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Latest ATO property investment statistics

Learn about the typical investor and their claims

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) recently released their taxation statistics for FY 2016/17, providing insight into what a ‘typical’ residential property investor looks like.

The ATO found 64 per cent of people who own investment properties have an income under $80,000 per year, despite the belief that most property investors are high-income earners. In fact, only 7 per cent earn more than $180,000 per year.

The report also found around 71 per cent of investors own one property and 19 per cent own two. People who own three or more properties are in the minority at just under 10 per cent.

Most property owners fall into the 40-plus demographic, with this age group owning around 74 per cent of investment properties. Those aged over 50 own the largest proportion at just under 49 per cent, followed by those aged between 40 and 49 at almost 25 per cent.

The following infographic provides a snapshot of the typical property investor according to the FY 2016/17 statistics.

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Tax deductions claimed by property investors

The ATO report also contained interesting statistics relating to the tax deductions property investors are claiming.

More people claimed tax back on their properties in FY 2016/17. Over 3 million property investors claimed deductions relating to their rental property, an increase of 3.38 per cent from the previous financial year.

ATO property investment statistics for tax depreciation

Average plant and equipment deductions and capital works deductions reported by the ATO in FY 2016/17 increased.

According to the ATO, more than 2 million property investors claimed an average of $1,363 in plant and equipment depreciation deductions in FY 2016/17, up from an average of $1,324 in the previous financial year.

The average capital works deduction the ATO reported as claimed in FY 2016/17 was $2,385 compared with $2,326 in FY 2015/16.

The following infographic provides a snapshot of the average depreciation deductions claimed by property investors in FY 2016/17.

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BMT Tax Depreciation average deductions found

BMT reporting looks at the average plant and equipment and capital works deductions for properties rather than by individual investors.

While not a direct comparison, the average deductions we found for our clients in FY 2016/17 were significantly higher than those reported by the ATO.

In FY 2016/17, the average depreciation deduction for plant and equipment assets found by BMT for our clients’ properties was $3,327, while the average capital works deduction found was $5,518.

BMT found an average depreciation deduction of $8,846 in FY 2018/19.

Overall, we found a total average depreciation deduction of $8,845 for our clients’ properties in FY 2016/17. The total average ATO claim per investor was $3,748.

More recently, BMT found an average depreciation deduction of $8,541 in FY 2017/18 and $8,846 in FY 2018/19 for our clients’ properties.

You can read our previous Maverick article discussing the ATO statistics for FY 2015/16 here.