Expert Advice with Ian Hosking Richards. 30/08/2017

Too much information has long been a feature of the property investing landscape.  However, the opinion is often from people who sound authoritative but have their own agenda, and are simply not qualified to comment.

As an astute property investor, I am constantly searching for new information that will keep me ahead of the investing game.  Knowledge is King.  However, it is vital to receive information in a contextualized format.  Otherwise, all you get are sweeping generalisations which do not give you specific information that you can use to make sound investment decisions.

The tabloids are probably the best example of comment without qualification.  They always go for the sensationalist angle – either property is booming like there is no tomorrow, or it is about to fall off a very high cliff.  Moderate and sustainable price growth apparently does not sell newspapers, so balanced reporting is replaced by exaggeration and wild conjecture.

Not all newspaper journalists have direct experience in investing, so their comments are second-hand in nature, and likely to be embellished with their own ‘artistic flair’ depending on what they are hoping to achieve with the article.

The Brisbane market seems to be a soft target for anyone who wants to share an unqualified opinion on property.  For example, we are told that the ‘Brisbane market’ is flooded with apartments.  That it should be avoided at all costs.  For me, good information is very specific, so in order to qualify this statement we need to ask lots of detailed questions. Supply/Demand is usually localized, so Brisbane, as well as anywhere else, can be both oversupplied and undersupplied at the same time, depending on where you are looking.  So exactly where is this ‘oversupply’?  Windsor?  Greenslopes? Auchenflower?  

The reality is that there certainly was an uplift in building approvals and sales from 2013-2015 in the Brisbane inner city ring.  However, since dwelling approvals peaked in late 2014, numbers have declined dramatically.  Given a two year time lag between inception and completion, settlements in 2019 will reduce to a trickle, just as the population is increasing faster than any other capital city in Australia.  I have been investing in Brisbane for almost 20 years now and I am certainly not going to miss out on some excellent investment opportunities because some freelance journo thinks it is a bad idea.  And despite the so-called oversupply, rental yields have really held up extremely well for those who have purchased well researched and well located properties in Brisbane’s inner ring.

Summary

There is far too much bad information out there – unqualifed, non specific, and designed to scare you.  When I got started my first task was to find some experienced property experts who already had achieved the results that I was aspiring to, so that I could follow their lead.  Now, 20 years later, things have come full circle and investors come to me for help and guidance.  If you want to create wealth through property, my advice would be to seek someone out that already has the results you want, and are truly worth listening to.  

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Ian Hosking Richards is a successful property investor with a portfolio of over 30 properties. He is the CEO and founder of Rocket Property Group, a leading independent real estate agency that helps hundreds of people each year enter the property market or grow their existing portfolios. 

For further information or assistance, please visit www.rocketpropertygroup.com.au or call 1300 850 038.

To read more articles by Ian Hosking Richards, click here

Disclaimer: while due care is taken, the viewpoints expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Your Investment Property.