Category

best investment

Choosing an investment property and understanding demographics

By | best investment, Economy, Investment, Properties, Property Research, Real Estate, rent | No Comments

Choosing a good investment property and understanding the demographics

Choosing an investment property and understanding demographics of a neighbourhood go hand in hand.

When we are looking at an area or suburb for investment, it is essential to have a look at the demographics of the neighbourhood to understand the age groups attracted to the area and the likely incomes and type of housing that will be the most attractive for the majority of people wanting to rent and wanting to buy as owner-occupiers in the area.

It makes sense to be buying a modern two-bedroom apartment close to the city for your investment if you know that a large percentage of the population in the area are young professional renters with a reasonably high disposable income who can afford to pay the rental your investment should achieve.

Report found Cardiff as the most segregated city in England and Wales

Report found Cardiff as the most segregated city in England and Wales

Likewise, in areas where we see large numbers of retirees moving to smaller single level villa developments, wanting the added security of a gated community, then perhaps that type of property may make the best investment in that type of area.

A recent report from the UK may be of some interest to Australian planners also as we see the median age of residents in our cities fall considerably as young Gen x and Gen Y renters move closer to our city centres. The article entitled “Housing crisis ‘is driving young and old apart as different generations are being forced to live apart‘ , highlights the fact that age segregation is now an planning issue in many UK cities.

The study found that:

  • Under-30s are stuck renting in Britain’s regenerated city centres
  • In a rise in ‘age segregation’ the middle-aged dominate the coastal regions
  • The lack of affordable housing in many areas has damaged society, says a report by the Intergenerational Foundation

Recognise any of these issues for our Australian cities? Older people congregating in smaller towns and outer suburbs has implications on where to place health services and other planning issues as well as some of the more obvious problems ‘age segregation’ may cause.

Choosing an investment property and understanding the demographics of a neighbourhood is essential in understanding the type of property likely to work best for you both for finding renters immediately and for future capital growth in having the type of property most likely to appeal to future owner-occupiers.  Read more: https://goo.gl/CbaxP7

Are holiday homes still a good investment?

By | best investment, Economy, Investment, Properties, Property Solutions, Research | No Comments

Are holiday homes still a good investment?

There is an article in domain.com.au today which asks the question, are holiday homes a good investment? The author seems to support the notion that, on the whole, money can still be made from a second ‘holiday home’ but I do not think this statement actually answers the question. It is almost a certainty that any property will make you money over a period of time, this fact in itself does not make a good investment.

Gold Coast is prooving popular for Brisbane commuters

Holiday Homes do not always make a good investment.

I have the experience of a holiday home in Cairns, purchased new back in 2002. The complex was new and was awarded all sorts of awards as “the Best” in this and “The Best”. I could use it whenever I chose and at other times in was in the complex holiday rental pool; a very typical set-up for a holiday unit almost anywhere in Australia. The total cost, including a furniture package and stamp duty was around $300,000. As an investment, it held its own for the first few years and it gained from the large growth cycle witnessed in Cairns between 2002 and 2008, probably reaching a price point of around $420,000…… then came the GFC! The Australian dollar went through the roof, tourism disappeared, body corporate in far north Queensland almost doubled overnight due to insurance policies and Cairns city council rates became some of the highest in Australia.

Even with the higher 4% depreciation that can be claimed on this type of ‘commercial’ property, the out of pocket after tax holding costs were quite substantial. The Cairns housing market also collapsed by up to a staggering 50% in some cases. Fourteen years after the purchase, I can still say I love visiting this unit (each time now seems to involve a fridge replacement or a lounge suit replacement or something else), it almost looks after itself and, if I chose to sell, I’d probably just get around the $300K I originally paid for it.

Had I purchased a unit on the gold coast around the same time for the same purpose, the history would just be about the same, maybe slightly better.

For a good investment, stick to areas where you can minimise your risk and maximise your return. Stick to the major capital cities of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane and do not try and kill two birds with the one stone; if you want a good investment property, buy a good investment property: if you want a good well-located holiday home then that is what you buy – but don’t look for this being a great investment!

Read more: http://www.domain.com.au/news/are-holiday-homes-still-a-good-investment-20160912-gre5q4/

Is there an oversupply and should property investors be concerned?

