Property & business insight
Investment Strategy
What I'd Tell Myself in January 2023, If I Could
Three and a half years of watching this market up close. A few things I'd want a younger, more anxious version of myself to hear.
Aug 18, 2026
Market Outlook
Second Hold, But Listen to the Tone
The RBA held again yesterday at 4.35%, but the statement left the door open to another hike, and that's the part buyers heading into spring should actually be pricing in.
Aug 12, 2026
Market Trends
Brisbane's First Real Wobble Since the Peak
Three straight months of falling values off the May peak, and a widening gap between houses and units that says more than the headline number does.
Aug 10, 2026
Market Outlook
Winter Market Read, Three Years On From the Last Peak
Same rate level as 2023. A completely different market sitting underneath it.
Aug 4, 2026
Investment Strategy
Halfway Through the Year, What Actually Changed
Three hikes, a new all-time median, vacancy finally loosening. A year that reversed last year's story almost exactly.
Jul 30, 2026
Cash Flow
Screening Tenants in a Market That's Finally, Slightly, Less Desperate
Fewer applications than the peak years, still more than enough to fill anything reasonably priced.
Jul 21, 2026
Emerging Models
The Olympic Precinct Suburbs, Three Years Closer to 2032
Woolloongabba and Victoria Park both now have visible construction rather than plans on paper. Six years still to go.
Jul 14, 2026
Market Trends
Vacancy Sits Near 1.4%, the Loosest It's Been in Years
Up from the extreme lows of 2022 and 2023. Still nowhere near the 2.5 to 3 percent that counts as balanced.
Jul 7, 2026
Cash Flow
Checking the Buffer Now That Rates Have Reversed Twice in Four Years
Built the buffer up during the cuts. Glad I didn't spend it once the hikes started again.
Jun 30, 2026
Market Trends
Why Population Growth Alone Doesn't Explain the Whole Story
The number everyone points to has actually been slowing. Prices haven't slowed with it. Something else is carrying the load.
Jun 16, 2026
Market Outlook
A Hold at 4.35%
Three hikes, then a pause. Familiar shape from four years ago, just running in the other direction this time.
Jun 9, 2026
Investment Strategy
Rethinking Leverage Now That the Cutting Cycle Reversed
I got comfortable with debt levels last year that assumed rates would keep falling. That assumption just broke.
May 28, 2026
Market Trends
Unit Yields Still Ahead, and the Gap Isn't Closing
A year on from when units first started outperforming, the yield advantage over houses has held steady rather than narrowed.
May 20, 2026
Market Outlook
A Third Straight Hike Takes Us Back to the 2023 Peak
4.35%. The exact number this whole four year story started at. A strange kind of full circle.
May 6, 2026
Cash Flow
Cash Flow in a Market Where Rates Are Going the Wrong Way Again
Two hikes have quietly undone some of last year's relief. Running the numbers again, the same routine I've kept for four years.
Apr 22, 2026
Cash Flow
Dual-Income Households and What They Can Actually Borrow Now
At 4.35% and a $1.2 million median, the borrowing capacity math has shifted more than most conversations acknowledge.
Apr 15, 2026
Emerging Models
Cross River Rail's CBD Milestone, and the Years Behind It
A major milestone reported in the Brisbane CBD tunnel works. First passenger services still years away from the original promise.
Apr 8, 2026
Market Trends
The Median Hits $1.2 Million
$1,207,718, up 18.5 percent in a year. The fastest annual growth of this entire four year cycle, arriving right as rates turn back up.
Mar 24, 2026
Market Trends
Three Years of Insolvency Data, and What It Tells Future Buyers
From 2,213 firms to a record above 3,400, and now finally showing the first real signs of easing.
Mar 17, 2026
Market Outlook
A Second Straight Hike, to 4.10%
Two hikes in a row now. My correction theory from a few weeks back is looking less certain.
Mar 10, 2026
Investment Strategy
What a Hike After Three Cuts Actually Signals
Not necessarily a new hiking cycle. More likely a correction, a sign the cuts went slightly further or faster than the data justified.
