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One way that many Australians are managing their wealth these days is by investing in property. In fact, Ken Morrison from the Property Council recently claimed that almost 2 million Aussies own a piece of investment real estate.
Now, for a lot of these people, that’s going to mean being a landlord and dealing with tenants. In particular, younger tenants. As people flock to capital cities for work and play, renting becomes one of the only available options for people under 30. But as a landlord, what should you be providing to ensure your property is in high demand?
1) High speed internet
In a McCrindle report on the renters of tomorrow, cable internet was cited as one of the most important things to have in a home. It’s not just for Netflix either – the changing face of the workforce means people of all ages, but especially younger Australians, are working from home.
In fact, Mark McCrindle called “power working” a hot new trend for 2016:
“With apps and devices and technologies and the expectation of quicker response times from clients, we’re going to see continual changes in what work looks like and where it’s done from.”
This means using your home loan for a property that’s already hooked up to the NBN, making sure connections are strong and perhaps even providing strong routers. We’ve all been in situations where the connection keeps cutting out in the middle of an important Skype call or email composition – let’s make it a thing of the past.
2) The right transport access
While the high price of property (pushing a one million dollar average in Sydney alone) is driving some people out into regional areas, our cities will continue to be business and culture hubs that draw young people from far and wide.
Inner-city apartments with parking are valued at $100,000 more than those without.
That means making sure the places they live have the right transport access. It could be picking a spot near bus or train stations, or providing private car parking.
There’s a generation change afoot, however, showing younger people are not as tied to the need to drive. In fact there have been entire government studies dedicated to the phenomenon of younger generations driving less. Pick the right transport options for your city’s demographics and invest accordingly!
3) A bit of room for Santa’s Little Helper
At the home of The Simpsons, family dog Santa’s Little Helper has all the room he needs to run, play and get into tussles with the cat, Snowball. But not everyone in Australia has the same luxury. The McCrindle renter report identified space for a pet as another of the most important lifestyle features in a home, so people looking at an investment property might want to keep that in mind.
The RSPCA reported that we have a 63 per cent pet ownership rate in Australia. While dogs are the most popular companion, there’s also a fair share of cats, pets, birds, even reptiles (another Simpsons pet, the lizard Jub Jub, comes to mind).
“Selma, Jub-Jub is fantastic! He’s everywhere you wanna be!” pic.twitter.com/CPRVyTso9B
— SimpsonsQOTD (@SimpsonsQOTD) March 28, 2015
Opening up a rental property to pets could prove very beneficial for making it attractive to young people, keeping positive cashflow property afloat even when vacancy rates start to creep up.
Of course, these are only a few ways to make an investment property more appealing to the younger generation of Australians. You might not even want to target this demographic, but if you do it’s important to understand what they want.
Whatever your financial planning or home loan concerns and queries are, the team at Yellow Brick Road is here to help. Give us a call for anything you need!