By | best investment, Economy, Investment, Market, News, Properties, Property Research | No Comments

Is there an oversupply and should property investors be concerned?

In the last few blogs, we have been discussing the game-changing projects now being undertaken in the heart of Brisbane and the Big Australia policy all pointing to the need for more property and opportunity for property investors, so is there an oversupply and should property investors be concerned?

There is little doubt that there are some pockets of short-term concern in our major cities. Fringe suburbs in Sydney are seeing small corrections in some unit prices, inner Melbourne has seen substantial falls in some unit developments and Brisbane units are seeing slight falls in yields in some areas. It’s all very temporary, we have been in much worse temporary over-supply situations before and again the over-supply is in relatively tight pockets where just too much of inappropriate property development has taken place. I use the word ‘inappropriate’ because the vacancy rates are highest in small cheaply-built units that really depend on one and one only selling point – relatively good location. This type of apartment may be popular for students and young professionals leaving home for the first time but they do not attract the owner-occupier or the longer-term tenants wanting a larger space to call ‘home’. When other ‘better’ options are available in a market place, it tends to be the inferior properties that suffer from long vacancy which in turn drives down rental yield as landlords strive to attract fewer renters.

It’s all temporary anyway, and the recent report on Sydney’s population boom makes this abundantly clear; we need more homes for an exploding population. Sydney is now growing faster than predicted putting more pressure on the city’s housing needs.

Rob Stokes, NSW Planning Minister, describes this population boom as a “symptom of Sydney’s success”. Sydney’s population is expected to leap by more than 2.1 million people in the next 20 years – about 170,000 more than predicted only two years ago. In 2014 Sydney was projected to have a population of 6.25 million within 20 years, up from 4.29 million in 2011. The updated projections anticipate a 6.42 million population in 20 years.

It’s planned that 1/3 of this new population will be housed in new high density corridors along major transport routes, one third will be in higher density existing areas and the remaining one third will be housed in our expanding growth corridors, particularly in the west and south-west. In the Camden area in the south-west, the population is expected to rise from 58,000 in 2011 to 224,000 in 2036. In Parramatta the population is expected to double from about 200,000 in 2011 to 416,000 in 2036. The City of Sydney population is expected to increase at a similar rate – from 183,000 in 2011 to 315,000 in 2036. Stark rates of growth are anticipated in the Hills, Botany Bay, Liverpool, and Blacktown.

Over-supply? …..  Maybe in small pockets but for a very short time!

Read more: http://goo.gl/B6cZws

Do you want a Big Australia?

By | best investment, Economy, Investment, News, Properties, Real Estate, Research | No Comments

Do you want a Big Australia?

Both of our major political parties are in favour of a big Australia. Of course a big Australia means many more people, at present we are seeing an additional one million people being added to Australia’s population around every three years. The city of Sydney now has a population of over five million with another 1.5 million to be added to Sydney alone within the next 16 years.

The many arguments for a big Australia state that more population means more economic growth; another argument is that new migrants are of working age which helps off-sets the problem of the very large number of Australians reaching retirement age. Our future as an aging nation is not nearly as bleak as some of our Asian and European friends.

There are many dissenters to the Big Australia policy and their arguments are discussed in today’s news article (see http://www.smh.com.au/comment/is-there-room-for-big-australia-20160901-gr6atz ).

Wilton Junction. The newest of our New Towns - 70Km from the CBD

Wilton Junction. The newest of our New Towns – 70Km from the CBD

The implications of this massive growth in population should make the property investor stop and think. In Sydney, for example, using an average of 3 persons per household, we actually need an additional 500,000 homes over the next 16 years. It is only these numbers that can make some sense of the massive new developments happening in our North West and South West in particular. No longer are we seeing massive new ‘commuter suburbs’ being built on our city fringes but instead whole new towns with their own job-creating infrastructure.

