25 property investment lessons from 2025 you don’t want to forget

We're into a new year, and our property markets have come through the roller coaster of the first half of this decade with flying colours.

Of course, each year brings its own set of wins, challenges, and lessons. Looking back at last year – 2025 -was certainly no exception.

So it's a good time to reflect and recall some lessons to help make 2026 a better year for you as a property investor.

Remember, just a couple of years ago, our attention was on Covid-19 and its impact on our lives, and then in 2022, property values began to fall as interest rates kept rising.

Then, in 2023, our housing markets demonstrated remarkable resilience, and property values have been rising for the past couple of years.

However, looking back to the start of last year, who would have thought that the RBA would cut interest rates three times, only for inflation to stubbornly resurface by the year's end?

And yet, unemployment would stay at historic lows, our housing markets would remain so resilient, or that two wars on the other side of the world would last over two years.

Nobody could have predicted all that’s occurred, including the sharp decline in consumer confidence due to economic uncertainty and rising living costs.

Yet as we worked our way through 2025, I can’t help but reflect on what Australia as a country has accomplished and what I’ve achieved personally, what I’ve overcome, and the lessons I want to carry with me.

So here are my 25 biggest lessons from 2025 for property investors.

1. Expect the unexpected

Every year, an unexpected X factor appears out of the blue to disrupt even the best-laid plans – sometimes for the better, and sometimes for the worse.

In 2025, the X factor was three interest rate cuts, but then unexpectedly rising inflation caused further rate cuts to be put on hold.

Strategic investors don’t try to predict these surprises – they prepare for them by owning quality assets, in the right ownership structures, holding buffers, following a proven plan, and obtaining holistic advice from their consultants.

But the biggest risk is what no one sees coming, because if no one sees it coming, then no one is prepared for it, and if no one is prepared for it, its damage will be greater when it hits.

While an X factor seems to come every year, a major Black swan event as some call it, one that “breaks the world”, tends to come every decade.

Be prepared!

2. Focus on the long term

The strong performance of our property markets reminded us to ignore the many pessimistic property predictions by the so-called “experts” who predicted real estate Armageddon.

I learned a long time ago that if you look at last year's predictions and see how they played out, you wouldn't pay too much attention to this year's predictions.

In fact, you'll learn more from reading history than from reading forecasts.

Of course, it's hard to ignore the forecasts when the media continuously reminds you about how dire our situation is, but I also learned not to make 30-year investment decisions based on the last 30 minutes of news.

Strategic investors have a long-term focus and don’t change their plans based on what’s happening “now”.

In fact, they don’t buy investments that are working now – they invest in the type of assets that have always worked.

In other words, they don’t chase the next shiny toy or the next hotspot.

Clearly, this was the thinking behind Warren Buffett's quote, “Be fearful when others are greedy and be greedy when others are fearful.”

But while that’s easy to say, it’s not so easy to do.

3. It’s the media’s job to entertain you – not educate you

Remember… it’s the media’s job to get eyeballs on the advertisers’ content, rather than to educate you.

That's why you'll find so many negative or scary headlines.

Remember all the forecasts of a significant property downturn in 2023? Not just from the regular property pessimists, but from the bank and RBA economists.

Yet… how many of those experts’ forecasts came true?

What happened to those forecasts of the fiscal cliff, the unemployment cliff or the fixed rate cliff and mortgage stress forcing floods of distressed properties onto our markets?

But look how many people worried and stressed about the potential outcomes that just didn’t occur.

Unfortunately, being overwhelmed by misinformation led many people to live in a state of fear and anxiety, and caused some to make disastrous investment errors.

4. Take economic forecasts with a grain of salt

Remember all those forecasts that unemployment would reach 10% or more?

What about those forecasts of property values dropping 20% or more?

They didn’t come to fruition, did they?

Similarly, if you’re reading something frightening in the business section, or hearing it on TV, or learning about it from your neighbour, it’s almost certainly too late to act — because the information is already reflected in the market, in either the share price or property prices.

5. Don’t believe the Doomsayers

There will always be someone out there telling you not to invest in property.

At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, the doomsayers found their moment and told us how our property markets would crash – they were wrong of course.

Then they were out once again telling us that inflation, rising interest rates and mortgage defaults were going to cause the property market to crash.

Don't listen to these Property Pessimistic and Negative Nellies - the so-called “experts looking for a headline” who keep telling anyone who would listen to them the real estate Armageddon is ahead of us.

There’s nothing new about these doomsayers who have been peddling their forecasts for a decade or two.

There will always be somebody wanting to stall the aspirations of their fellow Australians who are looking to take their financial futures into their own hands and do something about it.

