Mailbag, incl: Should I sell a property in the face of AI? April 12, 2026

April 11, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

A listener who uses AI daily wrote in with a dilemma: they are worried that AI-driven job displacement is not a ten-year-out problem but something that could happen now. They have already seen their team shrink as they personally use AI to handle tasks once managed by a much larger group. Their plan is to sell an investment property, move the equity into a broad-based ETF, and remove the debt pressure. They asked the hosts whether they are being too cautious or whether this time is genuinely different.

Andrew Page and Scott Phillips did not give a simple yes or no. Instead, they walked through a framework for thinking about leverage, redundancy risk, and the nature of the asset itself.

The scenario analysis approach

The hosts argued that the decision depends almost entirely on the listener’s specific financial buffer. Page suggested running a scenario analysis: what happens if you lose your job tomorrow, and it takes six, twelve, or twenty-four months to find another? If in most of those scenarios you would be a forced seller in a short time, then deleveraging makes sense. If you have enough of a buffer to sell the property in an orderly fashion after a redundancy, then there is no urgent need to sell now.

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What you'll learn

1 (00:10) **Welcome and Mailbag Introduction** - Scott Phillips and Andrew Page (Ram) kick off a Sunday mailbag edition with light banter about the weather and Batman.
2 (03:29) **Housekeeping: Contact, Scams, and 1000th Episode Tease** - Scott and Ram share listener contact details and warn about impersonation scams on social media.
3 (06:33) **Question 1: Paul on Fuel Prices, Inflation, and the RBA's Rate Tool** - Paul argues that fuel price spikes are exogenous shocks, not demand-driven inflation, and asks how to pressure policymakers away from using interest rates as the default response.
4 (12:40) **The Core of Paul's Question: A Path Forward** - Scott and Ram land on a practical, near-term solution for Paul: the government must reduce its deficit to stop adding demand to the economy.
5 (24:00) **Question 2: Anonymous on Selling an Investment Property Due to AI Job Risk** - A 37-year-old listener worries that AI will cause job displacement faster than new jobs can be created, and asks if he should sell his investment property to deleverage.
6 (32:42) **Ram's Property Reality Check** - Ram warns against Australian exceptionalism regarding housing, using Canada and New Zealand as examples of markets that have seen 20%+ drops.
7 (37:30) **Question 3: Tin Man on RBA Powers and Tax Reform** - Tin Man asks if the RBA should have the power to change the superannuation levy, and whether a deficit levy tax for high-income earners is a good idea.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Andrew Page Scott Phillips

Show Notes

– How do we save households from rate rises on the back of higher oil prices?

– Should I sell an investment property in the face of rising AI?

– Should the RBA use Super contributions or tax rates to manage the economy?

– Did you read Matt Canavan wrong?

– Even this free-marketeer is considering protectionism

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.