What do the federal budget’s housing measures do for Australia’s ‘forever renters’?

The reforms are ‘bold first steps’ towards structural change, but won’t really affect the outlook for long-term renters, academic says Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Explore all of our 2026 Australia federal budget coverage Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A couple of months ago, Alyssa Shaw moved from Melbourne’s south to its north-west. It was her 25th move in 15 years. “I’ve been working since I was 14 [and] it’s really disappointing that I’ve contributed a lot and I don’t have the stability my parents had and that I thought would have by this age,” the 36-year-old says. “I started renting at about 21. I stopped counting a little while ago but … I did the calculation once and it was averaging [moving house] every nine months,” Shaw says the Albanese government’s changes to property tax concessions are “meaningful” for some, but they won’t help renters like her who aren’t anywhere near being able to afford to buy a home. Designed to help people enter the housing market, the tax reforms outlined in Tuesday’s federal budget mean that, with a few exceptions, investment properties bought after 7.