Don’t let them stop you from achieving your financial dreams – the doomsayers are always wrong, at least in the long term.

6. No one really knows what’s going to happen to the property markets

Be careful whose forecasts you listen to.

There are 28 million property experts in Australia - everyone seems to have an opinion about property, don’t they?

But you know what they say about opinions… they’re like belly buttons; everyone has one but they’re basically useless.

So be careful who you listen to.

Look back to 2020 when most of the respected economists got their predictions wrong when they predicted significant drops in our property market.

And then in 2021, most economists did not foresee how strong our property markets would grow.

And it was much the same in 2023 and 2024 and 2025.

If you based your property investing on these forecasts, you would have missed some great opportunities.

So as a real estate investor, while it’s important to have mentors make sure you’re listening to somebody who has not only built their own substantial property portfolio, but someone who has kept their wealth through a number of cycles.

Someone who has been "around the block" a few times and can see patterns where others see chaos.

There are just too many enthusiastic amateurs out there offering investment advice at present.

7. There is no such thing as the “Australian property market.”

There are multiple markets in Australia, and each state is at a particular stage of its own property cycle within each state there are multiple submarkets depending on price point, geography and type of property.

This means that despite all Australians enjoying the same interest rate environment, the same tax system and the same government, some property markets outperformed others significantly in 2025 and the same will happen in 2026.

2025 reinforced the stark divergence between top-tier, middle-tier, and lower-tier suburbs.

But there’s nothing new about this… local factors have always driven property market performance.

So avoid paying attention to commentary that gives broad generalisations about the Australian property market or even the Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane property markets.

8. Don’t try and time the market

Even though they are armed with all the research available in today’s information age, economists never seem to agree on where our property markets are heading and usually get their forecasts wrong.

That’s because market movements are far from an exact science.

It’s more than just fundamentals (which are relatively easy to quantify) that move markets.

One overriding factor the experts have difficulty quantifying is investor sentiment.

So rather than timing your investment purchases (or sales), if you buy the right investment-grade assets, time in the market is much more important than timing the market.

And if you think about it, the top and the bottom of the market are really only one or two days or weeks or months in the cycle.

The “market bottom” passed in early 2023. The rate-cut rally didn’t begin until late 2024.

Most people who tried to pick the “perfect moment” simply never invested.

9. The crowd is usually wrong

“Crowd psychology” influences people’s investment decisions, often to their detriment.

Investors tend to be most optimistic near the peak of the cycle, at a time when they should be the most cautious and they’re the most pessimistic when all the doom and gloom is in the media near the bottom of the cycle when there is the least downside.

Market sentiment is a key driver of property cycles and one of the reasons why our markets overreact, overshooting the mark during booms and getting too depressed during slumps.

Remember that each property boom sets us up for the next downturn, just as each downturn sets the scene for the next upswing.

10. Property investment is a game of finance with some houses thrown in the middle

Strategic property investors have a financial plan to buy themselves not only real estate but also time.

They do this by having financial buffers to see themselves through the ups and downs of the property cycle and give themselves the capacity to handle fluctuations in interest rates.

11. You need to plan – not just a property.

While the property markets will create significant wealth for many Australians, statistics show that 50% of those who buy an investment property sell up in the first five years.

And of those who stay in the investment game, 92% never get past their first or second property.

That's because attaining wealth doesn’t just happen, it’s the result of a well-executed plan.

Planning is bringing the future into the present so you can do something about it now!

It's important to start with the end game in mind and understand what you need and what you want to achieve.

And then you have to build a plan, a strategy to get there.

Just to make things clear...buying an investment property is NOT a strategy!

The property you eventually buy will be the physical manifestation of a whole lot of decisions that you will make, and they must be made in the right order

That's because property investment is a process, not an event.

If you’re a beginner looking for a time-tested property investment strategy or an established investor who’s stuck or maybe you just want an objective second opinion about your situation, I suggest you allow the team at Metropole to build you a personalised, customised Strategic Property Plan.

When you have a Strategic Property Plan you’re more likely to achieve the financial freedom you desire because we’ll help you:

• Define your financial goals;
• See whether your goals are realistic, especially for your timeline;
• Measure your progress towards your goals – whether your property portfolio is working for you, or if you’re working for it;
• Find ways to maximise your wealth creation through property;
• Identify risks you hadn’t thought of.

And the real benefit is you’ll be able to grow your wealth through your property portfolio faster and more safely than the average investor.

Click here now and learn more about this service and discuss your options with us.

