A group of property investors have been branded “rude and selfish” for boasting about the number of houses they own while drinking champagne on a luxury boat in Sydney Harbour, although not all Australians agree.
The clip was posted to TikTok by the Scouting Australia Podcast, hosted by buyer’s agent Sam Gordon and property investor Jimmy Ibrahim.
Those filmed on the boat enjoying the good life and flaunting their lavish lifestyle work for investment firm Australian Property Scout (APS).
“From management to the top, we are all real estate investors at APS,” the clip was captioned.
The man filming the revelers on the boat asked each of them how many investment properties they owned.
A man in sunglasses who said he owns 16 properties had the highest number among those surveyed, while a woman sheepishly only owned one.
Another man added: ‘It’s not enough! We only have two (investment properties).’ He did so in a way that suggested he had no intention of being this low in the APS rankings for long.
Several others revealed that they own five properties, while two others boasted of owning 10 and 12 respectively.
A glamorous group of investors (one pictured) have been branded “rude and selfish” for boasting about how many properties they own.
At a time when buying a home is becoming more unaffordable than ever for so many Australians, the tone-deaf nature of the group’s boasts upset many viewers.
“Everything is wrong with Sydney on a reel,” one commented.
It sparked a fiery response from the Australian Property Scout Instagram account.
“Almost none of the properties are in Sydney,” the organization responded in the comments.
Another viewer wrote: “You make it so easy to hate you,” to which APS owner Sam Gordon responded “the feeling is mutual.”
A third wrote: “The main reason Australia is going through a rental crisis right now is on one boat,” another poster said, prompting Gordon to call their comment “silly and uneducated”.
One asked: “What’s wrong with this damn country?”, while another spoke for many by describing the flaunting of wealth in this way as “so rude and selfish.”
The reaction led other viewers to jump to the investors’ defense.
“A great example for your clients,” wrote one.
Sam Gordon (pictured right) has very strong opinions on why owning multiple investment properties is a good thing
But the complaints kept coming.
It only takes one property and people wonder why we have a housing crisis, another viewer fumed.
Gordon responded with a lesson on how real estate investors like him think.
“Australia needs private rental properties, less than 1 per cent provided by the government,” he wrote.
The original commenter responded by saying: “Most people can’t even afford property and small groups of people have several expensive properties that rent at very high prices.”
But Mr Gordon continued his defence, writing: “Okay, what’s the solution?” If every landlord in Australia sold their properties, there would be no rental properties and where would you or I live?
‘The government made the decision in the 1980s to abandon social housing and turned to private investors to provide it.
“To say that all properties are very expensive and rent very expensive is a huge generalization – most landlords lose money maintaining their properties each year compared to the rent they receive.”
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Australian Property Scout for comment.
The average rental price in Australia is more than $600 per week, while the average home price is now over $900,000.
However, it is much higher than in some cities: Sydney’s median house price hit a record $1.65 million last month.
In Brisbane, the median house price is $966,382, while in Melbourne it is $912,000.
A survey by financial comparison website Finder’s Wealth Building Report found that nine per cent of Australians own at least one investment property, while one in ten are considering purchasing an investment property in the next year.
But Finder also reported that 47 percent of homeowners had difficulty paying their mortgages last month.
One of those not struggling is Fijian Victor Kumar, who emigrated to Australia with just $4,500 to his name in 1997 and now owns 100 properties.
He is often criticized for his extensive property portfolio, with many accusing him of contributing to Australia’s housing crisis.
“Investors like me are not to blame for the housing crisis,” Mr Kumar recently told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I’m actually increasing the supply of housing, not removing it, because none of my properties are empty and offer accommodation.
‘With the properties I buy, I also build granny flats, in which I build several homes. In fact, I’m increasing the offer, rather than removing it.’
He said he and his wife Reshmi know what it’s like to struggle.
—Before we were also tenants. “So we know how it works and we know the problems we had when we were renting,” he said.
“If a person doesn’t have a rental history, we give them an opportunity to actually get a rental property.”