The Property Academy Podcast

In this episode, we discuss a report that was published about Airbnnb by Deloitte, a consultancy, in 2017. This includes the economic impacts that Airbnb has on the economy at the time.  The report shows that 35% of Airbnb nights were from New Zealanders, followed by Australia, United States, China and the UK.  Airbnb had circa 1.5 million guest nights within the study period, and brought around 4x more economic activity because of other spending.  We also talk through how to gain insight into the market by comparing the data for the different regions in the report. This includes a specific highlight on the Auckland Property Market. In this recording, we are once again joined by Jon Lawry from the Urban Butler.

In this episode, we discuss that if property investors want to get a high rental yield on their Airbnb, they need to get a high occupancy rate. And the way to do this is knowing what guests are looking for when booking an Airbnb. If you know what guests are looking for, you can give it to them, and better market your property.  From Jon's experience there are four things that guests typically look for (in this order): 1. Location 2. An appealing property 3. A price they can afford 4. Reviews For this episode, we are once again joined by Jon Lawry from Urban Butler. 

In this episode, we discuss one simple strategy you can use to double your price on Airbnb – dynamic pricing. This is where you vary the price of your property based on what is happening in the market. When there is a lot of demand in the market for flights or hotel rooms, hotels and airlines will put their prices up.  Jon shares that software is now available that allows Airbnb hosts to do the same thing. This means that for certain periods of high demand (for instance when big concerts and events are happening) property investors can double the daily nigh rate of their Airbnb.

In this episode, we are joined by Jon Lawry from Urban Butler to discuss using Airbnb with property investment. This episode specifically covers the yield you can expect from an Airbnb. Typically you can expect at least a 50% higher net yield from an Airbnb compared to a standard long term tenancy. It is, however, important to note that to generate these types of yields you need a property that will appeal to people who use Airbnb (apartments near the centre of town). It's important to also note that your gross yield will be far higher than a long term tenancy, but you also face higher costs, which brings down the net yield.

In this episode, we discuss the process of actually buying an investment property – after you've found the specific property that you want to buy. This includes the reports you need to get, the clauses that need to be negotiated, the back and forth that occurs when negotiating the price, and picking up the keys.  There are over 150 different steps that make up the property buying process, and the trick is to know what's coming so you can prepare. 

In this episode, we discuss whether Hamilton is a good place to buy an investment property. We specifically discuss the amount of infrastructure investment that is currently occurring in Hamilton. This includes the Ruakura Inland Port, The Waikato Expressway, and the value of assets held by the local iwi – Waikato Tainui. We discuss that the average rate of median house price growth value in Hamilton suburbs over the last 18 years has been 6.14% per annum. This is higher than the 5% capital growth appreciation that we typically use when forecasting property values.  On top of this, Hamilton is still relatively affordable and is expected to attract the third-highest level of population growth over the next 20 years (Waikato region).

In this episode, we discuss three different thresholds you need to meet in order to get started in property investment. This content comes from an article that Andrew recently wrote for Juno Investment magazine, which will be released as part of the next issue.  After sharing the three thresholds, Andrew then shows how you can break the rules and invest anyway.  These three thresholds are: $90,000 NZD in useable equity within the property. That's $90,000 of money you can take out against your home, which is different than equity $50-$100 per week that you can contribute to topping up the mortgage of the property A team of people who can guide you through the process. There are several strategies you can use to break these rules, which we go through in the episode. To find out more about property investment, head to the Opes Partners website to read the Epic Guide to Property Investment, the most comprehensive guide to property investment in the country which is freely available on the internet. 

In this episode, we look at whether new builds, or existing renovation projects give the highest return on the capital you have invested. This episode is based on an article that Andrew recently wrote for the NZ Property Investor Magazine.  In the article, Andrew compares a $500,000 new build, with an existing property purchased for $400K and then renovated for $50K (resulting in a renovated property with a $500K valuation). He shows that a new build would require capital of $100K, whereas the existing property would require the investor to risk $170K worth of capital. While – over a 10 year period – the existing property would net an additional $64K worth of returns, as a percentage of the capital risked it returns a lower ROI. The new property nets 291% ROI, while the existing property returns 209% over the 10 year period.  If you are interested in learning more about property investment in New Zealand, then head to the Opes Partners website to read the Epic Guide to Property Investment in NZ. This is the most comprehensive, free guide to investing in property on the internet. 

In this episode, we discuss a recent idea that has been suggested by the Interim Retirement Commissioner – should you be able to use your KiwiSaver to buy your first investment property (if you don't already own another property). This is an important topic because we know that some groups in NZ are finding it hard to get onto the property ladder – and yet the NZ superannuation was never meant to support accommodation costs, it was always assumed that these would be sorted.  However, only 20% of Pacifica people own their own home, and only 35% of Maori own their own home. This is much less than their Pakeha counterparts. And we know that the majority of Pacifica people live in Auckland, where house prices are relatively unaffordable. We add our support behind the idea of using KiwiSaver to buy investment property, because: a) it means that you don't need to buy in the same city that you live in. This means that people struggling to buy in their home city can still access the property market, and b) because it means that multiple people can pool their KiwiSaver – so that four people could pool their KiwiSaver's to buy an affordable 2 bedroom unit. This means that it would be much more affordable for these people to access the property investment market.  If you are interested in learning more about property investment, then head to the Opes Partners website where you can read the Epic Guide to Property Investment in NZ, this is the most comprehensive guide to property investment in NZ. 

In this episode – our last with Clara Kim from the Juno KiwiSaver Scheme – we discuss how to withdraw your KiwiSaver from your provider. This is very simple but slightly different based on the reason for your withdrawal (whether for your first home or for retirement).  The other way you are able to withdraw your KiwiSaver is through an application for financial hardship. This is significantly more difficult and complex, which is the reason it was not discussed.  To find out more about property investment, head to the Opes Partners website. Juno Kiwisaver Scheme Disclosure: Pie Funds is the issuer. Go to junokiwisaver.co.nz to download the disclosure statement.