Your top five!

As the year draws to a close, I reflect on the many changes to housing that have resulted since the pandemic. This past eighteen months has also thrown us many challenges as we grapple with the impact of inflationary pressures on our lives. The Reserve Bank’s cash rate hikes have played their part too, as has the rental housing shortage and raft of rental reforms in our state.

Cataloguing the top five Sunday blogs according to Google Analytics data gives an interesting insight. Our readers have focused on three evergreen blogs, in fact one goes back to 2017.

Coming in at number five is this common question – “Should I buy one house, or two smaller properties?” In fact, the question is asked so frequently it’s little wonder I decided to write about it two and a half years ago. There are many reasons why I could recommend an investor targets one, higher-priced, higher-growth centric property. But there are just as many reasons why I’d recommend the latter. It goes beyond capital growth or portfolio count. Mapping out property portfolio future acquisitions hinges around cashflow, retirement dates, tax positions and time.

Number four was written at a similar time as the above, but this time I tackled a tricky title type. Stratum title is native to only a few suburbs. While there are some classic hallmarks, many buyers miss this important detail. Picking it up too late can potentially cost a buyer their deposit, so it’s not surprising that this attracted some interest.

Number three’s popularity caught me by surprise. In June this year I penned a blog showcasing what $500,000 could buy in our state. From houses to units, heritage style apartments to villa units, no stone was left unturned. Half a million dollars can go a long way when the brief is carefully considered.

The silver medal blog was a pleasant surprise too. In late June, while travelling on a Shinkansen in Japan with my family, I wrote three consecutive case studies about my own investing journey. All three attracted higher click-throughs, and it was the first of the trilogy that scored most highly. It goes to show that readers appreciate the journey from grass roots, mistakes and all.

And lastly, the most popular blog of 2023 dates back to 2017. Six years ago I wrote about “Houses vs Units, and Where do Townhouses Fit?”. It’s a confusing concept for many to grasp, because townhouses have blanket coverage as a unit, but don’t always underperform.

There is no right or wrong when it comes to property dwelling types, but yield, capital growth potential, strata subdivision, strata costs, and age of the dwelling need to be considered.

It seems to be the evergreen questions that grip many readers.

Thanking you all for your readership and support this year.