Ep 179 - Host Special | Listener Q&A: Unit Market, Capital Growth & Airbnb

We can’t get enough of your questions. We cover a lot in this episode from the current state of the unit market through to how limited title can impact a property’s sale. We appreciate your questions and enjoy doing these episodes. If you have property related questions or want to test a scenario we would love to hear from you.

Questions:

1. “Units down but what about premium units outside of CBD but within 10k radius ? This includes Art Deco units, on larger blocks with smaller divisions for each lot. will we see growth in this market and why are analysts still treating units in high rise CBD the same as all other units despite massive differences in the land area involved for owners of lots, size of room, ornate ceilings, quality I.e double brick etc? Should owners of these properties ignore the analysts talking about units altogether?”
2. “Just listened to your 1st Feb 2021 listener q&a. Surprised by your answer Chris about how to retire from property. Based on what you outlined, if you have enough equity, you would be better to go for yield rather than capital growth. Targeting better more expensive houses with more growth potential but have lower yield just means more time to build up the offset account to completely offset the loan amount and delay retirement. Targeting capital growth would just to be for something to leave the kids. I reckon you could devote a whole episode to this as it is what a lot property people push is financially free through property but does not work if you need to save the full cost of the property you purchase. Sounds like an elephant to me”
3. “Fan of the show, not a question but I have a data point on the limited title. The limited title does lower the price. My first 2 choices were limited title but I couldn't get the loan for it. Ended up going for 50-100k less than my offer. So I think the strategy works by definition. i.e. reducing a number of qualified buyers will on average lower the price. This was in the middle of covid so results may vary. 18 epsom road zetland - 1,165,000 70 rose st chippendale - 1,575,000”
4. “Hi guys, Love the pod! Probably more of a question to Chris. I'm a potential 1st home buyer (on the northern beaches of Sydney) and would like to try and get an understanding on how much are people willing to borrow to get into the market? I was always told don't go higher than 3 or 4 times your annual household income but with the market going crazy at the moment I realise we are going to have to go a lot higher. I understand you can’t give personal advice – But it would be nice to know (on average) what you are currently seeing for 1st home buyers and just in general. I think we might need to go up to 5.5x to get something decent. I also know its not the greatest metric to use in this low rate environment.”
5. “Chris and you keep referring to “ppl on good income”. What is considered a good income, let’s say for Sydney? What’s a reference baseline? Eg. if you are looking at a $1M property then $100K is considered a good income? Assuming 80% lvr.”
6. “Also, what are your thoughts on buying a property in a holiday spot specifically to rent out on Airbnb? Or buying something that could be either tenanted long term OR rented on Airbnb? Also Veronica.. ..you talk a lot about buying a quality asset. Could you please tell us exactly what that means? What are your criteria? Thanks for the podcast, really enjoyable and educational.”
7. “Demand is soaring in capital cities.... demographically-speaking, WHO ARE these people who have flooded into these property markets post-COVID? Where are they finding the huge deposits and servicing mortgages that are now multiples larger for the same properties just a few years ago (even months ago) Where were these people before and why the rush into property now? How are they protected against even small rate rises in the future and are we setting ourselves up for a big correction? A real one this time? What will be the fallout from this?”

RELEVANT EPISODES:
Episode 168 | Listener Q&A: How to buy your first investment property
Episode 162 | Houses vs Apartments
Episode 161 | Listener Q&A: Building your own home, retiring on property & sustainable properties?

HOST LINKS:
Looking for a Sydney Buyers Agent? www.gooddeeds.com.au
Work with Veronica: https://linktr.ee/veronicamorgan

Looking for a Mortgage Broker? www.wealthful.com.au
Work with Chris: [email protected]

Send in your questions to: [email protected]

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
Please note that this has been transcribed by half-human-half-robot, so brace yourself for typos and the odd bit of weirdness…
This episode was recorded in May, 2021.

https://www.theelephantintheroom.com.au/podcasts/179