Where do you start your search for an investment property? It’s the classic question every property investor asks, but the order of those decisions matters. What should I buy, where should I buy it, and when? At every seminar we used to run, Michael Yardney would put this question to the room. Almost without fail,…
There’s something psychologically powerful about a suburb joining the “million-dollar club”. Crossing that seven-figure threshold attracts headlines and creates the impression that property values have permanently moved to a higher level. Yet property markets don’t move in straight lines, and the latest figures are just another reminder that median prices can move backwards. According to…
Earlier this month I had the pleasure of speaking at the Brisbane branch of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Australia. The organisers asked me a dozen or so questions covering everything from affordability and population growth through to construction costs, infrastructure and the Olympics. Looking back on the discussion, four themes seemed to emerge. 1….
With national property values down by 5.2% in September from their March peak, Australia’s housing market is in a distinct downturn. This has sparked concerns voiced by Opposition Leader Angus Taylor of a housing market “in freefall”. Translated into dollar terms, using the Domain property price series, the price of a typical home has dropped…
This month the Reserve Bank lifted the cash rate to 4.60%, its fourth increase this year and the highest level since late 2011. Sydney home values are now around 7% below their February peak, the top end of the Melbourne and Sydney markets has fallen more than 10%, and plenty of investors are quietly wondering…
What if interest rates don’t fall? I keep seeing charts like the ones below. They all tell much the same story. Rates rise some more, inflation eventually behaves itself and sometime around late 2027 or early fiscal 2028 the cost of money starts heading south again. Maybe. But for mine, there is a growing risk…
I hear it constantly from investors right now – “I’ll wait until things settle down.” And I understand why. There’s a lot going on. They’re worried about tax changes, the direction of interest rates, political uncertainty, geopolitical unrest, stubborn cost-of-living pressures, and the mixed messages they’re hearing about the Australian economy. Every day there seems…
When people think about building wealth, the focus usually turns immediately to investment strategies. Which shares to buy? Should I purchase another property? Is now the right time to invest? These questions dominate the conversation. Yet the most important contributor to long-term financial success is not investment selection. It is cash flow and debt management. The way you earn, spend, save, and…
Capital city home prices have continued to fall over September although the rate of decline has eased in most capitals compared to August results. The national capital city median house price fell by 1.0% over the September quarter to $1,212,850 compared to the August quarter, according to the latest data from My Housing Market. The September…
Australia’s rental crisis is often discussed as though landlords and tenants sit on opposite sides of the table, with any benefit to one automatically coming at the other’s expense. That may make for a convenient political argument, but it overlooks a basic fact about our housing system: most tenants live in homes supplied by private…
