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.
Gambling has long been a favourite pastime for Aussies and according to a report from Gambling Statistics Australia, we spend an average of $1.9 billion on lotto every year. Of the 6.8 million Australians who like to take a punt, about 76% of them play the lottery. Who is buying all these tickets? When you do…
If you want to get the best deal on a property, it’s going to take more than writing an offer and crossing your fingers it gets accepted. Effective negotiation isn’t rocket science, but it does require knowledge, effort and a fair amount of patience. Before you start offering purchase prices to agents, make sure you’re…
Most people spend their lives chasing happiness, reading countless books and blogs about how to find it. But here’s the irony: being unhappy is far easier. In fact, many of us have already mastered it without even realising. Happiness requires awareness, effort, and conscious choices. Unhappiness, on the other hand, thrives on neglect. It sneaks…
While it’s not typically required by law, most financial products such as ETFs and managed funds report historical investment returns over 1, 3, 5, and 10 years, as well as since inception. This data is incredibly useful, as it allows investors to assess performance over the short, medium, and long term, all of which are…
Let’s face it, we Aussies love a good whinge. We’ll complain about the cost of living, the price of housing, the traffic, our politicians, and even the weather if we run out of other options. It’s part of our cultural DNA, that casual cynicism that coexists with our dry humour and love of understatement. But…
You’re probably reading this blog because you want to become rich. But how much money do you need? A lot of research has gone into whether money does truly make you happy and it has been found that, in general, humans are never satisfied. We always think that if we had a little bit more…
“What do you want your retirement to look like?” Most people pause when I ask that. Then they give vague answers: I want to travel more” or “spend time with the grandkids.” Nice ideas. But vague answers don’t lead to meaningful action. At Metropole, we’ve learned that the best way to help our clients build…
Ever heard of the 1% rule in property investment? It sounds simple, even seductive. Buy a property where the monthly rent is at least 1% of the purchase price, and you’re set for positive cash flow. In theory, it’s a quick way to separate good investments from bad. While you may come across this a…
Nationally, asking prices rose 1.9% for houses and 1.4% for units over the month, with combined dwellings up 1.6% month-on-month and 9.7% year-on-year, according to SQM Research’s Weekly Asking Prices Index for the week ending 28 October 2025 which revealed a continued upward momentum. Sydney house asking prices eased marginally (-0.04%) to $2.1 million yet…
![[PODCAST] Why Our Politicians Don’t Want Housing to Be Affordable | Big Picture Podcast with Ken Raiss](https://cdn.propertyupdate.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/728-Housing_Affordable-KR-Youtube-cover-270x200.jpg)
Let’s be honest — if our politicians really wanted housing to be affordable, it would be by now. They’ve had decades to fix it. There have been inquiries, commissions, roundtables, and billions thrown at so-called “affordability schemes.” And yet, what do we have? Record house prices, record rents, and a generation of young Aussies wondering…
