Intelligent property investment decisions are made with a crystal-clear focus on what the primary objective is.
That includes accepting that the city and the property where one likes to live is highly subjective and has no bearing at all on how an asset might perform.
Having an open mind to investing in all corners of this country is generally referred to as ‘borderless investing’.
Frankly, there is no smarter way for investing in real estate!
Embracing this philosophy and engaging the expertise of Propertyology’s truly national buyer’s agency has already produced $1 million capital growth after just 5-years for Sydney-based couple, Adam and Claire.
The concept requires removal of personal biases and adding a strong structure to the financial decision-making process.
It is akin to a share investor who may work with Qantas or CBA, but they acknowledge being employed by the company has no bearing at all on whether Qantas or CBA is the best stock to invest in.
Essentially, the 200 individual Australian townships with populations of 10,000 or more are the property investor’s equivalent of companies on the stock market.
The historical evidence confirms they are all capable of performing well (and poorly), but the key is learning how to read market cycles.
Adam and Claire appreciate that aged pensions and superannuation will not be sufficient to fund a comfortable lifestyle later in life and they understand the significant shortcomings of being a hometown investor.
Between October 2017 and April 2020, with the assistance of Propertyology, Adam and Claire purchased four (4) very affordable investment properties, all in completely different cities.
Collectively, the annual rental incomes cover 100 percent of investment expenses and, by Q4 2022, the combined capital growth was already a healthy $1,000,000.
Very few people could save that much in a lifetime, let alone in just 5 years!
Adam got in touch with Propertyology after he’d listened to Simon Pressley, Head of Research, in a podcast interview.
“Simon said a few things that really resonated with me. He goes into the data and builds a story about why a given location, wherever it is in Australia, offers good, long-term growth potential. It is a very intellectually sound approach to property investing that really won me over,” said Adam.
Property #1 [Brisbane QLD]
Adam and Claire’s first investment was purchased in Brisbane in October 2017. Propertyology’s buyer’s agents found and successfully negotiated the purchase of a solid 4-bedroom house for $410,000 on a good size block.
“That’s incredible buying for a capital city,” said Adam.
The only capital city property in their portfolio of four, the first 2-years produced a relatively slow rate of capital growth, but the identified fundamentals have since kicked into gear.
The current $700,000 value of Adam and Claire’s Brisbane property represents 67 percent capital growth, which is superior to every capital city other than Hobart and Canberra over the 5-years since October 2017.
An attractive 5.2 percent rental yield from Adam and Claire’s Brisbane property means the rental income covered all holding costs from the outset.
The respect shown to an investor’s household budget is one of several advantages of Propertyology’s investment strategy.
Property #2 [Launceston TAS]
After being impressed by the market research depth and buyer’s agency skill with the first property, Adam and Claire pulled the trigger to go again.
Huge advocates of portfolio diversification, Propertyology recommended a completely different state for their second property.
They presented Adam and Claire with thought-leading evidence of rising housing demand through local economic growth along with tight housing supply in the beautiful regional city of Launceston.
Adam confessed that he’s amazed by the firm’s ability to be aware of emerging economic conditions in locations all over Australia.
And Simon also puts his own money where his mouth is, investing the same location himself.
In Launceston’s case, it included a series of decisions which would progressively result in expansion of local manufacturing jobs, agriculture and tourism along with an all-time record infrastructure investment in education, health and hospitality.
In September 2018, Propertyology’s buyer’s agents successfully negotiated the purchase of a classy, 3-bedroom house very close to the CBD for just $455,000.
“It’s a character house in a great location and it’s been finished to a really high spec. It was easy to rent to an employee of the nearby university for $415 per week.”
Fast-forward 4 years after the purchase, the property value had increased to $820,000 (90 percent capital growth).
The incredibly tight rental supply also means that, as with all 4-properties that Propertyology purchased for Adam and Claire, the rental income has increased significantly, thereby covering all of their holding costs.
Property #3 [Townsville QLD]
From investing in Australia’s far south, now to the far north.
In November 2019, they purchased a very low maintenance, 4-bedroom house in Australia’s 14th largest city, Townsville, for only $386,500.
A non-negotiable of Propertyology’s location selection criteria is economic diversity and Townsville certainly has that in spades.
The military garrison has a strong government presence, one of the country’s largest ports, a major university, a strong manufacturing sector and one of the most impressive (job-creating) major infrastructure project pipelines in Australia.
Once again, the small-fish investment strategy meant that it required only a small amount of investment capital for Adam and Claire to add to their property portfolio, and rental incomes cover all annual expenses.
The property market was flat when they purchased, but the economic growth originally identified by Propertyology was certainly kicking in.
Now, 3-years after their purchase, property markets like Sydney and Melbourne are in decline, but Townsville’s job creation, growing local confidence, and tight housing supply continues to put upward pressure on asset values and rents.
Property #4 [Bendigo VIC]
In early March 2020, a couple of weeks before all of the crazy [COVID-19] stuff started, Adam again reached out to Propertyology.
In an email to Simon, Adam said “I saw your recent Safe-As-Houses video and I completely agree that now would be a good time to get ready to secure another investment property before the seagulls start to circle later in the year.”
To compliment Adam and Claire’s existing property portfolio, this time Propertyology shared their research insights about the ‘mini capital city’ of Bendigo in central Victoria.
Famous for the Gold Rush era of the 1850’s, Bendigo is a beautiful regional city with a wide range of outstanding cultural experiences.
Bendigo also offers a great lifestyle, has a youthful population, exceptional infrastructure, and is one of Australia’s biggest beneficiaries of internal migration.
Related article: Australia’s most reliable property market
In April 2020, Adam and Claire settled on a neat and tidy 3-bedroom house for just $370,000.
That’s affordable investing in real estate.
“As with the previous three properties, the process was very smooth and pain-free and I continue to recommend Propertyology’s services to everyone who asks me about how we go about slowly building up our investment property portfolio,” Adam said.
Just 2.5 years after this purchase, Adam and Claire’s decision to ‘beat the seagulls to the chip’ had already produced $230,000 growth.
50 percent capital growth in such a short period of time is great reward for choosing to ignore the herd, engage expertise, and having confidence in skilful analysis of local property market fundaments.
Working smarter, not harder
Borderless investing pays the utmost respect to that common-sense adage of never placing all of one’s eggs into one basket.
Within just 5 years, Adam and Claire have now planted four ‘seeds’ and already have a high-performing, incredibly diverse property portfolio that does not require a single dollar of their household budget to support year-to-year costs.
Tried and tested quality controls, overseeing all of the due diligence on each property, and Propertyology’s warm introduction to reputable local property managers, has meant that Adam and Claire’s property portfolio is seamlessly managed.
It is a credit to Adam and Claire for being proactive during their working years so as they have sufficient financial resources to enjoy their retirement years.
“I don’t want to get super rich. I just want to be comfortable in retirement.”
$1,000,000 growth within just 5 years is certainly a good start!
Propertyology are national buyer’s agents and Australia’s premier property market analyst. Every capital city and every non-capital city, Propertyology analyse fundamentals in every market, every day. We use this valuable research to help everyday Aussies to invest in strategically-chosen locations (literally) all over Australia. Like to know more? Contact us here.
