What changed on 1 July 2026, and what it actually means for your home. The budget's tax changes are now law.
 
Raine & Horne Lower North Shore Team Howe Weekly  ·  6 July 2026
 
David’s Take · Weekly Letter

What Changed on 1 July.

The budget’s tax changes and what they mean for your home.

 
Dear Readers,
What changed from 1 July 2026, and what it means for your home.
The budget’s tax changes are now law, passed 25 June. Here’s what actually matters to you.
1.
Your family home: nothing changes.
The family home stays completely exempt from capital gains tax. Sell tomorrow or in ten years, you pay no tax on the gain. None of this touches it.
2.
Negative gearing narrows, but only for new buyers.
From 1 July 2027, offsetting a rental loss against your salary only applies to brand new builds.
If you already owned an investment property on budget night, 7:30pm 12 May 2026, you’re grandfathered. Nothing changes for you.
Only established properties bought after that date, from mid-2027, lose the offset against wages. Residential only. Commercial and shares untouched.
3.
The 50% CGT discount is being replaced.
From 1 July 2027, the flat 50% discount is swapped for inflation-adjusted gains taxed at a 30% minimum rate.
Gains built up before 1 July 2027 keep the old 50% discount. Only growth after that date falls under the new rules.
Family home still exempt. Pensioners and income support recipients exempt from the new minimum tax.
Key dates
Change Date
Income tax cuts, $1,000 instant deduction 1 July 2026
SMSF residential borrowing banned ~mid-August 2026
Negative gearing narrows 1 July 2027
CGT discount replaced 1 July 2027
If you run an SMSF: new residential property loans are banned from mid-August 2026. Existing loans and refinancing are unaffected. Commercial property is untouched. Ask us if this affects you.
David’s Take
Tax should never be the primary reason for buying or selling property. A poor asset with a tax break is still a poor asset.
On the Lower North Shore, what’s mattered for decades hasn’t changed: scarcity, location, owner-occupier demand, schools, limited land. No single budget outweighs those.
We won’t tell you to panic buy before a deadline or panic sell before another. If your circumstances justify a move, the evidence will support it. If they don’t, no tax change should be the reason to make one.
The Numbers behind the Lower North Shore Market
Lower North Shore Sales Report
Lower North Shore Data Sheet
This Week’s Numbers
66% of 2026 sales went to auction. Only 17% actually sold under the hammer.
That gap is the story. Auction buys you a process and a deadline. It doesn’t buy you the sale. 42% of everything traded this year sold before auction day, which tells us buyers move fast when a property is priced right from the start.
On stock, $3 to $4 million is where the crowd is. 58 of our 191 active listings sit in that band, more than any other range. Sell there and expect real competition. A soft opening price won’t cut through.
The days-on-market numbers carry a warning too. Sixteen listings have been sitting over a year. That’s not a market problem. That’s a pricing or positioning problem, and it should have been fixed months ago.
David’s Take
List at the number the data supports, not the number that wins the pitch. The vendors who do that sell before auction day. The ones who don’t end up in the last few columns.
Want to know what your home is actually worth, not guessed, evidenced? Call Team Howe for a data-backed appraisal, built on the same numbers in this report.
Questions about your position, reply or call. Tax specifics, talk to your accountant.
General information only, reflecting legislation passed 25 June 2026. It is not financial, tax, or legal advice, and doesn’t take your personal circumstances into account. Speak to a licensed adviser before any decision to buy, sell, or restructure.
 
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Next Week’s Topic: Why Is the Lower North Shore’s Average Sale Price Still Rising? When the media says the property market is struggling, why are premium suburbs telling a different story?
 
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David Howe
Partner Agent · Raine & Horne Lower North Shore
Charles Tang signature
Charles Tang
Team Howe · Raine & Horne Lower North Shore
Raine & Horne Lower North Shore
Lower North Shore
140 Sailors Bay Road, Northbridge NSW 2063
Sources: Team Howe market data, week ending 6 July 2026. Figures are houses only, Lower North Shore. Provided in good faith and may have changed since publication. Interested parties should make their own independent enquiries before relying on any information herein.

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