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.
SQM Research released its latest data on residential rental property vacancy rates. Australia’s national residential vacancy rate increased to 1.3% in June 2026, up from 1.2% in May, with the total number of residential vacancies rising slightly to 39,229 dwellings from 37,844 the previous month. While the increase suggests a modest easing in rental market…
There’s something deeply unsettling about a tax law that could punish a widow or divorcee for circumstances entirely outside their control, and that’s precisely what’s landed in the fine print of Labor’s newly passed property legislation. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026 passed both houses of Parliament on 25 June, meaning…
![[PODCAST] Why Australians Say They Want Affordable Housing, But Don’t Really Mean It with Simon Kuestenmacher](https://cdn.propertyupdate.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/804_Why-Australians-Say-Youtube-cover-270x200.jpg)
Here’s a question that makes almost every Australian a bit uncomfortable if they’re honest with themselves. Do you actually want housing to become more affordable, or do you just want it to become more affordable for your kids while your own home keeps growing in value? That tension sits underneath almost every conversation about housing…
Well, winter has well and truly settled over our property markets, and I don’t just mean the weather. The Reserve Bank left the cash rate on hold at 4.35% at its June meeting and won’t sit down again until August 11, which gives borrowers a bit of breathing room. But nobody should read that as…
Have you thought about investing in commercial property? You’re not alone — faced with the prospect of more moderate returns from their residential property investments, many investors are considering this as an alternative. By this, I mean offices, shops or warehouses. Some investors are looking for diversification in their investment portfolios; others are looking for…
I was recently asked by the Queensland Government to outline how the state might deliver one million additional homes by 2044. The initial request was for a digital roundtable. Instead, I chose to put pen to paper. mine writing always crystallises what I want to communicate. So rather than offer off-the-cuff remarks, I’ve set out…
Most Australians know they pay a lot of tax. What most don’t realise is just how dramatically the system has shifted over the past century, and how that shift is quietly eating away at the wealth of ordinary working Australians, especially investors. Here’s something worth thinking about as you head into tax time…Australia’s top marginal…
For what seems like yonks, I’ve argued that Australia’s housing crisis isn’t really a housing problem. It’s a capital problem. Every government speech begins with the same objective: more housing, more affordable housing and more rental housing. Yet almost every major policy announcement seems to make investing in residential property a little less attractive than…
Too often in Australia we hear that population growth or overseas migration is the main driver of rising property values. While more people can drive demand for housing, my experience and the data tell me that economic strength at the local level is far more important. A strong local economy does more than just boost…
Most people assume success in property comes down to timing the market or picking the right suburb, but in reality, your results are largely determined by the decisions you make along the way. And those decisions are driven by how you think. In today’s environment, with higher interest rates, constant media noise and mixed messages…