Feb 25, 2026
Emerging Models
Foreign Buyers, AFAD, and Why the Surcharge Exemption Still Matters
Three years into the build-to-rent concessions, the foreign investor exemption is still the piece doing the most work.
Feb 19, 2026
Market Outlook
The Hike Nobody Was Forecasting
25 basis points up, to 3.85%. After four months of holds and a consensus it was over. Worth eating my words from two weeks ago.
Feb 11, 2026
Market Outlook
Why I'm Not Worried About a Rate Hike Nobody's Forecasting
Four months of holds at 3.60%. The consensus is the cutting's done or nearly done. I'm not so sure that consensus means much.
Jan 30, 2026
Cash Flow
New Year, Still Under Two Percent Vacancy Almost Everywhere
Four years into this cycle and the number still hasn't found real relief.
Jan 22, 2026
Market Trends
The New Building Code Gets Deferred Again
Queensland and New South Wales push the 2025 code back another 12 months. Relief for builders, a delay for everyone else.
Jan 14, 2026
Investment Strategy
Planning 2026 With Rates Moving the Right Direction, For Now
Closing out the year in a genuinely different position than I started it. Trying not to get complacent about that.
Dec 19, 2025
Market Trends
Year in Review: Three Cuts, a Million Dollar Median, a Stadium Decided
This was the year the story changed from surviving high rates to navigating fast growth again.
Dec 10, 2025
Market Trends
One Last Ashes Test Before the Wrecking Ball
The Gabba hosts an Ashes Test this summer, then construction on its replacement begins. End of an era, literally.
Nov 19, 2025
Market Outlook
A Third Straight Hold at 3.60%
Three months steady now. Feels like the cutting cycle has found its resting point, for this year at least.
Nov 5, 2025
Emerging Models
Apartment Completions Still Nowhere Near What Brisbane Needs
About 1,500 units completed this year. The region needs roughly five times that, every year, just to keep up.
Oct 22, 2025
Emerging Models
The Olympic Infrastructure Suburbs, One Year On From the Gabba Decision
Checking back on Woolloongabba and Victoria Park now that both have concrete plans attached instead of speculation.
Oct 15, 2025
Market Trends
Spring Listings Still Can't Keep Up With Demand
Third spring in a row I've written some version of this. The pattern hasn't broken yet.
Oct 8, 2025
Investment Strategy
Why I Bought a Unit Instead of a House This Year
First time in years I've gone this direction. The yield gap made the decision for me, mostly.
Sep 24, 2025
Market Outlook
A Second Consecutive Hold
Steady again. Starting to look like the RBA is genuinely comfortable at this level for now.
Sep 10, 2025
Market Trends
Units Are Quietly Outperforming Houses This Year
Unit growth is ahead of house growth for the first time in a while. The yield gap explains most of it.
Aug 20, 2025
Market Trends
Reading Construction Insolvency Numbers Like a Leading Indicator
The record insolvency year is now behind us. What the trend actually tells you about supply eighteen months out.
Aug 13, 2025
Market Outlook
The RBA Holds at 3.60% After Three Straight Cuts
The cutting cycle pauses. Question is whether it's a breather or the new plateau.
Aug 6, 2025
Cash Flow
Mid-Year Cash Flow Review, Three Cuts Banked
Every property in the portfolio is now comfortably positive for the first time since before the hiking cycle started.
Jul 23, 2025
Emerging Models
Two Years Since the BTR Concessions Started, Has It Delivered Supply Yet
Capital showed up. Completed apartments haven't, not yet, and that gap is the whole story of this policy so far.
Jul 9, 2025
Market Trends
Momentum Isn't Slowing. $1,011,000 in June
Another month, another new high. The pace since the rate cuts started is genuinely striking.
Jun 25, 2025
Emerging Models
Land Tax, Foreign Surcharges, and Why the BTR Structure Actually Matters
The concessions are two years old now. Time to actually check whether the incentive structure is doing what it was designed to do.
Jun 18, 2025
Investment Strategy
What Losing Stamp Duty Revenue Actually Costs the State
A popular policy for buyers. A real hole in the budget. I don't think it survives untouched forever.
