Property esp,ecially Australian property, is an excellent investment. Not only is it much harder to lose money in property than in the stock market, but with the property, you also benefit from steady capital growth and rental income. And as rental income increases over time, it protects you from inflation. At the same time, you can borrow money to buy the property, and despite Australia’s high taxation environment, property investment can be very tax efficient.
Let’s look at these advantages and some more beneficial aspects of residential property investment in more detail.
1. An investment market not dominated by investors
First, you must realize that some seventy percent of all residential property is “owner-occupied,” and investors own only thirty percent. That means that residential property is the only investment market dominated by investors, which means there is a natural buffer in the market that is unavailable in the share market.
To put it simply, if property values crash by 10%, 20%, or even 40%, we all still need a home to live in, and so most owner-occupiers will ride out any major crash rather than sell up and rent (compare this to the stock market where a major drop in prices can easily trigger a serious meltdown). Sure, property values can and do go down, but they do not show the same level of volatility as the share market, and the property offers a much higher level of security.
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And if you don’t believe me when I tell you that residential property is a safe investment, ask the banks. Banks have always seen residential real estate as excellent security, and that’s why they’ll lend up to 90% of the value of your property; they know that property values have never fallen over the long term.
2. Sustained growth
Property prices in Australia tend to move in cycles, and historically, they have done well, doubling in cycles of around 7 – 12 years (which equates to about 6% to 10% annual growth). We all know that history is no guarantee for the future, but combined with common sense, it’s all we have. There is no reason to think that the trends in property of the last 100 years will not continue for the next few decades. Still, to be successful in property investment, you must be prepared and capable of riding out any intermediate storms in the market, but that applies to any investment vehicle you choose.
Australia’s median house price between 1986 and 2006, as published by the Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA), shows that in June 1986, you would have bought an average home for $80,800. That same home would have been worth $160,500 in 1986, almost double what you paid ten years earlier. Another ten years later, in 2006, that average home was worth some $396,400. Between 1986 and 2006, that average home went up by nearly 400% or about 8.3% per annum.
Not bad. And quite in line with the longer-term history.
As Michael Keating points out in his blog on 24th January 2008 (Why Melbourne’s properties will keep rising), it is on the low side compared to the historical average. Australia’s property prices have been tracked for the last 120 years, and on average, they have risen 10.4% per year. If you might believe that had to do with Australia being a newly found colony and don’t believe this would be sustainable in the long term, consider this. In the UK, property sales records go back to 1088, and analysis of the data shows that in those 920 years, UK property, on average, has gone up by 10.2% per year.
3. Buy It With Other People’s Money (OPM)
If the above has not been enough to convince you of the value of residential property investment, let me tell you one of the great secrets of creating wealth, which also applies to property investing. The secret is OPM. Other People’s Money.
Secret? No – that’s just marketing hype you see on the web, but the power of Other People’s Money, more commonly referred to as leverage or gearing, is critical to building wealth. And, in the case of property, the power you can apply is substantial. As mentioned above, banks love residential property as security and will easily lend you 80% or 90% of the value.
Archimedes said, ‘Give me a lever, and I’ll move the earth.’ Well, as an investor, you don’t want to move the Earth; you want to buy as much of it as you can! When you use leverage, you substantially increase your ability to profit from your property investments. Importantly, it allows you to purchase a significantly larger investment than you would normally be able to.
Let’s have a look at how this works. Imagine there are five investors, each with $50,000 to invest. Say they all buy an investment that achieves 10% growth per annum and has a rental yield (or return) of 5% per annum. Investor A borrows 90% of the value of his investment property (loan-to-value ratio or LVR of 90%), and investors B, C, and D borrow 80%, 50%, and 20%, respectively. Investor E doesn’t borrow at all and goes for an all-cash transaction.
Let’s start with cash flow, simplified to rental income minus interest paid. Investor A, who geared 90%, has a negative cash flow of $15,500 for the year, while Investor E, who borrowed no money at all, has a positive cash flow of $2,500. But that’s not the whole picture because each property increased in capital value. Once we include that the scenery changes significantly, Investor A has a net worth increase of $34,500, while Investor E, who didn’t want gear, increased his net worth by only $7,500. Investor A achieved a 69% return on his initial $50,000, while Investor E achieved a return of 15% in terms of return on investment.
That’s pretty impressive for one year. And if the investors let their properties grow one or two full cycles, we’re talking about serious wealth creation. Once the investors have enough equity in their investment property, they can fund a second purchase, which, after a few years of growth, will allow the purchase of a third, and we’re on our way to wealth! That is those investors who, geared as Investor E, are not going anywhere fast.
