The reason investors are flocking back to rentals in the cost of living crisis
Amid skyrocketing rents, one investor has returned to the rental market with a financial strategy that’s growing in popularity.
Business owner Daniel de Vries used to own a home of his own, but since moving out and becoming a ‘rentvestor’, he has no plans to move back.
Mr de Vries now leases a home in Highgate Hill, while generating rental income from two investment properties in North Lakes and rural NSW.
“It gives me the flexibility that I need, while giving me the better financial outcomes in the long-term that I want,” he said.
With rental prices spiking across Brisbane, he hopes his investments in the housing market will help support his daughter once he retires.
“My ability to rent near where my daughter goes to school is really helpful,” he said. “If at some point in the future she is changing schools … I can just finish my lease here, go and find a lease near that school.”
REA Group’s latest Rental Affordability index shows rental affordability has hit a record low in Queensland.
Between July and December 2024, only 28 per cent of homes available to rent were affordable for those earning an typical annual income of $113,000.
At the same time, research from Great Southern Bank showed higher levels of financial confidence and satisfaction among property investors, compared to other types of homeowners.
Great Southern Bank deputy CEO Megan Keleher said the average age of those surveyed with investor loans was 45: matching the demographic of parents looking to leverage their home equity.
Fourteen per cent of these investors were ‘rentvestors’ like Mr de Vries, who was convinced of the benefits when he compared the finances of rentvesting versus a simple mortgage.
“It’s not going to make you a millionaire overnight, but it was better off in the short term and in the long term,” he said, referencing the tax benefits of operating a property as a business.
“It’s more affordable to rent in the areas that I want to live in, which are close-ish to the city.”
Mr de Vries said he planned to rentvest for “the foreseeable future”, and doubted he would reconsider until his daughter was out of school.
But he has still been affected by rising rents, having recently moved from South Bank due to a rent increase.
“From a personal point of view, I’m wary of what’s going to happen with rents,” he said.
“Not everyone is in as fortunate a financial position as myself … people need to be able to live somewhere that they can genuinely afford, that doesn’t take up half of their paycheck; even half of a family’s income.”
Originally published as The reason investors are flocking back to rentals in the cost of living crisis