The priority new town development area has been announced and will commence next year at Wilton Junction – (http://talkwiltonjunction.com.au/) – a new community to cater initially for 12,000 new homes and 35,000 new residents. Wilton Junction is just over 70Km from the CBD. If you have a trip to this new town, at around the 50km mark from the CBD just off the M5 bordering Narellan is the new town of Oran Park – (http://www.oranparktown.com.au/) – and its surrounding suburbs. Oran Park has transformed from the old Oran Park race track and surrounding paddocks to a hub of hundreds of homes surrounded by new commercial development with an eventual target of hosting a population of 25,000 people and maybe the same again in the surrounding area. It all looks very grand and we may wonder where all these ‘new’ people may come from?

We have two massive new developments here, one well-underway and another due to start shortly and between them they will offer a home in a new town to around no more than 90,000 people! Where will we house the remaining 1.4 million? Are we really building too many units in Sydney?

There is still great opportunity here for the astute property investment.

Great reasons to consider Brisbane for your next property investment

By | best investment, Investment, News, Property Research, Research, Uncategorized | No Comments

Great reasons to consider Brisbane for your next property investment   

There are a few YouTube links to this blog which highlight at least six Great reasons to consider Brisbane for your next property investment.  Before you read any more, consider the position Sydney (and NSW generally) was in around 2008? The country was doing exceptionally well, unemployment was low, GDP was high, we just had a new Prime Minister, the country had no debt at all but our State Government and our state was being described as a ‘basket case’! Our health system was in a mess because hospitals didn’t have enough to pay for food (Liverpool) or laundry (Camden) and unemployment in NSW was around the 7.8% mark. We were under the guidance of politicians like Mr Obeid, Mr Trapodi, Mr Robertson, et al! Happy Days.

By early 2010, things had improved considerably in NSW, unemployment was way down below 5% and the State seemed to be out of its ‘technical recession”. By 2011, our government had changed and we entered an era of massive employment and construction with jobs for all who wanted to work! The huge spend on infrastructure has been paralleled by a massive growth in house prices, exactly following the old PIE formula for house price growth – Population growth, Infrastructure growth with Economic growth.

For those who identify more with Melbourne think of the position the city and State was in before the Crown Casino development and all that has transpired since! Like it or hate it, the huge international Casino was seen as a ‘game changer’ for the city’s economy.

How will you even recognise the skyline of Brisbane in 6 years time?  Massive growth in Brisbane’s CBD, brought on by major developments across the city, is set to almost completely transform the Queensland capital by 2022.

Major projects alone will amount to a multi-billion dollar expenditure which has just started, tens of thousands of jobs will be created in the infrastructure build and even more jobs will be the completed legacy. The only real surprise about all of this is the lack of knowledge about these projects outside of Brisbane itself!

So what I am talking about? The largest of these are as follows – real game-changer projects that are set to transform our ne “Brisvagas”!

Queens Wharf – Casino and Entertainment precinct ($3 Billion)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRyBK9Y3WnA

The Queens Wharf project is set to be a world – class integrated resort development.

–          5 new hotels

–          50 bars and restaurants

–          1500 seat theatre

–          Conventions uses

–          3 residential towers

–          Major casino

–          Estimated to create 10,000 jobs while under construction

The Howard Smith Wharves ($800 Million)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPAIQOCotMY

Howard Smith Wharves redeveloped as a vibrant waterside destination under Brisbane’s Storey Bridge

–          Boutique five-star hotel

–          Exhibition space

–          Premier restaurants

–          Retail

–          Community facilities

–          Parklands

Brisbane Live Precinct – Roma Street Parklands ($2 billion ‘Brisbane Live’ ultra-entertainment precinct)                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gxSLTdLatY

  • Similar to Madison Square Gardenin New York City, or Melbourne’s Federation Square
  • The ability to transport thousands of spectators in and out of the precinct within just minutes
  • the centrepiece of the Brisbane Live plan is a new 17,000 seat world class arena which will showcase international superstar concerts and performances as well as world sporting events
  • 4000-capacity rock club
  • surrounded by multiplex cinemas
  • restaurants and bars
  • Giant screen and amphitheatre catering for around 15,000 people

Other notable upcoming projects:

–          The $800 million Brisbane Quarter to the west. The Brisbane Quarter will consist of an 82-storey residential tower, a 39-storey office building and the 32-storey W Brisbane Hotel.

–          Brisbane Airport’s new $1.3 billion parallel runway

–          The $1.54 billion Brisbane Metro rapid transit system

–          A new $100 million cruise ship facility at Luggage Point.

