Millennials are leading the property investment market, accounting for 46 percent of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s new property investors last year, according to the bank’s recently published data.
Meanwhile, Gen X accounted for 37 percent of the new investors.
Australia’s average age of all property investors in 2023 was 43 years old, with an average loan size of $528,405, less than the country’s overall average loan size of $598,624. Since banks are now able to lend up to 5.2 times someone’s salary before tax, this mortgage amount, accompanied by a 20 percent deposit of $132,101, would afford anyone a home worth $660,506 across the country.
Property investment buyer’s agency Your Property Your Wealth also has similar findings, with people from 25 to 40 years old being the most active investors.
“What is interesting is I am seeing a lot more recently (12 months) coming through – as the interest rates have risen, more younger people are coming through the doors to invest. This age group is 20 to 25, which is the largest increase we have seen since our business started in 2016,” Your Property Your Wealth Director, Daniel Walsh, told The Epoch Times.
“The reason for this is that they have the income, they have the savings, they don’t have household debt and a lot of them live with parents still. They understand that this is their time to jump on the property ladder and invest in something they can afford. Most are investing interstate.”
Walsh added that many from the younger generation do not rentvest to become extremely rich but to not get left behind as the cost-of-living increases.
Investors Contributing to New Lending
Based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Lending Indicators data, investors have largely attributed to the proliferation of new lending since 2023.Despite the growing interest in rentvesting, Everybody’s Home urges the government to boost social housing as private homes fail to deliver affordability.
Treasury Increases Rates for Capital Works Tax Deductions
Earlier this week, the Treasury announced a proposal to increase the rate for the capital works tax deduction from 2.5 percent to 4 percent per year and reduce the final withholding tax rate on eligible fund payments from managed investment trust investments from 30 percent to 15 percent, to encourage investment and construction in the build‑to‑rent (BTR) sector.The draft legislation will require a minimum proportion of dwellings to be offered as affordable tenancies and that the dwellings must be kept under single ownership for at least 10 years before they can be sold.
“The Property Council is reviewing the details of the legislation and will work with the government to ensure it delivers on its potential to create 150,000 rental homes and an additional 10,000 affordable rental homes.”