Real Estate Information
Home Find a topic Links Guest Book
Welcome

Negative Gearing - It's Not to Your Benefit!


The concept of negative gearing has been originally developed to encourage real estate investment in Australia by allowing any income losses from property investment to be deductible from other income as a tax benefit. This means that the taxable income of the owner will be reduced after the deduction and therefore the total tax payable is also reduced.

In view of the fact that many of the profits from property investments are usually obtained as a capital gains at the time when the property is sold, but do not generate positive cash flow from rentals during the course of the holding period, negative gearing therefore came in to address this issue.

You lose either way

However, the flaw with negative gearing lies in its concept as well. If an investment generates a positive cash flow, the increased income will make the investor liable to pay more taxes as well. In the end, the investor loses either way. If he makes money from positive cash flow, he has to pay part of it off in taxes, while negative cash flow will take money out of his pocket. Therefore, with a negative geared property, it is not possible to get a positive cash flow and pay less tax at the same time.

No guarantees on property value appreciation

Investors who are encouraged to put their money into negative geared property should think twice. As these properties are expected to generate profits only through capital gains, the value in capital gains should then be greater than the total losses incurred over the course of the holding period. However, there is no guarantee that the value of the property will appreciate, or at least appreciate enough to cover your losses. Also, you can't possibly use your expected future profits now as it is not been realized yet.

Beware of attractive property packages

Who gains from this then? Well, investors who are seeking investment property will tend to seek out property developers or sales agents. In order to make a property seem attractive, they are packaged with elaborate financial models with expected returns on investment. However, commissions and profits to the developers have all been packaged into the sale price. With this, investors end up paying premium price for a property with negative cash flow, which is used to pay for hefty commissions to sales agents and developers.

The disadvantage of property depreciations

Another aspect that should be watched out for would be property depreciation for taxation purposes. While it is true that depreciation is applied and is used for tax deductions, however, accumulative tax deductions for depreciation costs on property with appreciating value may cause capital gains taxes to be large. This is because the greater depreciation you apply onto the value of your property, the lower its value will be on paper. Therefore, your difference between the sale price and the book value of your property at the time of sale will be great. This leads to larger taxes imposed onto you.

Do not purchase because of tax benefits

Finally, making a property investment requires careful planning and consideration. Extra caution must be put in especially when a property is projected to generate a negative cash flow. In the end, tax benefits should not the main reason for property purchase. You may end up losing a great deal of money in the end.

For more information, please visit Mortgage Mall Australia.

Naomi Warne of Around the Corner Real Estate Dealers, Sydney, has helped her clients with profitable property investments and numerous tax benefits. Having started as a real estate agent, Naomi has established herself as an analyst and property consultant.


MORE RESOURCES:

Real estate agent accused of food, change thefts
Hartford Courant, United States - 1 hour ago
Monroe police have arrested a real estate agent accused of stealing change from a home she's trying to sell. Police say there are complaints that she stole ...


Real estate info flows freely on the Web
USA Today - 5 hours ago
By By Jeff Roberson, AP file By Anna Bahney, USA TODAY Not so long ago, real estate websites offered little more than a thumbnail photo of a house and puffy ...


China Real Estate Opportunities sees more growth
Forbes, NY - 1 hour ago
LONDON, Aug 29 Reuters - China Real Estate Opportunities Ltd, the London AIM market-listed property developer, believes the recent Olympic Games in Beijing ...
China Real Estate swings to H1 pretax profit 15.04 mln pounds vs ... Forbes
all 4 news articles


Some real estate agents switching to new careers
Dallas Morning News, TX - 10 hours ago
With home sales in North Texas down almost 30 percent since the peak in mid-2006, real estate agents are feeling the pinch of smaller commission checks and ...


Real Estate Investors Invade California
MarketWatch - 20 hours ago
If the real estate market is in a meltdown, California real estate investors haven't gotten the memo. In fact, residential real estate investment activity ...
REAL ESTATE Investor's Business Daily (subscription)
all 6 news articles


Examiner.com

Real Estate Examiner
Examiner.com - 1 hour ago
Michele Lerner has been gathering expertise about real estate for the past two decades, writing for regional, national and international publications for ...
Chicago Real Estate Examiner Examiner.com
all 2 news articles


K2C Real Estate Solutions Recruits Top Sales Agent
dBusinessNews Chicago (press release), IL - 49 minutes ago
Charlotte, NC (August 29, 2008) – K2C Real Estate Solutions, a real estate consulting firm that provides marketing and sales services to builders and ...


Cityfile

DA: Real Estate CEO Stole $17 Million
North Country Gazette, NY - 13 hours ago
MANHATTAN—A former real estate executive at Max Capital Management Corporation has been charged with stealing more than $17 million from a panoply of banks ...
New York real estate tycoon actually a con artist, authorities say FinancialWeek (subscription)
Real Estate Investor Goes Down Cityfile
all 4 news articles


Hartford Title and Penner Law Firm Team Up to Offer Mobile Real ...
PR Web (press release), WA - 7 hours ago
Hartford National Title, Inc. announced today that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Penner Law Firm, LLC to handle its mobile real estate ...


Realtors peddle real estate to bike-happy clients
The Associated Press - 5 minutes ago
(AP) — With gas prices high, bicycles flying out of stores and a buyers' market for houses, a handful of real estate agents around the country are touting ...

Real-Estate - Google News

Home | Guest Book |Site Map | Recommended Resources | Search

Powered By: TJTMEDIA

© 2006
Google