Your Strategic Property Plan should contain the following components:

• An asset accumulation strategy
• A manufacturing capital growth strategy
• A rental growth strategy
• An asset protection and tax minimisation strategy
• A finance strategy including long-term debt reduction and…
• A living off your property portfolio strategy

12. Invest for Capital Growth

Capital growth should be the key driver for your investment decisions, rather than cash flow.

Sure, cash flow is important and will keep you in the game, but it’s capital growth that gets you out of the rat race.

I see “yield chasers” stuck with underperforming assets over the next few years. while growth markets surged ahead.

So smart investors first build their equity and then convert it to cash flow.

At Metropole, our 40+ year analysis of investment returns shows that properties with higher rental yields generally deliver low overall returns for investors.

Our analysis proved that over the medium to long term, properties with lower rental returns (but stronger capital growth) delivered significantly higher overall returns (i.e. capital growth + rental return), while “cash flow properties” with high rental returns delivered lower ones overall.

What this means is those who invest in the more affordable suburbs that deliver a high level of rental return, with the expectation of strong overall returns, achieve exactly the opposite result.

This also highlights the significant opportunity cost of having underperforming assets in your portfolio.

If you can only afford to own 2 or 3 properties, make sure they are all “investment grade” properties that are working hard for you.

Moving forward, I can see that we will have a year of 2 halves in 2026.

The first half of the year will see strong momentum as the effects of interest rate cuts, rising incomes and policy support flow through, while the second half of the year is expected to see a natural slowdown as affordability limits re-emerge, particularly in Adelaide and Perth.

However, there are always markets within markets - while some areas may cool down in the second half of this year, others will still experience growth.

This highlights the importance of looking at data-driven insights and short-term pressure indicators.

I see the current market offering a window of opportunity for property investors with a long-term focus.

We have what someone would call a "perfect storm" of factors that will lead to strong property markets over the next couple of years:

• Continuing strong population growth
• A shortage of skilled labour
• A massive shortage of housing
• Inflation is coming under control, and interest rates are likely to fall a little further in the second half of the year.

Not that I suggest you try and time the market - this is just too difficult, and in truth, you’ve missed the bottom which occurred in early-2023.

But if the market hands you an opportunity like this, why not take advantage of it?

Taking advantage of the upturn stage of a property cycle has created significant wealth for investors in the past.

13. There will always be reasons not to invest

Every year brings new crises, new political dramas, new global conflict, new economic fears.

• Also read:Melbourne property market forecast for 2026 | Is it a good time to invest in Melbourne?
• Also read:Latest Property Price Forecasts Revealed. Australian Property Market Outlook 2026: Where To For Prices With Rate Cuts Delayed.
• Also read:Sydney property market forecast for 2026. Is it a good time to invest in Sydney?
• Also read:Brisbane Property Market Forecast [2026] – What’s Ahead & Where to Invest
• Also read:Everything you need to know about the state of Australia’s property markets in 20 charts – November 2025

History shows none of these have derailed Australia’s long-term property performance.

You can go back as far in history as you like, and there won’t be a crisis-free year.

Sure, some years are worse than others, but there is always bad news, and much of it is unexpected.

Where investors get into trouble is that rather than focusing on their long-term goals, they see these crises as once-in-a-generation events that will alter the course of history, when in reality they are just the normal path of history.

14. Property investment is risky in the short-term, but secure in the long term

Short-term wobbles are normal. Long-term compounding growth is unstoppable.

Yet those who stay in the game benefit from the power of compounding growth which builds wealth but takes time.

I found it takes the average property investor around 30 years to become financially independent, but most don’t make it because they can’t stay the distance in part because they don’t have good cash flow management.

15. Plan for the worst and look forward to the best

As a property investor, I protect myself from the challenges to our property markets by:

• Owning the right assets – investment-grade properties in desirable locations.
• Having multiple streams of income from a diversified portfolio of residential, commercial and industrial properties as well as shares.
• Owning my assets in the correct structures that protected my interests and were tax efficient.
• Setting up financial cash flow buffers to see me through difficult times.
• Protecting myself and my assets with adequate insurance policies.

You see... I've learned to protect myself and my investments because I don’t make forecasts - instead, I have expectations.

Now there’s a big difference between forecasts and expectations.

I expect there to be another recession in the next decade. But I don’t know when it will come.

I expect the property market to remain strong for the next couple of years, and then it will go flat for a while. But I don’t know when.

I expect that some of the investments I make won’t do as well as others. But I don’t know which ones they will be.

I expect interest rates to drop back a little again. But not in the first half of 2026. In fact, I don’t know when.