The above is a snippet of the exciting infrastructure developments in the Brisbane CBD and Brisbane Airport and surrounds.  These will see a massive growth in employment over the next 6 years during the construction phase followed by a legacy of massive employment when these projects are fully operational. All great reasons to consider Brisbane for your next property investment.

 Read more:  http://goo.gl/cXnPky

 

 

Investment property ‘hotspots’ moving further out

By | best investment, Economy, Investment, Market, News, Real Estate | No Comments

Investment property ‘hotspots’ moving further out

As the growth in the last two years in areas Like Oran Park and Schofields have shown, investment property ‘hotspots’ are moving further out from the CBD.

The commuter hubs around our major cities were usually within a 20-50km radius from the centre of the city but as our major cities sprawl, we now have commuters who are regularly travelling up to 150km each day just to get to work.

Even The Gold Coast is prooving popular for Brisbane commuters

Even The Gold Coast is prooving popular for Brisbane commuters

House prices and high rentals are forcing Sydney city workers to live as far away as Wollongong or Newcastle. In Melbourne, commuters are travelling into the city from Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo and in Brisbane; the regular commute is common from the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast.

Demographer Bernard Salt says the burgeoning and established commuter hubs are growing, attracting “substantial populations”.

The principle reasons stated by Salt for commuter hubs extending out are improved train travel times and upgrades to road links. These certainly make the daily commute more manageable, but there are other reasons why we are seeing demand and price growth in some of these commuter hub areas.

Many of our new areas are being built as integrated towns or small cities in their own right. They are not just expanding commuter suburbs, but places with their own town centres and industrial estates and office blocks as well as other necessary infrastructure like schools and hospitals. They are becoming employment hubs in their own right, offering new local jobs to the increasing population.

Another factor is the rise of technology. Since the early part of this century, executives and business owners have been taking advantage of electronic communication to base families in life-style areas such as the Gold Coast where businesses can be run with a phone and computer with an occasional commute to Sydney or Brisbane. The idea of living away from the hustle and bustle of city life is very appealing to those seeking a beach or country lifestyle for a growing family.

So it’s not all about commuting and convenience to the jobs in the city. It’s often about lifestyle and affordability that contribute to investment property ‘hotspots’ moving further out. Read more:  http://goo.gl/rd5QZs

Understanding the property cycle with the proof

By | Auction, best investment, Investment, Market, property cycle, Real Estate | No Comments

Understanding the property cycle with the proof

Wouldn’t it be fantastic to find that all the information we are given by the real estate industry is totally true and utterly dependable? We do our best to assist clients in understanding the property cycle with the proof of what is actually happening in our markets.

This can be a very difficult task sometimes as one of the most powerful lobby groups in Australia, The Real Estate Industry, supply information to the media in such a way that it totally clouds the reality of what is happening in the actual market place.

Auction clearance rates are very high, but selling two properties out of 2 for auction is a 100% clearance rate!

Auction clearance rates are very high, but selling two properties out of 2 for auction is a 100% clearance rate!

It would be fantastic to see a property market that increased all the time by a nice 7%-8% on average each year. This would see property prices double every nine or ten years and would provide the property investor with the certainty so many seek. There is no doubt that good well-positioned property in the Sydney market has achieved growth of just under 8% for at least the last 40 years and after the last 5 years I believe that half the population of this great city now believe that property prices will just continue to grow year after year.

The same was true at the end of the last Sydney property growth cycle in 2003. The shock and surprise of many who bought off- plan investment property in particular, in 2002 and 2003, to settle in a market that was around 6% and more lower than its 2003 peak on completion in 2005/6 not only shocked but saw many lose tens of thousands of dollars in deposits on property they could no longer obtain a bank loan for as it was not worth the contracted purchase price.

Of course, we had a little ‘shock’ in Sydney when prices clearly went backwards in the first quarter of this year – an expected small correction at the end of a quite amazing growth period of almost 5 years. Since then we read every week of the fabulous clearance rates and the strength of the markets both in Sydney and Melbourne. This weekend’s headlines are very similar to the last 2 or 3 months Dr Andrew Wilson | Aug 28, 2016 1:48 pm Sydney spring auction market opens with more strong results for property sellers  or maybe have a look at Melbourne  Dr Andrew Wilson | Aug 28, 2016 12:49 pm Top start for Melbourne spring auction property market.

