No Capital Gains Tax

Three weeks ago, people were hesitating to make property investment decisions pending the government’s announcement on a Capital Gains Tax. I think most of us were expecting a CGT, at least on residential property – but there was nothing. Political genius, opportunism, planned? Call it what you want – Capital Gains Tax is essentially off the table for 20 years. Before this decision, we heard many say they were thinking of purchasing but were waiting for the outcome. So now we know there won’t be a Tax have all those people rushed out to buy?

No. Why not?

It’s classic human nature. We use an external issue to justify not committing. The greatest threat to acting is the false belief that you should pause to get all your ducks in a line. That’s fine if they are all ducks you can control and not some mad goose. The problem is when you started waiting for uncontrollable matters to line up just the way you want them to. The market will never be in a perfect state, the tax environment will never be as favourable as you want it, and you will never feel like you can afford it.

‘Get your name on a title and keep it there’ was the advice an old sales agent gave me the other day. Another way of saying buy and hold.