And I expect another world financial crisis. But I have no idea when it will come.

Now, these are not contradictions or a form of a cop-out!

An expectation is an anticipation of how things are likely to play out in the future based on my perspective of how things worked in the past.

A forecast is putting a time frame to that expectation.

Of course, in an ideal world, we would be able to forecast what’s ahead for our property markets with a level of accuracy.

But we can’t because there are just too many moving parts.

Sure, there are all those statistics that are easy to quantify, but what is hard to identify is exactly when and how millions of strangers will act in response to the prevailing economic and political environment.

Then there will always be those X factors that crop up.

So I plan for the worst but expect the best.

16. You can't rely on one stream of income

You've probably noticed that successful investors, business owners and entrepreneurs enjoy multiple streams of income.

They strategically go to great lengths to ensure they have money coming in from all directions, or in other words, "they don't have all their eggs in one basket."

Unfortunately, many Australians learned this lesson the hard way during the years of the pandemic, with some losing their jobs, others having their work hours cut back and yet others losing their life savings as many small businesses went broke.

There will always be issues to contend with.

It may not be a pandemic next time, but it could be personal health issues or your inability to work.

Sure, it's hard enough for some people to figure out how to create a single source of income, let alone multiple streams, but in my mind, you have no choice.

Rather than relying on your job as an income source become financially fluent, learn to invest and develop multiple streams of income.

17. There are always risks associated with investing

Don’t be afraid to fail, because the biggest risk is doing nothing to protect your financial future.

Sometimes negative experiences, mistakes and failures can be even better than success because they teach you something new that another win could never teach you.

However, we are often so driven to get things right that we fail to see the value in the things we get wrong.

Instead, we spend our time wishing we had done it differently.

Or not doing anything at all because the fear of making mistakes paralyses us.

If you get it wrong, learn from your mistake and make it count by doing it differently next time.

One “failure” can – with time – help you create many successes.

18. Cautious optimism is better for your investment health than perma pessimism.

Life is not fair – get used to it.

But having said that, optimists are more successful in all areas of life than pessimists, or so-called realists (who are just pessimists in disguise).

And this includes the realm of investing.

Now, this doesn’t mean that you will necessarily be happy and smiling all day.

But it does mean that you have the ability to look at a situation and while it might be tough, you’re able to see around that corner and see the possibilities...rather than the difficulties.

Those who have high expectations usually rise up to meet them.

2025 rewarded those who stayed positive and focused on opportunities, not obstacles.

19. Time is a limited resource – don’t waste it

We all have 1,440 minutes every day, but some of us squander it, waste it or don’t use it efficiently.

Living through over 260 of Covid related lockdowns in Melbourne a few years ago reminded me how truly valuable time is.

You can lose money and get it back again, if you’re sick you can often get your health back again, but once the time has gone it is gone and is irretrievable.

Start to capitalise on the time you have and get a whole lot more done.

The problem is that many people confuse moving with progress.

Just because you’re doing a lot doesn’t mean you’re getting a lot done – I found many people seem to be running in place.

Interestingly, working from home has made me much more efficient; I get a lot more done in those 1,440 minutes I have every day.

Another way of looking at time was brought home to me in the couple of years I was locked down in Melbourne during the pandemic.

On some level, most of us know that life is short, but 2022 taught us and solidified the fact that we don’t get a second chance and the importance of truly appreciating what and who we have in our lives whilst living to the fullest.

20. The only certainty is change

We all face changes every day – whether it’s as simple as a change in the weather or something as significant as another wave of the coronavirus.

Changes are a normal part of life; the problem is that most of us don’t like change – we like certainty.

However, learning to expect change has brought me hope during challenging or unexpected life events.

I’ve come to realise that it’s not the circumstances or the changes that dictate how my life will go, but rather how I handle those changes and disruptions.

Rather than worrying about all the changes occurring, I’ve learned the concept of having a useful belief about the changes that are happening to me and seeing what good will come from them.

The more I feel in control of the life my life, the more comfortable I feel and the better I perform in all areas of my life.

21. Worry Better

Fact is, most things you fear will happen, never do.

They’re just monsters in your mind.

And if they do happen, they’re most likely not to be as bad as you expected.

But forget the saying “don’t worry, be happy”; instead, worry the right way – it’s better than not worrying at all.

You see…worry can play an important role in your life, and it doesn’t have to be destructive.

We’re all wired to worry.

That’s because worry had an evolutionary benefit, it drew our attention to the fact that there were some things that you should be doing while there were other things that should be avoided.

Those who worried correctly survived and evolved.

But today time spent worrying is time that you could spend identifying opportunities and taking action.

