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 fell to 1.0% in March 2026, down from 1.1% in February. The total number of residential vacancies declined to 31,732 dwellings, marking a continued tightening in rental market conditions nationwide. The March result indicates that strong tenant demand…
![[PODCAST] Why Some Property Markets Boom While Others Stall – The Hidden Force in Property Investing with Simon Kuestenmacher](https://cdn.propertyupdate.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/777-The_Hidden_Force_in_PI-SK-Youtube-cover-270x200.jpg)
You’ve probably noticed that some property markets surge ahead while others seem to tread water… even when the broader economic conditions are the same. It’s easy to blame interest rates, government policy, or media sentiment, but those factors only tell part of the story. The real drivers sit underneath all of that, and they’re far more predictable if you know where to look. In today’s Wealth Retreat Conversations episode, I want to give you a taste of the type of thinking and insights you’ll experience at Wealth Retreat, where leading demographer Simon Kuestenmacher will be joining us…
One thing I’ve noticed speaking with many property investors is… While on the one hand, a small group has done very well over the last few years, initially spurred on by the recent once-in-a-generation property boom in 2020 – 21 and then by the strong housing markets of 2023-25 and this was despite the property…
It’s not often we see a statistic that tells such a clear story about wealth creation. But right now Australia’s property market is doing exactly that – quietly delivering record profits to homeowners across the country and reshaping the financial landscape in the process. For the first time in 15 years, over 90% of house…
There is no doubt that our housing markets are facing challenges from all directions, but clearly, they have remained resilient. To better understand what’s happening, this monthly collection of charts from Cotality (formerly CoreLogic) paints an interesting picture. Buying a home for roughly the same cost as renting might sound unlikely in Australia’s current housing market,…
Prices are up again. Headlines scream “new record highs.” Homeowners quietly smile. Renters quietly seethe. And somewhere in the background, a much bigger question gets ignored: As a nation, how expensive do we actually want housing to be? This is the uncomfortable conundrum that leading demographer Simon Kuestenmacher, my co-host of the Demographics Decoded podcast,…
Most people assume that if costs rise due to a shock – such as the current Middle East shenanigans – they will fall back once things settle. But economics and, moreover, business doesn’t work that way. Prices move up quickly with rising costs, but they rarely come back down in any meaningful way. “Up like…
“Am I doing OK financially?” It’s the question so many Australians quietly ask themselves. But few dare to say out loud. Whether you’re just starting out, deep in your wealth-building years, or nearing retirement, it’s natural to wonder: “How do I stack up?” Well, let’s find out. Drawing on fresh data from the ABS, ATO,…
Why is it that some property investors seem to make steady progress year after year, calmly building substantial portfolios and growing their wealth, while others stay stuck in place despite reading the same books, attending the same webinars and listening to the same podcasts? And why do two people with similar incomes, similar opportunities and…
SQM Research’s Weekly Asking Prices Index for the week ending 30 March 2026 showed mixed short-term movements, though annual growth remains strong. Nationally, asking prices eased slightly over the month, with houses down 0.5%, units up 0.3%, and combined dwellings falling 0.4%, while still 12.0% higher year-on-year. Sydney (-0.8%) and Melbourne (-0.1%) recorded slight monthly…
