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.
In my Rich Habits Study, 41% of the 233 self-made millionaires I interviewed came from poverty. Conversely, in my Poor Group (128 people), 66% of them came from poverty. While those stats are revealing, they didn’t answer one question that has constantly plagued me – Out of the entire population of poor people, how many become…
Over the past few years we’ve witnessed a whirlwind of changes, particularly in the mortgage market. Mortgage rates have skyrocketed, soaring from 2.9% in April 2022 to a staggering 6.4% today. And if that wasn’t enough, the rental crisis has reached new heights, with vacancy rates plummeting to record lows nationwide, causing rents to skyrocket….
Growth in Regional Australia’s dwelling values and rents continued to pick up pace over the past three months, taking both to new record highs, CoreLogic’s Regional Market Update shows. Dwelling values across Regional Australia rose 2.1% in the three months to April 2024, the fastest quarterly growth rate in almost two years, outperforming capital city…
Australians are still intending to retire, on average, between their 65th and 66th birthdays, according to the latest data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics said: “While the average age that people intend to retire has risen over time, it hasn’t changed much in the last…
Asked to grade Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ third budget on his own criteria of delivering on “inflation in the near term and then growth in the medium term”, most of the 49 leading economists surveyed by the Economic Society of Australia and The Conversation have failed to give it top marks. On a grading scale of…
It’s an age-old debate: Does money buy happiness? While it’s sometimes the case that money can make people with “challenging” behaviours even more so, generally speaking, having enough money for the basic necessities of life as well as your wants and needs usually means a happier life. Now I’m not saying that money will solve…
If you own an investment property and rent it out, you can write off a number of costs on your annual tax return. This includes claiming a deduction for any borrowing expenses incurred and any cost incurred for arranging finance to purchase it. Tax time is a big bonus for many Aussies with rental properties,…
It seems that green homes are easier to sell, according to Domain’s annual Sustainability in Property Report. Data from the report reveals that energy-efficient homes receive more attention from buyers nationwide, resulting in quicker sales compared to their non-energy-efficient counterparts (see Table 1). Table 1 shows the difference in how long it takes to sell…
Building a granny flat out the back of your property has fast become a popular way to increase your living space or even earn some extra rental income, but does it make good investment sense? According to reports, the number of granny flats being approved and built in NSW is at an all-time high. The…
Spare a thought for the word ‘no’. It gets a bit of a bad rap. It’s seen as a negative word to use, a slap-down, a refusal. And many people are uncomfortable with using it. They tend to stick to ‘maybes’ or they delay making decisions. Sometimes they will simply ignore an issue, hoping it…
