Matching your property to the demographics of market demand with Kent Lardner – BONUS SERIES Ep. 19

In episode 19 of the Property Investing Journey, Mike is joined once again by Kent Lardner, Director of SuburbTrends and Founder of 3Comps Pty Ltd. Kent’s background in Market Research and Data Analytics makes him the go-to person to talk all things demographics, and in this episode Kent and Mike delve deep into the primary drivers of market demand and how understanding these will help inform your property investments.

Recognising that there are a multitude of ways to study the market, Kent breaks down the various sub-markets within suburbs and across regions. He explains why understanding the significance of median pricing is important when referring to commonly available data such as vacancy rates and sales metrics, and notes that property investors tend to focus on yield and buying below the median.

As we approach the end of our second year of a global pandemic, Mike and Kent look to the impact this may have on the demographics of certain regions and how one of the biggest drivers has arisen from the shift to regional commutable areas. Drawing on specific metrics such as employment and income, Kent details the correlation between density and rental tenure, and statistics such as the proportion of home ownership, and how such factors can impact market demand.

In a market that is increasingly the focus on speculation from both media and analysts alike, Kent’s insights into market research and suburb trends will help even the most astute property investor. This episode is a must listen for anyone seeking to better understand the current market and expedite their property journey.

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Mike is joined once again by Kent Lardner, Director of SuburbTrends and Founder of 3Comps Pty Ltd. Kent’s background in Market Research and Data Analytics makes him the go-to person to talk all things demographics, and in this episode Kent and Mike delve deep into the primary drivers of market demand and how understanding these will help inform your property investments.

• Understanding sub-markets and their drivers
• The relevance of median pricing
• How to look at demographics of the people
• What we can learn from the 2021 Census and how that data may change moving forward
• Correlation between density and rental tenure
• The most significant metrics in the market right now
• The impact of COVID on movements to regional commutable locations
• Kent’s top demographic indicators to look for when investing

“One of the important things, I think, is to understand that a lot of the measures are based on a median price and therefore they’re based on a typical median house“  Kent 1:48

“I think it (the Census) will always have value. I love the Census, but I think there’s some significant things we will have to explain. We’ll have to explain a lot of things away and there’ll be things that change within 6 or 12 months so you’d almost say ‘hey, we should have kicked the Census can down the road by  12 months until the vax had happened”  Kent 5:40

“Everything’s tied together. It’s not just going to pivot on one thing – what’s your age, where were you born, do you own your house – everything is interconnected so it’s very hard to isolate one thing like demographics“  Kent 11:59

“I’d be very careful of short-term medians at a suburb level especially on a time series…if you are looking at price movements you’d want to do that at a broader level, at a regional level“  Kent 14:12

“By and large, and this is just a general statement, the rentals are much better behaved price distributions than sales, so you’ll find if the sale prices are reasonably distributed you can put your hand on your heart and say ‘yes, I think I can trust the rents here’ so the yields will be ok“  Kent 18:14

Links mentioned

https://gearedforgrowth.com.au/podcasts/property-market-research-advanced-with-kent-lardner-bonus-series-ep-15/

https://gearedforgrowth.com.au/podcasts/episode-119-interview-with-kent-lardner/

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