So all is looking fantastic for everlasting growth in these headlines. The reality is perhaps clearer to see in this little article published this weekend, http://goo.gl/cHfcMz.  Receipts from residential stamp duty in July were 12 per cent lower than the same month last year, analysis by investment bank RBC Capital Markets shows. Year-on-year changes in monthly NSW stamp duty receipts were at the lowest mark in nearly five years.

Understanding the property cycle with the proof

So clearance rates may be high but we should understand that if only 2 properties are listed for auction and two properties sell by auction, then we have a 100% clearance rate. While current clearance rates are high, they are being calculated on around half the number of homes for auction than we had 12 months ago. The market is obviously significantly quieter when the State is seeing the lowest revenue on stamp duty in the last 5 years. This is nothing to worry about, it’s just another sign that the growth in the Sydney property market has almost certainly peaked and its maybe time to look towards another market that is more likely to be in its growth phase of the cycle.

Melbourne’s “investor stock” apartments to upgrade

By | best investment, Building, Investment, Properties, Property Research, Research | No Comments

Melbourne’s “investor stock” apartments to upgrade.

Not before time, the Victorian Government is insisting on Melbourne’s “investor stock” apartments to upgrade. The draft design standards have been released alongside research showing 60 per cent of apartments recently constructed in Melbourne were of low quality. Interestingly this figure of 60% comes from the developers themselves who are admitting they are “not proud” of many of their recent developments.

Melbourne to improve its very poor unit design

Melbourne to improve its very poor unit design

Following on from yesterday’s blog on the large uptake of inner city units from downsizers, Melbourne CBD has been at the very other spectrum of this market. Many developers have been concentrating on increasing their profits by constructing small “shoe-box’ apartments that would not be permitted to be constructed in either of our other east coast capital cities.

It’s almost unbelievable that the new rules will insist that there must be light in the way of a window to each bedroom! Also surprisingly, every unit will require having at least one small storage cupboard; minimum 2.7m ceilings; some green space outside and bedrooms will not be permitted beside mechanical plant in order that residents may be able to sleep! This sounds all a bit third world but this is typical of some recent unit development in Melbourne. If you are not familiar with this market, have a look here: http://goo.gl/wXJWTD

The Sydney buyer has been known to complain about the small size of new units in Sydney, but at least there are minimum sizes, something the Victorian Government will still not legislate. In Sydney, one-bedrooms units must be at least 50 square metres, two-bedroom apartments at least 70 square metres and three-bedrooms at least 90 square metres.

In looking for a good apartment investment, we are always looking for units that will appeal to future owner-occupiers and not just term by term students! This means units must be spacious, have parking and storage space. We also insist on outdoor areas including an entertainment balcony. These may well be included in the new Victorian guidelines but the space constraints are likely to remain. However, there is likely to be a big improvement after Melbourne’s “investor stock” apartments upgrade. Read about the proposed changes here: http://goo.gl/iyXeDO

Why buy an apartment Property investment?

By | best investment, domain, Investment, Market, Properties, Property Research, rent | No Comments

 Why buy an apartment Property investment?

Why buy an apartment Property investment? Isn’t it the case that house and land makes a better investment with greater capital growth potential?

There are many reasons why a good apartment will make a better investment than a house and land. The first has to do with the old real estate adage, location, location, location. Most investors have a limited figure in dollars as to what they are willing to spend on an investment property and most are sensible enough to realise that demand on property, and therefore potential capital growth, tends to be much higher closer to the CBD’s of our major cities. In Sydney, you are now unlikely to [purchase a knock-down in the inner west for much less than $1.5 million, this is still plenty to buy a well-positioned two bedroom unit in a desirable inner fringe suburb.

Cost is of course, only one aspect. We must also be sure of our exit strategy on our ‘new’ property investment so we must be confident that there is a demand for the type of property we are purchasing, particularly in the future, when the time comes to sell.

