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What age is the right age to invest in real estate?

Published on December 3rd, 2020
  Written by 
Bill Tsouvalas
Bill Tsouvalas is the managing director and a key company spokesperson at Savvy. As a personal finance expert, he often shares his insights on a range of topics, being featured on leading news outlets including News Corp publications such as the Daily Telegraph and Herald Sun, Fairfax Media publications such as the Australian Financial Review, the Seven Network and more. Bill has over 15 years of experience working in the finance industry and founded Savvy in 2010 with a vision to provide affordable and accessible finance options to all Australians. He has built Savvy from a small asset finance brokerage into a financial comparison website which now attracts close to 2 million Aussies per year and was included in the BRW’s Fast 100 in 2015 as one of the fastest-growing companies in the country. He’s passionate about helping Australians make financially savvy decisions and reviews content across the brand to ensure its accuracy. You can follow Bill on LinkedIn.
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There are over 1.7 million landlords in Australia – that means 1 in 7 of us is some kind of property investor. The common perception is that property investors are young urban professionals. That couldn’t be further from the truth. According to the Australian Taxation Office, upwards of three-quarters of over 45s hold investment properties in Australia. The “Baby Boomer” segment of the population (those born between 1943 and the 1960s) owns 55% of investment properties. The total value of property held in Self-Managed Super Funds topped $24.4 Billion in 2016. So is there a “right age” to start investing in real estate? Can you be “too old?” Or is there no such thing?

Can millennials invest in property?

Despite all the bluster about eating too many avocados and taking too many holidays, millennials (or Generation Y) can definitely get a leg up by investing in property at a young age. By getting your savings and strategies in place early, you can set yourself up to buy property earlier. Once your cash flow increases from advancing in your career or through your business if you’re self-employed, you can portion off more towards an investment property deposit.

The older generation: Gen X and property

Generation X (born between mid-1960 and early 1980s) are at the prime time for investing in property – according to the statistics, it’s this cohort that owns the most investment properties! The earlier you invest, the better. If you buy four properties in your 40s valued at about $400,000 you will have a $1.2 million portfolio. They could triple in value by the time you reach retirement age.

Baby Boomers – harder to invest?

Baby Boomers own over half of the investment properties in Australia, so getting into property at this age is far from impossible. Banks may still lend a traditional 25-30 year mortgage, if you are prepared to work beyond your retirement age (65.) It would be wise to invest more into improving your property – with subdivisions, renovations or further development so you can gain more value earlier on.

Beyond the Baby Boom – too late? Or no such thing?

If you are at retirement age, or approaching it, investing in property directly can prove difficult. Banks are reluctant to lend to people no longer working and/or have no assets to leverage in the loan.

However, one workaround is to invest in property via your Self-Managed Super Fund (SMSF.) This is also a legal and financial nightmare for the layperson, so you will need a seasoned financial professional to navigate negative gearing, capital gains tax, trusts and compliance with ever-changing regulation. If there’s anything to be gained, it’s never too late to invest!

Resources

corelogic.com.au/resources/pdf/reports/CoreLogic%20Investor%20Report_June%202016.pdf

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