Jun 11, 2025
Market Trends
The Median Crosses a Million Dollars
$1,006,000. A number that would have sounded absurd for this city a few years ago.
May 30, 2025
Investment Strategy
Stamp Duty Is Gone Entirely for First Home Buyers on New Builds
Not a threshold increase this time. Zero transfer duty, any value, for new homes and vacant land.
May 21, 2025
Market Outlook
A Third Cut, Down to 3.60%
Three cuts since December. The cycle everyone was waiting for has clearly arrived.
May 7, 2025
Market Outlook
Autumn Market Read: Still No Real Supply Relief
Approvals are up. Actual completions haven't caught up yet, and won't for a while.
Apr 23, 2025
Cash Flow
Two Cuts In, and the Cash Flow Math Is Finally Easing
The property that was marginal for two years just crossed back into comfortable territory.
Apr 9, 2025
Emerging Models
What the Victoria Park News Means for the Suburbs Around It
A sixty-thousand-seat stadium with a confirmed site changes the calculus for everything nearby.
Mar 26, 2025
Market Trends
The Gabba Decision, Finally Settled
Demolished after the Olympics. Cricket moves to a new stadium in Victoria Park. Two years of back-and-forth, finally resolved.
Mar 13, 2025
Market Trends
Building Approvals Are Rising. Is Supply Finally Responding?
Two years of shortage might finally be triggering the response economics textbooks promise. Might.
Feb 27, 2025
Market Outlook
A Second Cut, and the Sequence Starts to Look Real
Down to 3.85%. One cut could have been a one-off. Two starts to look like an actual cycle.
Feb 18, 2025
Cash Flow
Reflecting on a Year of Holding Through the Peak
Twelve months at the top of the cycle, and the portfolio came through it intact. Worth being honest about how close that was.
Jan 28, 2025
Investment Strategy
The First Cut Is in the Bank. What Changes, What Doesn't
A single cut doesn't undo two years of higher repayments. But it changes the direction of travel, and direction matters.
Jan 15, 2025
Market Outlook
Brisbane's 2025 Property Market: What's Ahead and How to Prepare
Don't mistake a slower year for a bad one.
Jan 8, 2025
Market Trends
Closing Out the Year: $977,575 and Climbing
Up 10.2 percent on the year. Through a stadium saga, a builder insolvency crisis, and a rate cycle that finally turned.
Dec 19, 2024
Market Outlook
The First Cut Finally Lands
25 basis points, down to 4.10%. A year of holds ends, and a new part of the cycle begins.
Dec 11, 2024
Investment Strategy
Planning for a Rate Cut That Still Hasn't Happened
Everyone expects it soon. I'm trying to position for it without betting the portfolio on the timing.
Nov 20, 2024
Emerging Models
1B Housing & Co-Living: The Next Big Thing in Property Investment?
This isn't a fad that fades once rates settle down. It's a shift in how people actually want to live.
Nov 12, 2024
Market Outlook
Twelve Months at 4.35%, the Longest Hold of the Cycle
A full year without a move. The market has fully priced this in as the baseline now, not a peak to wait out.
Nov 6, 2024
Cash Flow
Screening Tenants When Everyone's Desperate
The volume of applications hasn't changed. What's changed is how I feel about picking between them.
Oct 23, 2024
Market Trends
Another Spring, Still Not Enough Listings
Same story as last spring. Sellers still aren't coming out the way the season usually promises.
Oct 9, 2024
Emerging Models
Co-Living Demand Still Rising, Nine Months On
Checked back on the trend I flagged last year. It hasn't slowed down. If anything, it's accelerated.
Sep 25, 2024
Investment Strategy
You Can Now Rent Out Part of Your First Home and Keep the Concession
A small but genuinely useful change. Rent a room or a granny flat without losing your first home concession.
Sep 11, 2024
Cash Flow
Cash Flow Properties in a Market That's Stopped Being Cheap
The whole cash flow strategy assumed you could still find affordable entry points. That assumption is getting harder to hold.
