20-year-old saves deposit, ready to buy first investment property

He didn’t get help from his parents and has been renting since he was 15. But he’s now ready to buy his first house after saving a massive deposit.

Nicholas Muscat, a 20-year-old from Sydney, has seen the pandemic as an opportunity to enter the property market.

He decided at the beginning of lockdown to create a strategy to enter the property market while taking advantage of government grants, stamp duty and low interest rates.

After saving for years, Nicholas has a deposit ready to go and says he is ready to buy his first home in the next six months when the right property comes up.

The son of a childcare worker and an on-and-off truck driver who is currently unemployed, Nicholas said he has “absolutely not” had any financial help from his parents.

Rather, he’s rented a room in a sharehouse, paying around $200-$300 a week, since moving out of home at the age of 15.

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A quarter of Aussies believe now is a good time to buy property.

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He took his interest in finance and started investing in the stock market at the young age of 18.

Nicholas has since turned his interest to property investing, which he believes is “hands down” the best financial strategy to build wealth, outweighing stock market investing.

According to new research released by ING, one in four Aussies – around 26 per cent – believe now is the time to buy an investment property.

Investing in property is the first choice of investment options for almost half – 44 per cent – of Australians, the data showed.

While COVID-19 has impacted on spending and savings habits, the research revealed that Australians are harnessing new-found financial knowledge to take greater control of their financial futures.

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Nicholas Muscat, 20, from Sydney, has already saved a deposit to buy his first investment property.

The 20-year-old said he has been in the “planning stage”, researching property investing over the past six months.

Nicholas turned to reading online, speaking to financial experts and watching YouTube videos to learn about property investing himself. “If you want the info it’s usually available online,” he told news.com.au. “I am very interested in doing the research.”

He’s been spending his time looking at property cycles, researching grants that are available, investigating where it’s a good investment to buy, and has taken the time to understand the jargon that “most people don’t understand initially”.

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Interest rates have been at an all-time low this year.

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Nicholas says there is more “risk” in the stock market but with property “banks are more willing to give you money at a lower rate”. He adds that it’s the ability to leverage off equity that makes property investing so appealing.

A key factor spurring Australians on to invest in property, according to the research, include all-time low interest rates and the prospect of lower house prices.

Buyers are looking to coastal properties and large blocks outside of the city.

Nicholas says property has the ability to build wealth, especially if you start young.

He says there is a way to make “fast” money from property, but adds it could still take seven to 10 years to build the wealth.

“More young people should be going into property,” he says, but warns to “be cautious” and “do your research”.

While Nicholas says he was financially ready to buy his first property a year ago at the age of 19, he says he’s waiting until he feels “comfortable” and “confident” in his plan.

He says he is in “no rush” and is biding his time to wait for the right opportunity before he pounces on his first property.

Properties in inner-city urban areas are not as popular. Picture: Lukas Coch/AAP

Second to putting money into property, a third of those surveyed by ING believe cash in a savings account, term deposit or fixed rate is the safest place to invest right now, followed by shares or the stock market and investing in their own business.

Nicholas, who says he has always had an “analytical mind”, believed that starting his own business was the way to fast-track his wealth from a young age.

He runs his business Aussie Money Man full-time which he launched at the age of 17 in 2017.

The young business owner revealed he is turning over $18,000 a month on average. The best month he saw turned over $29,000. “I was expecting to make a few thousand dollars a month,” he said. But the money started rising exponentially when he went full-time with the business in January this year.

“I used to work seven days a week, 12-16 hours a day, so it’s a lot of work,” he adds.

Now he has 12,500 subscribers on YouTube and says he is “helping people every day”.

Buyers are looking towards investing in larger properties outside of urban areas.

Since the pandemic, one in four – or around 23 per cent – of Australians plan to better manage their money by sticking to a budget, with more than half saying they feel positive about achieving their short-term savings goals.

Around a quarter of those surveyed said they feel more confident about their financial knowledge now than they did pre-pandemic.

Of those considering investing in property, one in 10 intend to use the money they’ve been able to save throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to pay for the costs associated with buying a property.

Melbourne is the number one region that those looking to invest in property are planning to invest nationwide, followed by Sydney, Brisbane, and the rest of New South Wales, according to the ING research.

More than 40 per cent of NSW residents are considering buying outside of Sydney, as inner-city investments are starting to stray while buyers look to larger properties outside of main city areas.