By Michael Yardney July 12, 2026

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Why Property Is My Favourite Investing Playground – And Why That Will Never Change

Property Investment
Why Property Is My Favourite Investing Playground – And Why That Will Never Change

Key takeaways

Real estate is an imperfect market, which is precisely what gives skilled investors an edge.

In a near-perfect market like shares, information is broadly equal and prices reflect that - leaving little room to outperform.

In property, information asymmetry, emotion, and local knowledge create genuine opportunities to buy below true value.

An investor with the right expertise, contacts, and strategy can consistently acquire assets at 5-10% below market value.

The imperfections that frustrate ordinary buyers are the same imperfections that reward serious investors.

One of the reasons I’ve always been attracted to property is that it’s an imperfect market.

And I mean that in the best possible way.

When I look at investments, I’m drawn to asset classes where knowledge, strategy, relationships, patience and negotiation can give me an edge.

That’s why property appeals to me. It gives an informed investor the opportunity to buy an asset below its true value, improve its performance over time, and eventually refinance at it’s true value or even sell it to someone who may value it more highly than the broader market does.

Property Market

Why "perfect" markets work against you

When most people think about investing, many gravitate toward shares because they're accessible, liquid, and easy to buy.

Those are real advantages. But they come with a significant trade-off.

The sharemarket is about as close to a "perfect" market as you'll find. Prices are updated in real time, information is broadly disclosed to all participants, and the cost of trading is negligible.

That efficiency is great for passive investors who just want to track the index. For an active investor trying to outperform, it creates a serious problem.

When everyone has access to the same information at the same time, the price already reflects what the asset is worth.

You can't consistently buy below intrinsic value because the market has already priced in what it knows - and thousands of professional fund managers and analysts are working around the clock to make sure of it.

This doesn't mean you can't make money in shares. You clearly can.

But it's very hard to consistently beat the market over time, which is why most managed funds underperform their benchmark index over the long run.

Why imperfection is your friend

Real estate is an entirely different story. Property is, by definition, an imperfect market.

Transactions are private, pricing is negotiated, and the information available to any given buyer varies enormously depending on their experience, relationships, and local knowledge.

Every property is unique, which means there's no exchange quoting a “live” price.

Every vendor has a different motivation - some are in a hurry, some are uninformed, some have overpriced their property, some genuinely need to sell quickly and will accept less.

This creates an environment in which a knowledgeable buyer can consistently identify and exploit gaps between price and value.

I know investors who have bought properties at 5% or even 10% below genuine market value, not as a lucky one-off, but as a repeatable result of being better informed and better connected than the average buyer in that market.

That's something that simply doesn't happen in shares. You can't call your broker and buy BHP at 10% below what the market is pricing it at today.

However, in property, you can absolutely negotiate a purchase at a meaningful discount to true value if you know what you're doing. And that’s particularly the case at present when market sentiment is at a low.

The sources of the imperfection

It's worth understanding exactly where the edge comes from, because "imperfect market" can sound abstract.

In practice, the imperfections in real estate stem from several things that are unlikely to disappear.

First, there's information asymmetry. A local buyer who has inspected 200 properties in a suburb knows what a property is genuinely worth far better than a vendor who has owned their home for 20 years and based their pricing on what their neighbour got three years ago.

Second, there's emotion. Vendors price emotionally - they're selling the home they raised their children in, or they're frustrated and ready to accept less just to move on. Neither of those mindsets produces a perfectly rational price.

Third, there's illiquidity. Because property takes time to sell and transactions are costly, vendors can't simply wait for the "right" price the way a shareholder can hold indefinitely and sell in seconds. Time pressure creates discounting opportunities.

Fourth, there's local knowledge. Understanding that a particular street is about to benefit from rezoning, that a school catchment is shifting, that infrastructure spending is coming - this is exactly the kind of asymmetric information that's priced in immediately on the sharemarket but can persist unrecognised in property for years.

But - and this is critical - the edge only goes to those who do the work

The imperfections in property work both ways. The same market that allows a skilled investor to buy well also allows an uninformed buyer to overpay significantly.

I've seen plenty of investors who believed they were exploiting the market's inefficiencies only to find, years later, that they'd bought poorly located assets in the wrong areas at the wrong price.

The imperfect market isn't automatically generous. It rewards those with genuine expertise and punishes those without it.

This is exactly why I'm sceptical of investors who do their own research, pick their own properties, and back their judgment against experienced professionals – like the team of buyers agents at Metropole - who have transacted in hundreds of markets over many decades.

Being good at property isn't about being smarter than everyone else. It's about having better information, better relationships, years of perspective and a tested framework for for analysing the market.

What this means in practice

At Metropole, the whole premise of what we do is built on this principle.

We have our own “on the ground” teams in multiple capital city markets, which means our team sees more transactions, more negotiating outcomes, and more pricing data than virtually any individual investor could accumulate on their own.

That depth of market knowledge and the perspective gained from being in the market for years is how our clients access the edge that the imperfect market offers - consistently buying investment-grade properties in the right locations at the right price, rather than paying full retail for someone else's problem.

The imperfections in real estate aren't bugs. For a prepared investor with the right team behind them, they're the whole point.

Thinking about making your next property move? The team at Metropole has been helping investors buy smarter for decades. To find out how we can help you build a strategic property portfolio, click here now and lock in a time for a chat with a Metropole Property Strategist. You’ll find we’re much more than just another buyer’s agent – we help our clients grow, protect and pass on their wealth through strategic advice.

Property is the vehicle – Strategy is the driver.

About Michael Yardney Michael is the founder of Metropole Property Strategists who help their clients grow, protect and pass on their wealth through independent, unbiased property advice and advocacy. He's once again been voted Australia's leading property investment adviser and one of Australia's 50 most influential Thought Leaders. His opinions are regularly featured in the media.