Aug 21, 2024
Market Trends
How Economic Uncertainty is Reshaping Real Estate Investment in Australia
Clarity rarely comes before the opportunity does. Usually it shows up after, once the price has already moved.
Aug 15, 2024
Market Outlook
Nine Months of Holds. Is the RBA Actually Done?
Longest stretch of stability since the hiking started. Long enough to plan around, still not long enough to be certain.
Aug 7, 2024
Market Outlook
What 'Second Most Expensive City' Actually Means for an Investor
A ranking headline is not a strategy. Here's what I actually took from it.
Jul 24, 2024
Market Trends
Brisbane Overtakes Melbourne. First Time in History
Second most expensive capital city in the country now, behind only Sydney. Nobody predicted this a decade ago.
Jul 10, 2024
Cash Flow
Rent Bidding Gets Banned, and the Cap Gets Tied to the Property
Two changes at once. Rent bidding's out entirely, and the annual cap now follows the property, not the tenant.
Jun 19, 2024
Investment Strategy
The Stamp Duty Threshold Just Moved, and It Actually Matters
First home concession threshold up from $500k to $700k. In a market where the median just crossed $870k, that's not symbolic.
Jun 5, 2024
Market Trends
The Population Numbers Behind Everything Else I Write About
Almost 73,000 new residents in Greater Brisbane in a single financial year. That's the whole story, really.
May 22, 2024
Market Outlook
Five Months of Holds, and Whether That Means Anything Yet
The RBA's been steady since November. Long enough to start calling it a plateau, not long enough to be sure.
May 8, 2024
Investment Strategy
Why I Still Like Brisbane Despite the Noise
Stadium chaos, builder collapses, rate uncertainty. None of it has actually touched the fundamentals.
Apr 24, 2024
Market Trends
Construction Insolvencies on Track for a Record Year
Up nearly 30 percent on the year before. The 2021 contracts are still working their way through.
Apr 10, 2024
Investment Strategy
What Stadium Uncertainty Actually Means for Woolloongabba Property
The venue's up in the air. The transit and precinct investment mostly isn't.
Mar 19, 2024
Market Trends
The Gabba Rebuild Gets Scrapped After All
The demolish-and-rebuild plan is dead. The review's own recommendation got rejected too.
Mar 6, 2024
Cash Flow
Cash Flow Check-In With Rates on Hold
Nothing changed this month, and that's exactly why it was worth checking.
Feb 21, 2024
Market Trends
An Independent Review Gets Called on Olympic Venue Planning
Backlash over the Gabba cost blowout gets loud enough to trigger a formal review.
Feb 8, 2024
Market Outlook
A Second Straight Hold, and What Waiting Actually Costs
Rates on pause again. The market didn't wait with them.
Jan 29, 2024
Market Trends
The Gabba Rebuild Plan, and Why the Number Tripled
Demolish and rebuild, apparently the cheapest option. The cost still tripled from the original estimate.
Jan 16, 2024
Investment Strategy
Cash Flow vs. Capital Gains: Which Property Investment Strategy Works Best?
You don't have to choose one philosophy and marry it forever.
Jan 10, 2024
Investment Strategy
Planning Next Year's Moves at What Might Be Peak Rates
If this really is the top, the question isn't whether to act. It's what to do while everyone else waits.
Dec 20, 2023
Market Trends
Where Brisbane's Median Actually Landed This Year
$870,526 median house value to close out the year. Through the fastest hiking cycle in decades.
Dec 9, 2023
Investment Strategy
The First Home Grant Just Doubled. Here's Who That Actually Helps
Fifteen to thirty thousand overnight. A meaningful number for the right buyer, a rounding error for the wrong one.
Nov 23, 2023
Market Outlook
The Hike That (Probably) Ends the Cycle
4.35%. Highest in over a decade. Everyone's calling it the peak. We'll see.
Nov 8, 2023
Emerging Models
One Quarter In: Who's Actually Building Under the New Concessions
Early days, but a few names are already moving. Worth tracking who takes the incentive seriously.
