Low prices turn properties into rental gold mines PROPERTY investors are heading to Sydney's south-west and west to capitalise on low property prices and high rents. A survey of agents found an increase over the past six months of buyers from Sydney's more affluent suburbs snapping up investment properties. The Fairfax-owned Australian Property Monitors issued data this week showing that rents for houses rose 1.4% and rents for apartments rose 2.9% across the city. And Anglicare Sydney research revealed that areas once considered good value for renters, such as Blacktown, Campbelltown, Liverpool, Parramatta and Bankstown, now had no affordable properties. An agent with Richardson & Wrench Fairfield, Zaia Dawood, said there had been much interest from investment buyers closer to the city. ''Last month a lady from Glebe bought a 3-bedroom full-brick home on 600 square metres of land in Villawood for $355,000. She's now renting it out for $420 a week.'' A Woolloomooloo buyer who snapped up a Fairfield West house that the bank had repossessed for $316,000 rents it out for $410 a week. And another inner-city buyer who bought a block of 6 apartments for $500,000 rents them each out for $180 a week totalling $1080. ''In less than a week we had six tenants available,'' Mr Dawood said. The same was happening further west, said Terry Hansen, principal at the Professionals Real Estate St Marys and Plumpton. ''We're getting an increasing number of investors coming from the affluent suburbs, Balmain and places like that. ''They have plenty of equity in their homes and they're chasing the great rental returns out here in the west.'' He pointed to a complex of 16 townhouses that has been on the market for three weeks. ''We've already sold eight of the 16 … you can buy one for $310,000 and that's returning $390 a week.'' Dan Joseph, 36, of Ryde bought a four-bedroom brick-veneer home on a 700 sq m block in the western suburb of Hebersham recently, paying $315,000 and renting it out for $370 a week. ''I'd never even heard of Hebersham before,'' he said. ''But there are a number of schools in the area, it is within commuting distance of Parramatta and Penrith for work and the M2 and M7 means you can be in the city in 40 minutes.'' Overall, the number of investment loans has gone off the boil since the middle of last year but APM's senior economist, Andrew Wilson, expects an improvement this winter. ''There's plenty of incentive, certainly in a low market for an investor to get active,'' Mr Wilson said. ''Especially with units, since they're no longer competing with a lot of first-home buyers. ''One thing that has been keeping them out is that they can get 6 per cent return in the bank, but you will see some nice capital growth with property in Sydney.'' And then of course there are the increasing rents. ''There's upward pressure on rentals, and serious movement with units. We're seeing that already and there is no new supply coming, so the savvy investor will be thinking it's the bottom of the market.'' |