# I've been a Victorian landlord for a decade. Land tax is pushing people like me out

> A Victorian landlord of 10 years argues land tax changes and fast rental reform are pushing small landlords out, shrinking the rental pool renters rely on.

- Published: 24 September 2026
- Section: Opinion
- Author: Landlord Weekly Editorial Team
- URL: https://www.landlordweekly.com/articles/victoria-land-tax-pushing-landlords-out

*This column is written by a member of our editorial team who has owned two rental properties in Victoria for more than 10 years. It is an opinion piece: the view is theirs, and the figures are sourced.*

Victoria cut the tax-free threshold for land tax from $300,000 to $50,000 in 2024, and the higher charges are legislated to stay until 30 June 2033. I have been a landlord in Victoria for more than a decade, and my view is simple: that change, stacked on top of one of the fastest rental reform programs in the country, is pushing small landlords out and pushing property prices further down. When people like me leave, renters lose too.

## What changed on land tax

Under the COVID Debt Repayment Plan, from the 2024 land tax year the threshold for general land tax fell from $300,000 to $50,000 of total taxable site value, according to the [State Revenue Office](https://www.sro.vic.gov.au/about-us/rates-and-statistics/covid-debt-repayment-plan). Holdings from $50,000 to under $100,000 now pay a flat $500. Holdings from $100,000 to under $300,000 pay a flat $975. Rates above $300,000 went up by 0.1 percentage points.

Take an ordinary investor whose only taxable holding had a site value of $500,000. They paid $775 under the [2022 to 2023 rates](https://www.sro.vic.gov.au/about-us/rates-and-statistics/historical-rates/land-tax-historical-rates) and pays $1,950 under the [current rates](https://www.sro.vic.gov.au/about-us/rates-and-statistics/current-rates/land-tax-current-rates). A holding with a $250,000 site value went from nothing to $975.

**Annual Victorian land tax on a single holding, by site value**

| Taxable site value | 2022 to 2023 rates | Current rates |
| --- | --- | --- |
| $250,000 | 0 | 975 |
| $500,000 | 775 | 1950 |

For a large investor, those are small numbers. For someone with one or two properties, they are a new fixed bill that arrives every year whether or not the rent covers the mortgage. And because land tax is assessed on your total taxable holdings, a second property adds to the bill rather than sitting on its own.

The plan was sold as a way to repay COVID-era debt, which is a fair thing for a government to want. But for anyone planning to hold property, a charge that runs to 30 June 2033 is a fixed cost for close to a decade. The Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) [says](https://reiv.com.au/our-industry/news/state-budget-2026-2027-represents-a-pivotal-opportunity-to-restore-confidence-in-victoria-s-rental-market) land tax on a median-priced house or unit is now twice what it was in 2020.

## The tax lands on top of the rules

Land tax on its own might be absorbed, but it has arrived alongside a long list of new rules. According to [Consumer Affairs Victoria](https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/housing/renting/new-changes-to-the-rental-laws), the latest round of reform includes:

- no-fault evictions banned and longer notice periods for rent increases, from 25 November 2025
- a ban on all forms of rental bidding, and minimum standards that must be met at the time of advertising
- annual smoke alarm checks for every rental
- from 13 October 2026, gas and electrical safety checks every two years for all rentals, plus notice and evidence before any bond claim
- from 1 March 2027, [minimum energy efficiency standards](https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/resources-and-tools/legislation/public-consultations-and-reviews/new-minimum-energy-efficiency-standards), including efficient fixed cooling in the main living area at the start of a new agreement, and in every rental from 1 July 2030

Each of those items comes with a cost, a deadline and a new way to get something wrong. In most cases the landlord pays for them, out of the same rent that now has to cover a bigger land tax bill.

To be fair, a lot of this is hard to argue with. Working smoke alarms, safe gas and electrics, basic heating and an end to rental bidding are reasonable things for any renter to expect, and I would not want to own a property that failed them. My problem is not the idea of standards. It is the cost and the pace, layered on top of a land tax increase that arrived over the same few years.

## What the numbers show

The clearest evidence is the bond data. Homes Victoria uses active rental bonds as a count of private rentals, and its [Rental Report](https://www.dffh.vic.gov.au/publications/rental-report) shows 680,008 dwellings with active bonds in June 2023 and 657,002 in September 2025. That is about 23,000 fewer bonded rentals, a fall of 3.4%. New lettings in the September 2025 quarter were 2.3% lower than a year earlier.

Bonds are not a perfect measure. A property sold to another investor stays in the rental pool, and bond counts get revised as late lodgements come in. But a shrinking count is exactly what you would expect to see if landlords were selling to owner-occupiers, and it lines up with what the REIV has been arguing.

On prices, Cotality's [September Home Value Index](https://discover.cotality.com/hubfs/Article-Reports/COTALITY%20HVI%20SEP%202026%20FINAL%20(1).pdf) has Melbourne values 6.8% below their March 2022 peak and 4.7% lower over the year to August 2026. That annual fall is the weakest of any capital city in Cotality's index.

