Michael has been once again voted Australia’s leading property investment advisor by the readers of ‘Your Investment Property Magazine’, but he’s not a theorist… He has been successfully investing in property since 1971 and is a leading property commentator and Australia’s most widely read property investment blogger. Join over 115,000 others who get their updates from Michael and his group of expert guest bloggers and benefit from their perspective.
Everyone’s been talking about what the federal budget means for property investors, and what it might do to house prices and affordability. But very few people are asking what it means for the millions of Australians who rent. Renters have been largely invisible in this conversation, and that’s a problem, because they’re the ones who…
Fresh data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics released today shows the unemployment rate climbed to 4.5% in April, up from 4.3% in March, with employment falling by around 19,000 people in the month. On the surface, that may sound a little alarming, but before you read too much into a single month’s numbers, it’s…
The Australian property market in 2026 has entered genuinely new territory, with a another rate rise from the Reserve Bank and the most significant tax changes to property investment in nearly three decades landing within weeks of each other. The three RBA rate rises this year delivered the shortest and shallowest rate-cutting cycle since inflation…
![[PODCAST] How high do we want property prices to keep rising? Who wins and who loses? with Simon Kuestenmacher](https://cdn.propertyupdate.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/772-PropertyPrices_keep_rising-SK-Youtube-cover-270x200.jpg)
For decades we’ve celebrated rising house prices in Australia. If your home was worth more this year than last, life felt a bit easier. Politicians were happy, banks were happy, homeowners were happy. But after 50 years of almost uninterrupted price growth, we need to ask a harder question: Is it actually good for us if…
Every time the government tinkers with property tax settings, a wave of investors ends up making decisions they later regret. I’m worried we’re about to see it happen again, and on a fairly large scale. The 2026 federal budget has, quite deliberately, made new build properties the most tax-friendly residential option available to investors. If…
For years, millennials have been the punching bag of public debate. They’ve been criticised for delaying marriage, accused of spending too much on travel and avocado toast, and blamed for changing workplace culture. Depending on who you listen to, they’re either financially irresponsible or victims of a system that became harder to navigate just as…
This article discusses the proposed Local Infrastructure Fund and extended ban on foreign ownership of established homes across Australia. Both items were announced in the Federal Government’s Budget on May 12th 2026. Local Infrastructure Fund Australia’s new Local Infrastructure Fund sounds impressive at first glance. A $2 billion housing infrastructure package certainly makes for a good Budget…
![Sydney housing market update [video] | May 2026](https://cdn.propertyupdate.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/sydney4-270x200.jpg)
The Sydney property market is moving through a distinct structural transition, with Cotality’s latest figures showing a dwelling value contraction of 0.6% in April. This decline marks the fourth monthly downturn out of the last five for the harbor city, leaving the local market sitting 1.0% below the peak recorded in November last year. While…
You learn some lessons about money from books. Others you only learn the hard way – through experience, mistakes, and time. Looking back over several decades of investing and wealth creation, there are quite a few things I wish someone had explained to me earlier in life. Not because the information wasn’t available. I read…
Something happened over the last week that I’ve genuinely never seen in my five decades of property investing – the Federal Government reached into the pockets of every property investor in Australia and changed the rules of the game overnight. Negative gearing for new purchases, gone. The 50% capital gains tax discount, gone. Two of…