The huge demand for rental of city apartments is two-fold and increasing. The current highest demand is coming from our younger Gen X and Gen Y demographic. If they can afford to buy, the first choice is a near-to-city apartment, close to all amenities and the largest employment hub in the state. If they can’t afford to buy, sharing with a friend in a rental property can not only be so much more convenient, but be substantially ‘subsidised’ by the huge savings in transport (now deemed to be around $22,000 per year) for an average family living in our west. (See: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/-4jlfx.html)

 

Equally important is the large numbers of empty nesters moving out of large family homes to buy luxury apartments in boutique-sized blocks who are now making up a sizeable swathe of the prestige market. The e

Empty Nesters are moving to larger units with a sense of community

Empty Nesters are moving to larger units with a sense of community

mpty nesters are looking for spacious open-plan living, with good views and close to water or park side in suburbs where they can walk to cafes, restaurants and shops; they’re also demanding excellence in design, security and comfort.

They are looking for quality apartments with a ‘sense of community’ which usually means gardens, pools and good shared areas where they can get to know and mix with their neighbours. The preference is usually for the smaller boutique buildings of less than 50 units although inner-city prestige units in the larger developments that are now a standard in our most expensive areas, can also be popular because of the location and community services provided.

This trend is happening around the country from Melbourne to Brisbane, not just in Sydney.

Often, the more affordable new house and land can take many years to see the growth of a good city apartment. As first home buyers move to an area of new land release, it is usually a lot less expensive for them to purchase a house and land package than purchase a second hand property due to the grants and stamp duty savings only available to brand new housing. A new home also allows the first home buyer to make some decisions in the build to give them a more bespoke home of their choosing. This can ultimately lower the capital gains potential of a new release area. So, why buy an apartment property investment? Better location leading to better possible capital growth; better tenancy demand, and an increasing demand for the right type of owner-occupier unit at the time of resale are just a few reasons.

What the experts say: “Empty nesters are looking for apartments in good locations and of a good size in those smaller blocks.” Andrew Scriven, Colliers International

What’s on trend: “They like smaller buildings with a sense of community, they like communal terraces or landscaping or pools and gyms.” James Coombe, Architects EAT

What to look for: “They certainly prefer small and intimate … that tends to be more personal so everyone knows each other.” William Smart, Smart Design Studio

Read more: http://www.domain.com.au/news/the-boutique-appeal-of-apartment-living-20160809-gqohic/

Tax savings on property investment

By | best investment, finance, Financial, Negative Gearing, Properties | No Comments

Tax savings on property investment.

Most property investors are aware of the substantial tax savings on property investment that can be legally claimed against the costs of holding an investment property. This is the time of year when most property investors are reconciling their expenses on investment property to send to their accountants in order to receive the substantial tax refund they are probably now due.

It’s also the time of year that the Australian Tax Office issues statements about the type of deductions they will not consider and also deductions that are sometimes claimed and will not only be refused but may also result in fines! You can read more about this below.

It is timely to remind current property investors that they should also have tax variations in place for this financial year. Too often we come across clients who are finding their new investment property is eating into their monthly cash flow and finding that the investment property they now have is affecting their lifestyle. To be ‘loosing’ or spending an ‘extra’ maybe as much as $1000 per month on an investment can drain resources! This ‘loss’ is then magically returned in the form of a large tax reimbursement of around $14,000 come August or September after submitting their annual  tax return. Of course it’s great to get this lump sum but better to get the extra $1000 or so each month in your pay packet rather than having to wait 12 months to claim it back. This is what a TAX VARIATION can do for you and it is highly recommended that you have your accountant put one in place for you now if you haven’t already done this.

The list of the top 5 dodgiest deductions became claimed this year are described as,

  1. Transportation of ‘bulky goods’ that can be stored at work
  2. Holiday travel that is not work-related
  3. Fake attendance at a ‘work’ conference
  4. Car-related travel that there is no proof of
  5. Rental deductions with no valid basis

 

Basically if you don’t own an investment property, and you want to know more abouit tax savings on property investment, have a look at our FAQ’s – “What is negative gearing and how does it workclick here https://propertyinvest.co/property-investment-frequently-asked-questions-faqs/

For more information on dodgy deductions, read more: http://goo.gl/q833rr