Regional Australia is today’s property hotspot, says expert

However, experts remind investors that there’s more to Australia than just Sydney and Melbourne. In fact, outside these slowing markets, property investment could be as exciting and as lucrative as ever.

According to Propertyology’s Simon Pressley: “Looking through a property lens. I actually consider this to be a really, really exciting time to be a property investor since there's less buys in most markets, which means there's less competition.

“As a professional investor, we can take our time a bit more and get that right property at the right price. We just need to sit back and be patient because if you've got the fundamentals right, the growth in future years will get a hundred percent of that,” the property strategist added.

At the moment, Mr Pressley is helping investors get into regional markets, where property values are stable and long-term high returns are likely to happen in the near future.

These markets are predicted to report an impressive 15 per cent increase in median dwelling prices by the end of the year, according to him.

“It's not showing that now because there's always a lag between what's happening in a market and when the data is actually collected and reported. But the cycle’s just started and it's moving at a fast pace,” he highlighted.

Objective investment

In general, regional Australia is the current home of fantastic property investment opportunities.

Having said that, Mr Pressley reminded investors that regional areas do not necessarily equate to mining towns or other single-industry locations.

Simply speaking, most locations outside the eight capital cities could be tagged as regionals. A large number of these locations, which he refers to as ‘mini capital cities’, are both culturally and economically diverse, much like big-city suburbs minus the sky-high prices.

They have the fundamentals of property investment, including multiple industries, growing population and infrastructure, making them ideal for wealth-creation.

As a property strategist, Mr Pressley is able to find these opportunities outside the big markets because he makes it a point to be objective when studying areas for property investment—a mindset that he strongly encouraged investors to adapt.

He explained: “We’re not exactly pro-regional, but what we are is objective to every single market. We've invested in plenty of properties in capital cities and plenty of properties in regional locations. We look at each market on its own merit.”

“Contrary to what a lot of people who might live in a capital city think, a lot of regional economies are really picking up. Many of them have a better economy now than several capital cities,” Mr Pressley said.

Conversely, he advised investors to be cautious about investing in Perth and Brisbane, which he tagged as ‘the biggest mining towns in the country’.

Where to buy

When looking for areas to invest in, Mr Pressley advised investors to be careful about jumping into locations reported in the media as ‘hotspots’ because, most of the time, it’s already too late to benefit from any upward movement in that particular market.

“I like finding markets that have a good future but haven't started their cycle yet. If you really understand these markets, you’ll see the difference between risk and opportunity,” he said.

Ultimately, engage professionals where appropriate in order to maximise the resources available and gather all the necessary data to make the best decisions.

Some of the regional areas worth looking into, according to the property strategist:

New South Wales

Orange
Dubbo
Bathurst
Wagga Wagga
Tamworth
Armidale
Coffs Harbour

Victoria

Bendigo
Warrnambool
Colac

Western Australia

Albany
Margaret River
Geraldton

Tasmania

Burnie
Devonport
Launceston

Queensland

Mackay
Rockhampton
Gladstone
Toowoomba

Tune in to Simon Pressley's episode on The Smart Property Investment Show to know more about the different investment opportunities in regional Australia.