Most look in the wrong places. They read metropolitan newspapers with articles written primarily by non-experts with a focus on the wrong issues.
Newspapers love printing lists of suburbs and towns which have shown the highest growth in median prices in the past 12 months – and misrepresent the figures as growth in property values, which they very often are not.
For investors seeking the best places to buy, this is worthless information. At best, it tells you where you should have bought a year ago. For the purposes of this discussion I’ll overlook the many vagaries and anomalies inherent in median prices or alternative methodologies, which often lead to misinformation that sends investors down false trails.
Investors need to seek out information sources that tell them about more relevant things than median price trends. Like where the new roads and rail links are being built, where new businesses are being generated, where mines and factories and power plants are being created. It’s all about infrastructure and jobs, which translate in short time into demand for real estate.
Intelligent use of the internet makes it relatively easy, but it requires discipline. If you’re serious about property investment, you have to commit some time every day.
Accumulate information. Gather knowledge. Learn which locations have growth economies. Notice which areas have proactive councils. Be among the first to know about new developments. Pick up on places set to benefit from new infrastructure.
Gladstone, which has a massive future as an industrial muscle city, will continue to deliver growth for property buyers. But investors should be hunting for locations that look the way Gladstone did five years ago, before it started building three liquefied natural gas processing facilities.
They won’t find them unless they develop the habit of gathering intelligence.
Terry Ryder is the founder of hotspotting.com.au and can be followed on Twitter.
For advice on navigating hotspots, download our free eBook: Tools for Getting Through the Hotspot Maze. This article first appeared on Property Observer.
