OnlyFans fortunes fuel Gen Zs property dreams
As Gen Z continue to struggle with house affordability, a growing number are leverging OnlyFans to break into the competitive property market.
Will Gen Z be able to afford houses in Australia? With young Australians finding it more challenging than ever to enter the property market, many have resigned themselves to the prospect of lifelong renting. However, a growing number of women are using OnlyFans to break into the property market. OnlyFans, a subscription-based online platform, encourages creators to share exclusive content — often of an adult nature — with their paying ‘fans.’
Women with an OnlyFans accounts are often perceived as using it for attention, as a side hustle, or to supplement their income alongside a “regular” job. Yet, it might be surprising that many successful OnlyFans creators in Australia have built an entire business from their adult content, providing them with financial stability, including investments in real estate.
Some creators are earning as much as $250,000 per month and are able to purchase properties without even needing a mortgage.
Annie Knight, 27, was working a job in marketing, earning $60k a year before joining OnlyFans. “I went from earning $60k a year to earning $60k a month, and now $250k a month,” she says. Knight has purchased two homes in Queensland and is currently looking to buy another.
“It would have taken me fifty years to earn what I now earn in a year in my previous job. I couldn’t save for a house deposit on my previous salary, so I decided to start an OnlyFans,” she says.
OnlyFans creators often face stigma about their work, but for Knight, the most frustrating criticism is the perception that she doesn’t work hard. “I get many people commenting that I took the easy way, insinuating that I haven’t had to work hard to get to where I am. I would say I’ve worked harder than anyone to get to this position and made more sacrifices than most,” she says.
“I handle it by kicking back in the house that I own with the money I made with the ‘easy’ job I have, thinking about the other investment property I own that’s also earning me money while I watch TV with my dog.”
Knight plans to own multiple mortgage-free properties and save for her future children’s private school education.
Maddi Miller, an OnlyFans creator from a small mining town in Western Australia, purchased her $240,000 home in rural Western Australia at age 18 using half of the deposit collected through OnlyFans.
“I was only doing OnlyFans as a side hustle and had only earned a couple thousand at the time I bought my house,” says Miller.
“Right now, I’m putting as much of my earnings as possible onto my mortgage to build equity to buy a bigger house.” At only 19 years old, Maddi plans to purchase her second home by the end of the year.
Grace, known as ‘Grace Wears Lace’ on OnlyFans, bought her first home at 23. Now 26, she owns three properties worth over $2.1 million and is working on acquiring her fourth investment property.
“Property investment was never on my radar before OnlyFans as I would never have had the funds to afford it, but doing my own research, I came to the conclusion that property is one of the best things to invest your money in the long term,” says Grace.
“The first month on OnlyFans I earned more than three months of my receptionist job salary. I made over $1 million in my first year, which led me to start researching what on earth I could do with such a large amount of money and high-income stream.”
Despite initial judgement of her OnlyFans profession, Grace has noticed that attitudes towards her change when her property investments are revealed. “People seem to respect me more when they see I’m smart with money instead of blowing it. I can handle hate quite easily now. I think I’ve built a tough skin,” she said.
Aside from expanding her property portfolio, Grace is exploring other investment opportunities. “I want to learn more about stocks and bonds, and I already have some money invested in crypto,” she says.
“My high income allows me to fast-track saving and I am privileged to be able to choose exactly what I invest and spend money on.”
With aspirations of becoming a writer, Katija Cortez resigned from her position as a chartered accountant at a “big four accounting firm.” Despite holding two accounting degrees, Cortez encountered challenges in being taken seriously as a writer without formal qualifications. “The plan was to do OnlyFans to pay for my writing degree — I thought it was just going to be a short-term cash injection to fund my Masters degree,” she says.
At 28, Cortez owns two properties in Sydney’s lucrative property market for a combined total of $1.8 million and plans to buy a third.
However, Cortez insists that despite her success on the subscription-based platform, it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme.
“The average Onlyfans creator only makes about $200 a month. Over a third of all money made on the platform is made by the top 1% of OnlyFans creators. People tend to only see the success stories, but that is not the reality of the majority. It is the same with every industry.”
