Property Investment
Property investment is an attractive strategy for many individuals.
It’s a tangible asset that can provide strong financial gains. The benefits of property investment include rental income, increased property value and potential tax breaks. There are many critical decisions when it comes to property investment – but our philosophy is simple.
Maximise your potential for capital growth by buying the best quality asset in the best possible location. Over time, we work together to build your asset portfolio in line with your long-term goals. We monitor your equity position and offer guidance, support and professional advice along the way.
What makes our property investment strategies so successful?
We keep abreast of the latest industry and market news by monitoring publications and views from respected property researchers and writers such as Terry Ryder and Michael Matusik.
We analyse the market and leverage the expertise of our alliance partners to find the best quality development opportunities.
We help you find the best location, by selecting areas driven by population growth, growing infrastructure and employment opportunities.
We consider different investment strategies – buy a ‘house and land’ package (buy land and build a house) to save on stamp duty and benefit from development profits.
We look for tax advantages through depreciation allowances on building and fittings.
We maximise rental return by identifying locations with a strong rental demand and working with the best local agents.
We build long term relationships with our clients, continuing to review your financial position to determine when you’re ready to add to your assets.
Plan to Upgrade
Rob had an investment property which had grown in value.
Rob now felt the time was right to release the capital growth to enable him to upgrade the quality of his existing asset. He sold the old property and purchased the new one in the same financial year. Rob pre-paid interest on his new property loan for the following year using some of the proceeds from the sale.
This allowed Rob to free up his disposable income for the following year for lifestyle choices. An added benefit for Rob was that the tax bill he would have had from the capital gains tax levied on the old property was reduced to $0 as a result of the differing marginal tax rates for the two years.
How Negative Gearing Works
George purchased an investment property for $400,000.
Due to negative gearing on the property George was able to claim a deduction of $20,000 in his tax return, which meant he was due to receive a $6,500 tax refund.
George chose to receive this refund in his pay each fortnight to help pay for the property.
Negative Gearing Example |
||
|---|---|---|
| Income – Rent (A) | $20,000 | |
| Interest paid on loan | $26,600 | |
| Rates – council & water | $1,800 | |
| Insurance | $700 | |
| Property Manager’s fees | $2,000 | |
| Depreciation – Building & Fittings | $7,500 | |
| Borrowing Costs | $1,400 | |
| Total expenses to be claimed (B) | $40,000 | |
| Tax deductible amount (B – A) | $20,000 | |
| Tax refund $20,000 @ 32.5% | $6,500 |
Who pays for the property?
George purchased an investment property for $400,000 at a cost to him of only $88 per week.
George was able to receive his tax refund in his pay because he applied to the Tax Office who reduced his tax instalments. Let’s see how…
Weekly cost to George C/52 = $88
Any additional money George had left over after paying for the property was invested in a share portfolio, thereby investing in more growth assets.
Negative Gearing Example |
||
|---|---|---|
| Rental Income | $20,000 | |
| Tax Refund from negative gearing | $6,500 | |
| Total Income (A) | $26,500 | |
| Interest paid on loan | $26,600 | |
| Rates – council & water | $1,800 | |
| Insurance | $700 | |
| Property Manager’s fees | $2,000 | |
| Total Expenses (B) | $31,100 | |
| Annual cost of the property to George. B-A=C | $4,600 |
Using Equity
George’s investment property of $400,000 grew in value by 5% each year…
After 10 years George used the equity he had built up in his property to purchase his second property.
Renting vs Buying a home
Kevin was renting a house for net $325p.w. but thought that ‘rent money was dead money’ and so decided to move out and buy a property to live in.
He purchased a home near his family for $400,000. Kevin’s friend George was also paying net rent of $325p.w. and was familiar with the concepts of investing. George decided to stay renting and purchase an investment property for $400,000. He sought out quality locations where he could get the best growth on his property. Both had only enough saved for a 5% deposit and the costs of purchasing.
Costs Over the Next Year |
Kevin |
George |
|---|---|---|
| Loan repayments (based on a $380,000 loan repayable over 30 years @ 6.5%) | $29,274 | $29,274 |
| Rates | $1,800 | $1,800 |
| Insurance | $700 | $700 |
| Property Manager’s costs | – | $2,000 |
| Annual cost of living in his own property | $31,774 | $33,774 |
| Less: Saving from not paying rent – $325 x 52 | $16,900 | |
| Less: Rent Received from tenants | $20,000 | |
| Less: Tax Refund from negative gearing | $6,500 | |
| Additional cost of moving from renting to owning | $14,874 | $7,274 |
So although they both own a $400,000 property Kevin has to contribute more than $7,600 extra a year to live in his property. George decided to pay interest only on his loan to keep his loan tax effective and so pays even less to keep his property. With the extra cash he had available and the equity he built up from his property George bought his second property.
Principle and Interest vs Interest Only
George bought an investment property.
The repayments he had been making tied up all of his disposable income which meant he was limiting himself to one growth asset.
George decided to implement the following strategy:
Change his loan repayments to interest only.
Use the additional amount he would have been paying as principle into further growth assets.
As well as maximising his tax refund George now has an additional $3,836p.a. to invest into other assets and/or an offset account to save interest. George has this ever increasing amount of money to use towards purchasing his second property.
This Had the Following Effects: |
P&I |
Interest Only |
|---|---|---|
| Rent | $20,000 | $20,000 |
| Loan Repayments | ($30,336) | ($26,600) |
| Cash Outgoings | ($4,500) | ($4,500) |
| Tax Refund | $5,900 | $6,000 |
| Cost of Holding Property | ($8,936) | ($5,100) |
| Amount Invested in Other Assets | $0 | $3,836 |
| Total Outlay | $8,936 | $8,936 |
Capital Growth vs Yield
Strong capital growth is the key to a successful property investment.
Capital growth builds equity much faster than loan repayments and rental income will.
If you have any doubt about the importance of capital growth, the following may change your mind. It charts a 15%p.a. return on a $400,000 property over 25 years.
The two different outcomes are the result of two different investment strategies:
The bonus for the investor who bought the high growth property is that they will be able to access the extra equity in this property and borrow against it to buy further properties.