Ep.131: Insights From the 2024 PIPA Annual Investor Survey, with Nicola McDougall

In this week’s episode of the Geared for Growth podcast, host Mike Mortlock welcomes Nicola McDougall, Chair of the Property Investment Professionals of Australia (PIPA), to discuss the results of the 2024 Annual Investor Survey.

Nicola, who is also Director of Bricks and Mortar Media, a public relations firm specialising in property and finance, brings a wealth of knowledge to the discussion. With a successful property portfolio of her own, she has co-authored several property books, including The Female Investor and Property Investing for Dummies.

In the episode, Mike and Nicola dive deep into the findings of the recent investor sentiment survey, putting the results in context with current real estate market conditions and housing policies at both State and Federal Government levels. Now in its tenth year, the survey had over 1,200 respondents, offering substantial insights into trends shaping the property investment market.

Nicola breaks down sales trends from recent years and shares some surprising data on property ownership duration. She highlights the critical relationship between the rental market and low vacancy rates and debunks the misconception that property investors are driving up prices.

The conversation also touches on why many investors are leaving the market, especially in the post-COVID era, and what the long-term impact of this trend could be. Mike and Nicola explore the popular debate around negative gearing and consider whether now is still a good time to invest in property.

This engaging discussion unpacks key insights from the Investor Survey, shedding light on what they mean in today’s property landscape. It’s an episode you won’t want to miss!

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In this week’s episode of the Geared for Growth podcast, host Mike Mortlock welcomes Nicola McDougall, Chair of the Property Investment Professionals of Australia (PIPA), to discuss the results of the 2024 Annual Investor Survey.

• Results of the PIPA 2024 Annual Investor Survey
• The drivers behind the rising trend in property sales
• The policies disincentivising property investors and the impact on the rental market
• Are property investors really seeking negatively geared properties?
• How the psychology of investing has changed since COVID
• Is it still a good time to buy, and where to invest right now
• Notable data points from the survey that were somewhat surprising
• Why the government needs to support private property investment
• Reasons why Nicola remains a strong advocate for property investing

“We could produce a statistically relevant and robust survey with research that’s really insightful in real time about what’s happening right now in the mindsets of investors around the country” 3:17

“So over the last 12 months for this year’s survey about 14% of survey respondents said they’d sold at least one investment dwelling in the previous 12 months – that was higher than last year which was 12% and that was a bit of a surprise to me” 5:55

“New rental supplies are not coming onto the market so those people in certain parts of politics and some left leaning media who are celebrating investors leaving (the market), if they really want to understand the impact of that, one only needs to look at the continuation of those record low vacancy rates around the nation” 7:33

“We all know for those of us from the industry that it’s emotional homebuyers that generally drive up prices. It’s not investors who are actually doing it for a variety of reasons, it is to be savvy and to buy within their defined budgets” 10:16

“There’s still plenty of investors out there who believe it’s a good time to buy. Just over 45% believe now is a good time to invest in residential properties, slightly down from last year, a bit down from the 62% recorded in 2021 but that’s not surprising given interest rates were was so low” 26:14

“The rental crisis has changed the goal posts. I think everybody is scrambling to find someone to blame about trying to find short term solutions to a long-term problem. The rental crisis is nearly ten years in the making for a variety of factors that I’ve spoken a lot about in the past” 35:55

“If there ever was a time to improve the supply of rental properties in the country it is like you said to motivate and encourage the people that supply the majority of those rental properties and that is the everyday investors” 39:12

“The government is billions of dollars better off from investors being in the market than they are in regards to the amount of money that they might be giving back in personal tax income returns so that’s never really part of any story that you are seeing out there” 44:43

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