Oct 25, 2023
Market Outlook
Spring Selling Season, and the Listings That Still Aren't Coming
Spring is supposed to bring the listings out. This year it's a trickle, not a flood.
Oct 12, 2023
Cash Flow
Why I'm Not Chasing Yield in a Market This Tight
Everything's tight right now. Tight isn't the same as good value.
Sep 28, 2023
Market Trends
A Longer Look at Why Builders Keep Going Under
Fixed-price contracts signed in 2021, costs that kept rising through 2022 and 2023. The math stopped working.
Sep 14, 2023
Investment Strategy
Revisiting Cash Flow Versus Capital Gains at the Top of a Rate Cycle
The calculus changes when borrowing costs peak. Or maybe it doesn't, and that's the actual lesson.
Aug 29, 2023
Market Trends
Vacancy Still Under One Percent, and the Builders Are Going Under
Two numbers that should be pulling against each other, both getting worse at once.
Aug 11, 2023
Emerging Models
The Rise of Build-to-Rent: Why Investors Are Flocking to This Model
Getting in early on a model like this tends to matter more than getting in cheap.
Aug 3, 2023
Cash Flow
First Week Under the New Rent Cap Rules
Nothing dramatic happened. Which might be the most useful data point of all.
Jul 21, 2023
Emerging Models
The Build-to-Rent Concessions Are Live. Now We Wait for Supply
Policy changed on paper this week. Whether it changes anything on the ground takes years to know.
Jul 6, 2023
Market Trends
The Rent Cap Reform Starts This Month. Here's What Actually Changes
From July 1, rent increases are capped to once every 12 months. No cap on the amount, just the frequency.
Jun 26, 2023
Market Trends
The State of Brisbane's Rental Market: A Deep Dive into Trends and Opportunities
The underlying story isn't going away on any timeline I can see.
Jun 14, 2023
Market Outlook
June's Hike and the Slow Erosion of Surprise
Another quarter point. I barely registered it. That's either good discipline or bad complacency.
Jun 8, 2023
Emerging Models
What's Actually in the Build-to-Rent Concessions Landing This Winter
A 50 percent land tax cut and a foreign investor surcharge exemption. Here's who it's actually for.
May 19, 2023
Market Outlook
May's Hike Landed Differently This Time
After a month off, the next hike stung more than the ones before it. Small pause, bigger contrast.
May 5, 2023
Emerging Models
Vacant Land, New Builds, and the Incentives Nobody's Talking About Yet
There's a policy shift coming for build-to-rent. Most investors I know haven't looked at it closely.
Apr 27, 2023
Investment Strategy
The Month Rates Didn't Move, and What I Did Instead
A hold isn't a signal. It's a pause. I used it to actually think instead of react.
Apr 14, 2023
Cash Flow
Screening Tenants When You Could Fill the Vacancy Twenty Times Over
Too many good applications is its own problem. You start looking for reasons to say no instead of yes.
Mar 24, 2023
Market Outlook
March's Hike, and the Habit of Expecting the Next One
Five hikes since May last year. I've stopped being surprised, which might be its own kind of risk.
Mar 10, 2023
Cash Flow
Running the Cash Flow Numbers Again, Because the Rates Changed Them
Every hike quietly resets the math. Most investors don't rerun it until it's too late.
Feb 22, 2023
Cash Flow
The Smart Investor's Guide to Managing Cash Flow in Rental Properties
Cash flow management isn't glamorous. It's mostly just paying attention consistently, dressed up as something more complicated.
Feb 15, 2023
Market Outlook
Another Quarter Point, Another Month of Waiting
The RBA moved again. My mortgage moved with it. Nothing else did.
Feb 9, 2023
Market Trends
Why Brisbane's Vacancy Rate Doesn't Feel Real Until You're the One Searching
Sub-one-percent vacancy is a statistic until you're the fortieth application on a two-bedroom unit.
Jan 27, 2023
Market Outlook
Rates Keep Climbing and Nobody's Flinching Yet
Four hikes deep and the auctions are still full. That should tell you something.
Jan 18, 2023