Invest
Building a moat: How to defend your property against adverse effects
A successful property portfolio is one that is not reliant on you, as the investor, to dictate its performance, a property guru has said.
Building a moat: How to defend your property against adverse effects
A successful property portfolio is one that is not reliant on you, as the investor, to dictate its performance, a property guru has said.
The ultimate goal for a property investor is to have a property that is neutrally or positively geared, and in demand from tenants, so that it is able to ward off negative scenarios seen throughout 2020, Pure Property Investment’s Paul Glossop said on a recent episode of The Smart Property Investment Show.
“What stops a market from growing? Typically, it’s going to be things like more expensive money, additional supply. And if those two things alone happen to a property and you don’t have a good answer to say what happens when these things happen...
“Firstly, you’ll have a lot of fixed costs such as high strata, high running costs. If your interest rates go up because the market has actually stalled, that’s what’s causing it, as well as additional supply, because that is what typically happens on the backend of a boom, then that’s really when people are left hugely with those issues,” Mr Glossop explained.
For Mr Glossop, the definition of a successful property investor is one with a portfolio that effectively, over time, is not reliant on the investor to dictate its performance.
And when it comes to building that resilience to stand the test of time – i.e. a moat around one’s property portfolio, Mr Glossop shared an interesting analogy.
“It’s essentially like raising children,” said Mr Glossop.
“They require a lot more attention, a lot more need, early in the piece. Firstly, they need more money, you need to save more. They take a lot of time, they’re harder work, until you actually raise them to a point where your intention is that they become self-sufficient.
“Good property portfolios are effectively geared that way, where you know that you put effort and time into it initially, and it probably won’t take 18, 25, 30 years to get to maturity. It would probably be more like, in a good fast case, two to 3three years, and in some cases maybe seven to eight years.
“But you’re trying to build it up to eventually say, ‘Take me away and you got to do what you go to do, which was my intention from day one’,” said Mr Glossop.
Speaking about building a moat around a property portfolio, Mr Glossop noted the property investors when putting pen to paper needs to consider two factors – where to get the fastest growth in the shortest period of time, and their defence when that growth inevitably stops.
For more information about building resilience, tune in to Mr Glossop’s podcast here.
RELATED ARTICLES
About the author
About the author
Property
Australia’s mortgage knife‑fight: investors, first‑home buyers and the new rules of lender competition
The mortgage market is staying hot even as rate relief remains elusive, with investors and first‑home buyers chasing scarce stock and lenders fighting for share on price, speed and digital experienceRead more
Property
Breaking Australia’s three‑property ceiling: the finance‑first playbook for scalable portfolios
Most Australian investors don’t stall at three properties because they run out of ambition — they run out of borrowing capacity. The ceiling is a finance constraint disguised as an asset problem. The ...Read more
Property
Gen Z's secret weapon: Why their homebuying spree could flip Australia's housing market
A surprising share of younger Australians are preparing to buy despite affordability headwinds. One in three Gen Z Australians intend to purchase within a few years and 32 per cent say escaping rent ...Read more
Property
Tasmania’s pet-positive pivot: What landlords, BTR operators and insurers need to do now
Tasmania will soon require landlords to allow pets unless they can prove a valid reason to refuse. This is more than a tenancy tweak; it is a structural signal that the balance of power in rental ...Read more
Property
NSW underquoting crackdown: the compliance reset creating both cost and competitive edge
NSW is moving to sharply increase penalties for misleading price guides, including fines linked to agent commissions and maximum penalties up to $110,000. Behind the headlines sits a more ...Read more
Property
ANZ’s mortgage growth, profit slump: why volume without margin won’t pay the dividends
ANZ lifted home-lending volumes, yet profits fell under the weight of regulatory and restructuring costs—an object lesson in the futility of growth that doesn’t convert to margin and productivityRead more
Property
Rate pause, busy summer: where smart capital wins in Australia’s property market
With the Reserve Bank holding rates steady, the summer selling season arrives with rare predictability. Liquidity will lift, serviceability stops getting worse, and sentiment stabilises. The ...Read more
Property
The 2026 Suburb Thesis: A case study in turning trend lists into investable strategy
A new crop of ‘suburbs to watch’ is hitting headlines, but translating shortlist hype into bottom-line results requires more than a map and a mood. This case study shows how a disciplined, data-led ...Read more
Property
Australia’s mortgage knife‑fight: investors, first‑home buyers and the new rules of lender competition
The mortgage market is staying hot even as rate relief remains elusive, with investors and first‑home buyers chasing scarce stock and lenders fighting for share on price, speed and digital experienceRead more
Property
Breaking Australia’s three‑property ceiling: the finance‑first playbook for scalable portfolios
Most Australian investors don’t stall at three properties because they run out of ambition — they run out of borrowing capacity. The ceiling is a finance constraint disguised as an asset problem. The ...Read more
Property
Gen Z's secret weapon: Why their homebuying spree could flip Australia's housing market
A surprising share of younger Australians are preparing to buy despite affordability headwinds. One in three Gen Z Australians intend to purchase within a few years and 32 per cent say escaping rent ...Read more
Property
Tasmania’s pet-positive pivot: What landlords, BTR operators and insurers need to do now
Tasmania will soon require landlords to allow pets unless they can prove a valid reason to refuse. This is more than a tenancy tweak; it is a structural signal that the balance of power in rental ...Read more
Property
NSW underquoting crackdown: the compliance reset creating both cost and competitive edge
NSW is moving to sharply increase penalties for misleading price guides, including fines linked to agent commissions and maximum penalties up to $110,000. Behind the headlines sits a more ...Read more
Property
ANZ’s mortgage growth, profit slump: why volume without margin won’t pay the dividends
ANZ lifted home-lending volumes, yet profits fell under the weight of regulatory and restructuring costs—an object lesson in the futility of growth that doesn’t convert to margin and productivityRead more
Property
Rate pause, busy summer: where smart capital wins in Australia’s property market
With the Reserve Bank holding rates steady, the summer selling season arrives with rare predictability. Liquidity will lift, serviceability stops getting worse, and sentiment stabilises. The ...Read more
Property
The 2026 Suburb Thesis: A case study in turning trend lists into investable strategy
A new crop of ‘suburbs to watch’ is hitting headlines, but translating shortlist hype into bottom-line results requires more than a map and a mood. This case study shows how a disciplined, data-led ...Read more
