Much has been said about Australia’s housing affordability crisis, but the basic idea doesn’t sit well with property investor Bushy Martin, who argues that the real problem lies within accessibility and consumer expectation, as reported by news.com.au.
In his interview with the news website, Martin acknowledged that some properties are really unaffordable for most, especially in Sydney or inner Melbourne. However, he emphasised that people focus too much on the “symptoms rather than the cause,” adding that “it’s more of an accessibility and expectations issue than an affordability issue” that the country is facing.
“It’s a dynamic multifaceted issue where isolated reactive and ill-conceived interventions for the few are likely to have unknown and unintended far-reaching consequences for the many.
“So do we really have a housing affordability issue? Nah,” he said.
Martin implied that those who are having a difficulty in purchasing their houses are first time home buyers, and he said that the current system should not adjust to them. Instead, they should start to manage their short-term expectations, save, and, at the same time, consider rentvesting. This is given the fact that these first time home buyers only account for one in seven property purchasers.
“Should we be turning housing policy on its head to cater for the few by meddling with the market that could potentially have significant impacts on the many?” he asked.
While there maybe affordability issues in some areas that are in demand, investors and homebuyers alike must be reminded that these properties can be bought if one works hard for them.
As an example of how to manage the current market conditions, Martin shared how he and his wife were able to complete an international portfolio of 12 properties.
They achieved it by rentvesting — the act of investing in an affordable property elsewhere while renting in their ideal location.
“We made a conscious decision to rent in the location of our choice at a fraction of what we’d have paid in a mortgage, and we started putting all our energy into investing our income into assets — we bought property in affordable, fringe areas on the outskirts of Adelaide.”
Martin stresses on the significance of putting value on what one can afford. A lot of Aussie must learn to “separate access from ownership” and understand that one doesn’t need to have the best house, or any kind of property, in the best suburb in order to be “living the dream”.
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