Here are a few reasons why living in a an apartment might be preferable to living in a house.
- Where to buy and sell in Brisbane for 2017
- Brisbane house prices fall
- Why tenants now have the power
For the co-host of a show about location, it’s no surprise that Bryce Holdaway sings its investment praises.
Holdaway, a partner at Empower Wealth and the co-host of Location Location Location Australia, says location has always been an investment no-brainer but people still stuff it up by concentrating on the property instead.
“Well they didn’t call it Property Property Property Australia,” he jokes about his show.
“One of the biggest mistakes that people make is they think that property investment is all about bricks and mortar but it absolutely isn’t,” Holdaway says. Photo: Aslan Alphan
“One of the biggest mistakes that people make is they think that property investment is all about bricks and mortar but it absolutely isn’t.
“The property doesn’t matter – it’s the location and the lifestyle and everything that’s offered in a suburb.”
And location will become even more important in the years ahead, he says.
Co-host of Location Location Location Australia, Bryce Holdaway, says the property doesn’t matter; only the location. Photo: Supplied
The creation of two-income households is well entrenched in society, he says, so the organic price growth from having two salaries willing to pay for property is reducing.
“In the past, the rising tide lifted all ships across Australia,” he says.
“But now it’s more critical to find those suburbs where the person is 30-something to 40-something, who is in a knowledge-based industry, rather than a manual-based industry, and where they are in control of their income such as a small business owner, middle management or sales executive.”
Focus on areas that are already solid investment options, Holdaway says: “Go and buy and yourself a little two-bedroom flat within the 10km radius of a major CBD or a little weatherboard in the western suburbs of Melbourne or Sydney.” Photo: Gabriele Charotte
Holdaway is approaching his 20-year anniversary as a buyers’ agent, so he’s seen some big changes over the years.
When he first started out, he thought the advent of the GST would be “terminal” for property investors because many would end up being $4 out of pocket instead of $10 a week in front.
“I was thinking, no one is ever going to buy an investment property if they’re $4 a week out of pocket!” he says.
Clearly, his fears never came to pass and Holdaway had been involved in hundreds of transactions since then.
But he says there is one big mistake that too many homebuyers and investors still make.
They concentrate on trying to find locations with “potential” instead of focusing on the areas that are already solid investment options, he says.
“I’ve seen so many people do red or black and by that I mean they buy investment potential rather than investment actual,” he says.
“Go and buy and yourself a little two-bedroom flat within the 10km radius of a major CBD or a little weatherboard in the western suburbs of Melbourne or Sydney.
“If you’ve done that, you’re infinitely better than any speculation.”
He advises investors not to get “seduced” by the talk of future infrastructure or potential developments when there are actual locations that are good to go today.
And his biggest lesson is that those people with their eyes on the horizon will likely be the victors.
“Keep your eyes on the prize. Don’t get concerned with the day-to-day, the week to week, or the month-to-month,” he says.
“In 20 years, those people who lift their eyes and look to the horizon are the ones who generally do better — but the ones with the short-term mentality, I’ve seen them burn a lot of time, energy, and effort.”