Worrying about the right things can motivate you, but if you find it unproductive, try to take your mind off things by getting engaged in other activities:

I’ve learned the trick of limiting the amount of time I worry.

I was taught to set a limit, say 5 or 10 minutes, on my “worry time,” then force myself to move on by focusing on other tasks or engaging in other activities.

It’s a good trick to learn.

22. This too shall pass

How often do we need to hear the world as we know it is coming to an end before we realise that the world as we know it has not come to an end?

I've learned that making long-term investment decisions based on short-term concerns is not a recipe for success.

The lesson? 2026 will bring its own events that will dictate our lives and financial market sentiment for a few months.

I recommend you prepare yourself to see these for what they are: a distraction.

23. 2025 was the year of AI

2024 was the year many of us learned about AI and Chat GPT and in 2025, AI shifted from novelty to infrastructure.

Moving forward it's likely you will be utilising tools and platforms that should streamline your investment process, provide valuable insights, and manage your properties efficiently.

24. Property demand is going to outstrip supply for the next decade

Moving forward, demand is going to continue to outstrip supply for some time to come as we experience strong levels of immigration at a time when we’re just not building anywhere as many properties as we require.

This is going to underpin property values and rental growth; however, affordability will remain an issue for many.

Our housing markets will remain fragmented in 2026.

Relatively high interest rates and inflation will keep eating away at the average Australian's household budget, making the property less affordable for many.

Of course, Australia is a big country and there are many remote locations where properties remain very affordable - the problem is that no one really wants to live there.

On the other hand, blue chip property investment grade properties will continue to remain relatively unaffected by the many fluctuations driving our housing markets, primarily due to a consistent lack of supply in those areas as well as ongoing aspirational demand from people who can afford to live in these locations.

2025 taught us the importance of living in the right type of property in the right neighbourhood.

It showed us that people will pay a premium for the ability to work, live and play within a 20-minute drive, bike ride or walk from home.

They will look for things such as shopping, business services, education, community facilities, recreational and sporting resources, and some jobs all within 20 minutes' reach.

Residents of these neighbourhoods have now come to appreciate the ability to be out and about on the street socialising, supporting local businesses, being involved with local schools, and enjoying local parks.

As obtaining finance remains difficult moving forward, it will be the people with money that drive property prices.

Not just locals living in the area but people who want to move into these better locations.

You see...there will always be wealthy Australians who will be able to and prepared to pay more to live in these better locations – rich people don't buy cheap properties.

25. Australia is entering a “wealth gap property cycle”

Currently, there is a lot of talk about the rich getting richer and those who own A grade properties having more choices - they can move house and "right size" using the equity in their homes, while others are using their home equity and acting as the Bank of Mum and Dad helping their children into the property market.

In my mind, the gap will only widen between the wealth of those who own quality property assets and those who don't.

This is the new structural lesson we now can’t ignore.

We are no longer in a single-cycle market. We are in a two-speed wealth cycle:

• Those who own quality assets will see their wealth compound faster than ever.
• Those who don’t may be permanently priced out of the most desirable locations.

This is the biggest shift of the decade – and it has profound implications:

• A-grade locations will keep outperforming.
• Scarcity will matter more than ever.
• Lifestyle and school zones will become even stronger value drivers.
• Affordable suburbs without strong fundamentals will lag.
• The rich will get richer not by luck, but by leverage, equity recycling, and buying better assets.

For investors, this lesson is crucial: the next decade will reward quality, not quantity.

The bottom line

Australia’s housing is so horribly undersupplied that I've rarely encountered a supply-demand inflection point like this that requires such attention.

Locating an available property is already more elusive than finding the missing car keys.

And it’s only going to get worse.

Of course this offers an astounding real estate investment window.

See, in most asset classes, the future is largely unknown—like in stocks, futures markets, derivatives, bonds, crypto, gold, oil, and other commodities.

Sure, property has unknowns too. But there are five certainties for our housing markets now:

1. Inflation will stick around a little longer than the RBA would like
2. Interest rates will eventually fall again but not much more
3. The scarcity of dwellings for both purchase and rent will not go away any time soon.
4. Rents will keep rising
5. Astoundingly good demographics and strong population growth will keep fuelling demand for housing.

It's all inevitable.

The investors who will thrive in 2026 and beyond will be those who:

• own investment-grade assets
• embrace long-term strategies
• ignore market noise
• manage risk intelligently
• plan strategically, not opportunistically

Residential real estate remains the most powerful, proven vehicle for long-term wealth creation in Australia – and in 2026, the wind is firmly at your back.