As property prices in the major Australian Eastern seaboard cities including Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and their major surrounding CBDs continue to reach historic highs, many potential investors find it difficult to enter the market or afford a suitable investment property. This increase in price has forced many home buyers to move even further away from CBDs and many investors to purchase based on budget alone rather than factor in all the elements that make a sound long term investment.

Very much like our weather seasons, you will notice the real estate listings market has times of cooling. In other words, there are less properties listed for sale and vendors are less interested in selling. This is normally due to several reasons, from the time of the year to a multitude of economic factors.

In the world of personal finance, it can be tempting to make investment decisions based on the desire to keep up with others.

This could be colleagues at work, neighbours, family, friends, or social media connections. Some of the ways this competitiveness can manifest itself is:

• Investing in property that is beyond your means.

• Looking at the aesthetics of a property instead of the data.

• Considering areas for their prestige rather than returns.

Some people have no issue at all with investing and yet for others the thought of investing is terrifying.

For those who have experienced fear related to the uncertainty of investing or their partners have experienced procrastination and worry on the topic of investing I hope that this article helps to turn that procrastination into decision.

The Australian residential investment market still has plenty of opportunities to deliver in 2023.

The key to success for your next property is understanding your own limitations and staying within them. This will put you in a position to take advantage of some extraordinary opportunities, if you know where to look. Investors have continued to make high returns on real estate over the past 63 years and there is every indication that Australian property will remain an effective investment strategy well into the future.

Congratulations on making your latest step into the Australian property market.

With any investment comes certain responsibilities that you need to attend to from time to time and decisions that you need to make over the years.

It is now time to look at what happens next and discuss some points that are worth considering so that you get the most out of your property.

There is no doubt that the recent commentary on the Australian cash rate has created some fear among people considering property investment as a potential strategy.

As anticipated, this has led a portion of buyers to take a position to put their investment plans on hold. We do understand the change in rates will impact the serviceability of many so just to be clear, we fully support those buyers that believe the risk is too high for their personal circumstances.

There has been some confusion and questions posed to us in regard to the QLD land tax initiative.

In our opinion the initiative seems to be focussed on higher level investors with property owned in companies and trusts. We do not foresee a large impact for the great proportion of our clients, and it is our hope that the following information will put your minds at ease. There have been many changes over the last 30 years and there will be many more to come in the next 30 years.

It’s no secret there has been significant media commentary surrounding the recent interest rate rises leaving many mortgage holders thinking about the need to tighten their personal budget to ensure they are able to manage their cash flow. However, it is important to note that the impacts felt by owner occupiers who hold a mortgage are not entirely the same as the investor.

Anyone who reads the press will know that the current sentiment around the housing market is probably best described as extremely positive. To provide some context around this sentiment, CoreLogic indicated that national house prices experienced a monthly rise in February 2021 of 2.1%.

It is never a challenge finding people who have an opinion on what drives residential property values upwards. Most of us have had some kind of experience purchasing property or know others who had done the same and when it comes to the age old question of “what makes property grow?”

The NAB recently revised upwards their forecasts for future house price movements. NAB’s Chief Economist Alan Oster stated, “we forecast healthy gains of over 7% in each of Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart in 2021, while Sydney and Melbourne should rise by 4.5% and 3.5% respectively”.

As a direct result of COVID-19, March 2020 will probably remain a month that is firmly etched in people’s memories for many years to come. However, during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, who would have thought that housing values would hold up as well as they have in Australia for the remainder of 2020?

Westpac and the Melbourne Institute measure consumer confidence (sentiment) every month. The most recent measurement in October 2020 was interesting to say the least.