The National Housing Supply and Affordability Council reached a similar view. Its [State of the Housing System 2026](https://nhsac.gov.au/sites/nhsac.gov.au/files/2026-04/ar-state-housing-system-2026.pdf) report found Victorian prices grew 4.1% in the year to March 2026, the slowest of any state or territory. The Council put part of that down to stronger new supply relative to population growth, and part to "land tax changes and rental reforms, which have curtailed investor demand".

Small landlords are paying more every year to hold an asset that, in Melbourne, is worth less than it was four years ago. Some people will call cheaper prices a good outcome, and for first home buyers there is something in that. But when investors stop buying, the rentals they would have provided do not appear somewhere else.

## Why renters should care

The rental pool does not refill itself. When a small landlord sells to an owner-occupier, a rental becomes a home that is no longer for rent. The tenant who was living there has to find somewhere else, in a market with fewer places to choose from. Sale is still a valid reason to end a tenancy under the new rules, so the security the reforms promised does not help much in that case.

The damage has not shown up as a rent spike, at least not yet. [SQM Research](https://sqmresearch.com.au/uploads/15-09-26-National-Vacancy-Rates-August-2026-2040.pdf) put Melbourne's vacancy rate at 1.8% in August 2026, and asking rents there rose 6.1% over the year, close to the national pace. I would rather be honest about that than overstate the case.

My worry is the direction. Every year that land tax stays high and new obligations keep arriving, the sums get worse for ordinary households with one or two properties. They are the ones who cannot spread a $975 flat charge, a safety check schedule and a cooling upgrade across hundreds of units. A shrinking pool of small landlords means fewer rentals, fewer choices and, eventually, higher rents for the people the reforms were meant to protect.

## What I would like to see

I am not asking for the reforms to be torn up. I am asking for the government to look at the total cost it has put on a small landlord, not each measure one at a time.

In practice, that means three things:

- **Revisit the land tax threshold.** A $50,000 threshold means even a modest holding now pays something. The REIV has called for a freeze on new or higher property taxes and land tax concessions for landlords who offer longer leases. Either would be a start.
- **Slow the pace.** Let one round of changes bed in, and measure what it did to supply, before the next one starts.
- **Publish the evidence.** The bond data is already there. Report it alongside every new rule, so the trade-off is visible.

Victorians vote on 28 November 2026, according to the [Victorian Electoral Commission](https://www.vec.vic.gov.au/voting/2026-state-election), and land tax and rental settings will be debated during the campaign. I hope both sides treat small landlords as part of the housing solution, not just a revenue line.

For the full data behind this piece, see our [September 2026 rental market update](https://www.landlordweekly.com/articles/rental-market-interest-rates-september-2026). For how rental rules are changing across the country, see our guide to [rental reforms in Australia](https://www.landlordweekly.com/articles/rental-reforms-australia).

## Sources

- [State Revenue Office Victoria: COVID Debt Repayment Plan](https://www.sro.vic.gov.au/about-us/rates-and-statistics/covid-debt-repayment-plan)
- [State Revenue Office Victoria: Land tax current rates](https://www.sro.vic.gov.au/about-us/rates-and-statistics/current-rates/land-tax-current-rates)
- [State Revenue Office Victoria: Land tax historical rates](https://www.sro.vic.gov.au/about-us/rates-and-statistics/historical-rates/land-tax-historical-rates)
- [Consumer Affairs Victoria: New changes to the rental laws](https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/housing/renting/new-changes-to-the-rental-laws)
- [Consumer Affairs Victoria: New minimum energy efficiency standards](https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/resources-and-tools/legislation/public-consultations-and-reviews/new-minimum-energy-efficiency-standards)
- [Homes Victoria: Rental Report, September quarter 2025, and data tables](https://www.dffh.vic.gov.au/publications/rental-report)
- [Cotality: Home Value Index, September 2026 (data to 31 August 2026)](https://discover.cotality.com/hubfs/Article-Reports/COTALITY%20HVI%20SEP%202026%20FINAL%20(1).pdf)
- [National Housing Supply and Affordability Council: State of the Housing System 2026](https://nhsac.gov.au/sites/nhsac.gov.au/files/2026-04/ar-state-housing-system-2026.pdf)
- [SQM Research: National vacancy rates and asking rents, August 2026](https://sqmresearch.com.au/uploads/15-09-26-National-Vacancy-Rates-August-2026-2040.pdf)
- [REIV: State Budget 2026-27 submission media release, 5 March 2026](https://reiv.com.au/our-industry/news/state-budget-2026-2027-represents-a-pivotal-opportunity-to-restore-confidence-in-victoria-s-rental-market)
- [Victorian Electoral Commission: 2026 state election](https://www.vec.vic.gov.au/voting/2026-state-election)

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*General information only, not financial, legal or tax advice. Source: Landlord Weekly, https://www.landlordweekly.com/articles/victoria-land-tax-pushing-landlords-out*