— By: Alex Waley
Purchasing an investment property is a proven strategy for financial gain but the process does require careful consideration.
Just like any other investment, quality and appropriateness are paramount to making the correct decision.
As part of our holistic investment strategy, our current position is to invest in areas between 5-8km’s from the CBD, with a solid mix of infrastructure and amenity, good public transport options, diverse employment opportunities and suburbs with predicted population growth.
In order to maximise your returns, there are a number areas and issues to consider when it comes to investing in property:
• capital growth
• vacancy rates
• rental yield or income
Location
Ultimately, all these fall under the banner of location. The old property adage, location, location, location holds true. As a general rule we will therefore limit our research to East coast cities – Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, where high rates of immigration and solid population growth are occurring. It is these three cities that also form the basis of Australia’s economy and therefore employment opportunities are more abundant.
Knowing the right city to target is just the beginning of this part of the process. Next, within these cities it then becomes an exercise in identifying suburbs that have or will have good infrastructure and public transport as well as proximity to schools and education facilities.
When we have identified a suitable suburb we then endeavour to identify particular properties that offer a point of difference to the market for tenants and buyers.
Demographics
Suburb demographics play an important part in matching the ideal property type and layout to the ideal tenant base and thorough analysis is required to match the two.
After a suitable development is identified it is then necessary to perform detailed research on the history and track record of the developer and ensure the pricing of the property is relevant to comparable sales in the area.
Once all of these considerations have been analysed, only then can we decide on the best property option to best suit the individual nuances and requirements of the clients’ situation.
With a record number of construction completions set to hit the market in 2017, the property environ will be full of opportunity for the astute investor whilst not without pitfalls for the unwary.
If you have any questions around the above information please do not hesitate to contact your adviser or myself. We love to talk property and plan to grow your wealth.