However, it is not all that easy as you saw. Investor A incurred a negative cash flow in his first year and would continue for a few years until the rental income had grown sufficiently to pay his interest. He has to fund this annual shortfall from his salary. This is called negative gearing – you borrow money to generate capital growth in your property but incur a yearly shortfall in the near term. For most investors, this means there will come a limit on how many properties they can buy with negative gearing, as they don’t have too much spare income. In our strategy sections, you can read more about negative gearing and techniques to avoid paying the shortfall out of your pocket. We also address cashflow-positive properties.
But let’s get back on topic and look at more compelling reasons to invest in Australian residential property.
4. Income That Grows
We’ve discussed that Australian residential property vestment is safe, with long-term growth prospects, and combined with the right level of leverage, can create significant wealth. We also briefly touched on the fact that it generates a rental income. The good thing is that the rental income from property investments has increased over the years, which has outpaced inflation. The last few years have shown tremendous rent increases – I know because the rent on my investment properties has been booming. Still is.
OKay, but are rents likely to keep growing? Well, statistics show that homeownership is slowly decreasing in Australia. There are many reasons for this, like demographic trends, but, in particular, as property prices keep rising, fewer people can afford their dream homes. The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures confirm that more and more Australians are renting. Many industry commentators suggest that the percentage of Australians who will be tenants will go up to 40% shortly. So demand is growing. We also know that the supply of good quality rental properties is limited (meager vacancy rates across Australia), and the government is having difficulty providing public housing. So, all in all, rents will likely continue to grow faster than inflation – good news if you intend to become a property investor!
5. Tax Efficient
When investing in property, your best friend is the bank, as they provide the leverage you need to accelerate your wealth creation. Your second-best friend is your tenant, as, without a tenant, your investment property would stand empty, and your third-best friend is the taxman.
The taxman? Absolutely. How can that be when Australia is not known for attractive tax rates, in fact, the opposite?
Well, first of all, the interest you pay on a loan to buy an investment property is fully tax-deductible, and if you own the property longer than a year, you only pay capital gains tax over 50% of the gain. Add to that various depreciating allowances, and you have the makings of a very tax-efficient investment. If you do your homework, the bank will happily give 80% or 90% of the money you need to buy your investment property, and once you own it, your tenant and the taxman will pay your interest and rental expenses. Guess who gets to keep the capital gains, you! Talk about OPM.
6. Millions of Millionaires
And if the above doesn’t get you going, consider this: most of the world’s richest people got rich by investing in property. Those who didn’t get rich from property typically invested their newfound wealth in property.
So, if most wealthy people have used investment property to increase their wealth, why not use that knowledge to your advantage and do the same? There’s nothing wrong with seeing what successful people do and applying those principles to your life.
McDonald’s makes more money through its real estate than through selling burgers and fries, as it owns most of the land and buildings in which its franchises are located!
7. You Can Do It Too
Before you say it’s OK for the rich, how can the heck am I going to get into property investing? Let me tell you this. You do not need to be very wealthy to get into property investment; it doesn’t take large sums of money to get involved. And that’s because many banks will lend 80%, 90%, 95%, and sometimes even 100% or more of a residential property value. As long as you have a steady job and a little starting capital (spare equity in your home), you can afford to buy investment properties.
It has been shown repeatedly that careful and intelligent use of real estate can enable ordinary people like you and me to become property millionaires in about ten years. If you truly intend to become one of the wealthy people in the future, you should probably take a serious look at using the property to your advantage.
8. Too Much Hard Work?
There are many ways to make money, and some say that property investment isn’t that easy and takes a lot of time and effort. It takes time to understand the property market and how to invest in property. It can take weeks, if not months, to research areas and find the right investment property for you. And then it only gets worse; you have to organize finance and get a solicitor to deal with all the legal work. Just the finance and legal work can take 30 to 60 days. And once you own the property, the result isn’t over, as you need to look after it and do your taxes!
Nobody said it would be easy. Nobody said you didn’t have to get your hands dirty.
It will take time, and you must work at it and educate yourself. But hey, if you are serious about creating wealth and retiring early, then the property is a great way to achieve that. And once you’ve started and got some experience, you’ll see that I get easier. Building an investment property portfolio can be advantageous and a lot of fun, too.
To return to the original question, my choice for property investment is based on the low level of risk and robust long-term performance of property compared to the alternatives. Investing in property, if done well, is Simple, Safe, and Reliable.
