24, Individuals Table 27A, average overall net rental income per person, 2022–23 and 2023–24 income years.

SECTION 06 · LENDING

Investor and owner-occupier home lending in Australia: March quarter 2026

In the March quarter of 2026, the ABS recorded 139,794 seasonally adjusted new loan commitments for dwellings in Australia, excluding refinancing:

• By number: 82,453 commitments were for owner-occupiers, and 57,342 were for investors, a split of 59.0% owner-occupier to 41.0% investor.
• By value: new dwelling loan commitments totalled $103.0 billion, including $61.4 billion for owner-occupiers and $41.5 billion for investors — a split of 59.7% to 40.3%.

Commitments declined for both borrower groups between the December quarter of 2025 and the March quarter of 2026. Investor commitments fell by 5.3% by number and 3.0% by value, while owner-occupier commitments fell by 6.9% by number and 4.3% by value.

Over the year to the March quarter of 2026, investors recorded the stronger growth. Investor loan commitments increased by 18.8% by number and 25.3% by value. Owner-occupier commitments grew more slowly, increasing by 2.5% by number and 14.3% by value.

SECTION 07 · COMPETITION

Investor home loans compared with first home buyer loans in Australia

The latest seasonally adjusted ABS data shows that investor loan commitments substantially exceeded owner-occupier first home buyer commitments in the March quarter of 2026. Investors recorded 57,342 new dwelling loan commitments, while owner-occupier first home buyers recorded 30,241, a gap of 27,101 loans.

Investor and first home buyer lending have changed places twice since 2019

The ABS quarterly series shows the two groups have swapped places twice in recent years.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Lending indicators, March quarter 2026, quarterly time series.

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