No Australian law we could find sets a maximum number of investment properties for an Australian citizen or permanent resident who lives in Australia, buying in their own name. In practice the limits are what a lender will approve for each new loan and what the properties cost to hold. A lender or broker assesses borrowing, not FAA Property.
No law we could find sets a number. Here is what does bear on it, and who sets each part.
Last reviewed 13 October 2026. Reviewed against ASIC MoneySmart and ATO guidance, 13 October 2026. Credit assistance is provided under Australian Credit Licence 388789, which authorises credit services only. FAA is not a lender. General information only, not personal financial, credit or tax advice. FAA Property does not provide personal financial, tax or SMSF advice. Financial advice sits with other FAA Group companies, which are authorised representatives of Lifespan Financial Planning Pty Ltd (AFSL 229892).
The number of investment properties one person holds isn't set by any law we could find. Lending, holding costs and tax each bear on it. Where a regulator or a law sets a rule, the sections below name it and give the date we read its page. They cover the ATO's 2023-24 figures on how many rental property interests individuals report, what APRA has banks test on every loan, the costs Moneysmart lists for holding a property, how Queensland adds land together for land tax, and the negative gearing change from 1 July 2027. This is general information. Borrowing is assessed by a lender or broker, not by FAA Property.
| What bears on it | Who sets it | Does it set a number of properties? |
|---|---|---|
| A legal maximum | No rule found in the APRA, Queensland Revenue Office, ATO, ASIC or Moneysmart pages read | No |
| The repayment test on each new loan and on the loans you already have | APRA sets a buffer of at least 3 percentage points above the loan rate and expects banks to apply it to the new loan and to existing debts | No. It is a test of repayments |
| The share of a bank's new lending at debt of six times income or more | APRA: up to 20 per cent, counted separately for investor lending since 1 February 2026 | No. It is a limit on banks |
| What each property costs to hold | No regulator. Moneysmart lists the costs | No |
| Queensland land tax | Queensland Revenue Office: land is added together, and an individual is liable from $600,000 of total taxable land value at 30 June | No. It counts land value |
| Negative gearing from 1 July 2027 | Federal law, described by the ATO: limited to new builds, with property held at 7:30pm AEST 12 May 2026 exempt | No. It limits by property type |
No law we could find sets a number
None of the pages we read sets a maximum. On 13 October 2026 we read the APRA, Queensland Revenue Office, ATO, ASIC and Moneysmart pages listed in the sources, and none of them caps how many investment properties one person may own. That's our reading of what those pages leave out. No regulator has said it in those words.
The answer covers an Australian citizen or permanent resident who lives in Australia, buying in their own name. Buying through a company, a trust or a super fund, as a foreign buyer or while on a temporary visa is outside this article.
The ATO notes that an individual can have an interest in more than one rental property in an income year. Its 2023-24 table has a row for ten or more interests, and it counts 2,659 individuals there. That count carries the caveat in the next section.
What the ATO's 2023-24 figures show about holding more than one
Most individuals in the ATO's table have an interest in one rental property. In the 2023-24 income year, 2,335,540 individuals reported an interest in a rental property. About 72 in every 100 of them had one. About 19 in every 100 had two, and roughly 28 in every 100 had two or more. The total, the count for each number of interests and those shares are our own sums of the ATO's rows, which give counts only.
1 interest
1,672,616
2 interests
438,906
3 interests
135,327
4 interests
48,690
5 interests
19,849
6 or more interests
20,152
An interest isn't a property. The table is built from rental property schedules, and the ATO says it is not representative of the total number of properties or of the total number of individuals with a rental property. The same property can have more than one individual with an interest in it, such as joint owners, or a seller and a buyer in the same year.
2023-24 is the latest income year in the file, the figures come from schedules processed by 31 October 2025, and the ATO says they are not necessarily complete. The file is the ATO's Individuals Table 27 on data.gov.au.
You may see it said that fewer than 1 per cent hold five or more. In this table, individuals with five or more interests are 1.71 per cent. It's six or more that falls under 1 per cent, at 0.86.
The ATO's Table 1A counts 16,584,287 individuals for 2023-24, so the 2,335,540 in Table 27A are about 14 in every 100 individuals in the ATO's 2023-24 tax return statistics. People who lodged no return are outside that count, so it can't be read as a share of Australians or of adults.
