Australian property is made up of a number of very different markets. Conditions can vary widely in different capital cities and regional areas as different economic factors affect locations in different ways.

Sydney may be going down when Perth is going up, and vice versa. It doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities to make money at any given time.

Sydney and Melbourne haven’t always been strong

Sydney is often held up as the top performing or most expensive market in the country, but if you take a look back at 2003 through to 2009, it was struggling big time. There was basically zero growth in that period. Melbourne has had its ups and downs too.

Meanwhile at the same time in Brisbane, while property had started out much cheaper, some areas experienced growth of nearly four times their value. While b Invested founder Nathan Birch did very well out of buying in the Sydney market just after the turn of the century, he knows now that he cost himself a lot of money by not investing in other markets sooner.

That is why he stresses the importance of understanding what is happening in different markets around Australia at all times.

It’s never the time to sit on the fence

People who are sitting on the sidelines waiting for interest rates to rise and markets to crash may end up waiting forever. They might be worried about making a purchase and going bankrupt.

But as Nathan says, say you buy a $200,000 investment property that is renting for $350 a week. You might borrow $150,000 and have a $50,000 deposit. At an average interest rate, you’re paying around $7500-$8000 a year on the mortgage, which translates to around $150 a week.

This might be $30 to $50 more than you would have been paying a week before rates rose. Now, however, you’ve got the rent of $350 a week. And right now the vacancy rates are so tight in most Australian markets that there are multiple tenants missing out on each rental listing.

It’s pretty hard to go bankrupt when you’ve got people lining up to pay off your mortgage for you plus an extra couple of hundred bucks a week.

Overcome your lack of understanding

Not everyone is an expert in how the economy works and how property markets work, and that’s OK.

You might be getting held back, but you have options. You can educate yourself on how financial and property markets work and surround yourself with the right professionals, so that you are equipped with the knowledge and understanding you need to make the right decisions.