Video of glamorous guests enjoying a luxury boat party enrages Aussies - heres why it shows everything wrong with Sydney
A group of property investors have been slammed as crass and selfish for boasting about the number of homes they own while drinking champagne on a luxury boat on Sydney Harbour - although not all Aussies agree.
A group of property investors have been slammed as crass and selfish for boasting about the number of homes they own while drinking champagne on a luxury boat on Sydney Harbour - although not all Aussies agree.
The clip was posted to TikTok by the Scouting Australia Podcast which is hosted by buyers agent Sam Gordon and property investor Jimmy Ibrahim.
Those filmed on the boat enjoying the high life and bragging about their lavish lifestyles all work for investment firm Australian Property Scout (APS).
From admin to the top we are all property investors at APS, the clip was captioned.
The man filming the revellers on the boat asked each of them how many investment properties they had.
A man wearing sunglasses who said he owns 16 properties had the highest number among those asked while a woman sheepishly she only had the one.
Another man added: Not enough! We only have two (investment properties). He did so in a manner suggesting he didnt intend to be so low on the APS rankings for long.
Several others revealed they own five properties while two others boasted that they had 10 and 12 respectively.
A glamorous group of investors (one pictured) has been slammed as crass and selfish for boasting about how many properties they own
At a time when buying a home is becoming unaffordable than ever for so many Australians, the tone deaf nature of the groups bragging rubbed many viewers up the wrong way.
Everything wrong with Sydney in a reel, one commented.
It sparked a fiery response from the Australian Property Scout Instagram account
Barely any of the properties are in Sydney, the organisation replied in the comments.
Another viewer wrote that You make it so easy to hate you, to which APS owner Sam Gordon replied the feeling is mutual.
A third wrote: The whole reason Australia is in a rental crisis right now all on one boat, another poster said, prompting Mr Gordon to brand their comment as silly and uneducated.
One asked What is wrong with this f****** country?, while another spoke for many in describing the flaunting of wealth in this manner as So crass and selfish.
The backlash prompted other viewers to jump to the investors defence.
Great example for your clients, one wrote.
Sam Gordon (pictured right) has some very strong views on why owning multiple investment properties is a good thing
But the complaints kept coming.
You only need one property and people wonder why we have a housing crisis, another viewer fumed.
Mr Gordon responded with a lesson on how property investors such as him think.
Australia needs private rental properties less than 1 per cent is provided by the government, he wrote.
The original commenter wrote back, saying Most of people cant even afford one property and small groups of people have multiple expensive properties which are rented out for very high prices.
But Mr Gordon continued with his defence, writing Okay so whats the solution? If every landlord in Australia sold out there would be no rental properties and where would you or I live?
The government made the decision in the eighties to go away from social housing and turned to private investors to provide this.
To say all properties are very expensive and rented very high is a massive generalisation - most landlords lose money holding their properties every year compared to the rent they receive.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Australian Property Scout for comment.
Its much higher than that in some cities though, with the median house price in Sydney reaching a record $1.65million last month.
In Brisbane, the median house price is $966,382, while in Melbourne its $912,000.
A survey by financial comparison website Finders Wealth Building Report found that nine per cent of Australia own at least one investment property while one in 10 are thinking about buying an investment property in the next year.
But Finder also reported that 47 per cent of homeowners struggled to pay their mortgages last month.
One of those not struggling is Fijian man Victor Kumar, who migrated to Australia with just $4,500 to his name in 1997, and now owns 100 properties.
Hes often criticised for his extensive property portfolio, with many accusing him of contributing to Australias housing crisis.
Investors like myself are not to blame for the housing crisis, Mr Kumar recently told Daily Mail Australia.
Im actually adding to housing supply, not taking away, because none of my properties are vacant and they are providing accommodation.
With the properties I buy, I also build granny flats, I build multiple dwellings on them. Im actually increasing the supply, as opposed to taking it away.
He said he and his wife Reshmi know what its like to struggle.
We were renters once as well. So we know how it works, and we know the troubles we had gone through when we were renting, he said.
If a person does not have a rental history, we give them a go so that they can actually get a rental property.