What a lender tests each time you apply
A bank, as an APRA-regulated lender, tests your repayments on the new loan and on the loans you already have at a higher rate than the one you'd pay. APRA requires a bank to assess a home loan at a rate at least 3 percentage points above the rate on the loan. It expects banks to apply that buffer to your existing debts too. APRA confirmed the setting on 28 May 2026.
A second APRA setting is a limit on banks. Since 1 February 2026 each bank may write up to 20 per cent of its new mortgage lending at debt of six times income or more, with investor lending counted separately. On 28 May 2026 APRA said "the limits are not restricting overall bank lending".
The responsible lending obligations in the National Consumer Credit Protection Act, which ASIC administers, have a credit licensee make reasonable inquiries about your financial situation and assess whether the loan is not unsuitable for you. A lender or broker assesses this, not FAA Property.
There's more in how usable equity and the lender's repayment test work, and in what cross-collateralisation means when you own more than one property.
Every property adds its own running costs
Each property you add has to be paid for whether or not it's rented. ASIC's Moneysmart warns that rental income may not cover your mortgage payments and other expenses, and that there may be times without a tenant when you cover the costs yourself. A rise in interest rates means higher repayments. Its advice is short: "Don't rely on rental income to cover the mortgage".
Moneysmart's list of ongoing costs includes council and water rates, building and landlord insurance, body corporate fees, land tax, property management fees, and repairs and maintenance.
Moneysmart also says this: "Invest in more than just property so your money isn't all in one market".
For more, see cash flow versus tax result and how a rental vacancy rate is read. What a deposit involves is covered in how much deposit an investment property needs.
Queensland adds your land together for land tax
Queensland land tax is worked out on all the Queensland land you own, added together. The Queensland Revenue Office adds up the taxable value of that land at 30 June and leaves out land with an exemption. An individual is liable when the total is $600,000 or more, counting land owned solely and a share of land owned jointly. Liability is based on the land you own at midnight on 30 June each year. The test is the taxable value of the land, and you may be eligible for an exemption on land you use as your home, which is for the Revenue Office to decide. This covers Queensland land only, as the Revenue Office describes it. It isn't tax advice. The detail is in how Queensland land tax adds properties together.
Queensland Revenue Office pages read 13 October 2026 (overview page last updated 29 May 2026)
The 2027 negative gearing change limits property type, not number
The change to negative gearing turns on what kind of property you buy. The ATO says the measures announced on 12 May 2026 are now law, and that from 1 July 2027 they limit negative gearing for residential property investments to new builds. Properties held at the announcement, 7:30pm AEST on 12 May 2026, will be exempt from the change. The ATO page describes a limit by type of property and says nothing about a limit on how many properties a person may negatively gear. It doesn't define "new builds" either, so that's a question for an accountant. Moneysmart sends readers to the ATO for more on this too. Read the 1 July 2027 negative gearing change for the detail. This isn't tax advice.
ATO page read 13 October 2026 (last updated 29 June 2026)
A second investment property: questions for a broker and an accountant
The lending questions below go to a lender or mortgage broker, and the tax questions go to an accountant. Moneysmart says mortgage brokers must act in your best interests when suggesting a loan for you.
Take these to a broker and an accountant
- How will my existing loans be tested again when I apply for a new one?
- How will the new loan be secured, and against which property?
- What's the combined taxable value of my Queensland land at 30 June?
- Which of my properties did I hold at 7:30pm AEST on 12 May 2026?
- Do you hold a credit licence, or are you a representative of a licensee?
For the property side of a next purchase, see building a property portfolio in Queensland. If someone is pressing you to buy another property, read the warning signs of a property spruiker first.
FAA Property sources investment property in South East Queensland. It's paid by builders and developers when a purchase proceeds. Borrowing is assessed by a lender or broker, not by FAA Property. There's more on using equity to buy an investment property.
The lending questions go to a lender or broker, and the tax questions go to an accountant. What FAA Property can talk about is the property itself. FAA Property is paid by builders and developers when a purchase proceeds, and the strategy session costs you nothing.
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