Two Budget reforms are now sitting on top of each other for anyone holding property, and Payday Super changed how every business pays its staff. Here is the plain version of each, written by the person who has to lodge it.
Where the rules changed, and the date it happens.
Selling the family home and handing some of it to the children is one of the most common plans we hear. Give away a sum above the permitted limits and the excess is assessed against you as though you still own it, for years after the money has gone. The four questions worth answering before anything is signed — and who to ask each one of.
Two separate reforms from the same Budget now interact. Every property held across 1 July 2027 is treated as sold and reacquired at that day's market value — and the ATO's free apportionment formula assumes steady growth, which is exactly what a renovation is not. The formula understates a renovated property's value, pushing more of the eventual gain into the bucket with no discount at all. Includes flow charts for both tests.
Since 1 July 2026, superannuation must reach staff at the same time as their wages rather than quarterly. For any business that had been using that 90-day gap to smooth cash flow through slow months, the buffer is permanently gone — and a missed payment is now visible to the ATO immediately.
From 1 July 2027, a rental loss on an established property bought after Budget night can no longer offset salary. It is not lost — it is set aside, usable against other rental income or a future capital gain. Three categories, one cutoff date, and one exemption that most coverage skipped.
Written for real estate agency principals through Peer Group Advisory — the advisory side of the same firm. Four parts on one argument: what is holding this market back is credit and serviceability, not tax.
Read in order. Each part builds on the one before it, and the last two are the ones that matter if you borrow against a house — which, on RBA figures, is roughly half of all small business lending in Australia.
Where the number comes from, and why removing a tax shield forces yield to do the work on its own.
Rents are bounded by what households can pay, and the rate assumption underneath that figure has moved. A third outcome nobody models: the market freezes rather than clears.
Replacement cost is a supply-side floor. A developer's spreadsheet has never cleared a transaction — a bank's serviceability calculation does.
Run a full 10% correction to completion and the Brisbane house yield moves from about 3.2% to 3.6%. An investor needs roughly 5.15%.
When properties take an extra 45 to 60 days to sell, fixed costs do not pause. Market figures quoted are from August 2026.
Fifteen minutes, no preparation needed, and no charge. Bring whatever's on your mind — year-end accounts, a company or trust return, SMSF, BAS, or something you read above.
