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Timing the property market is costing investors
Investors who try to time the market could be losing up to $140,000 over a 15-year period, according to new research.
Timing the property market is costing investors
Investors who try to time the market could be losing up to $140,000 over a 15-year period, according to new research.
Analysis by the Property Investment Professionals of Australia (PIPA) has shown that due to a number of factors, inclusive of transactional costs, buying and selling multiple times, stamp duty and capital gains, property investors who attempt to time the market are actually worse off.
PIPA chairman Peter Koulizos said most investors simply do not have the skills or the knowledge to expertly select the best markets to invest in over the short term.
“Most people are only thinking of the potential price uplifts when they try to time a market and naively don’t consider the inherent risks involved in such a market gamble,” he said.
In making the point about timing, PIPA outlined that the top three performing capital cities over the past 15 years have been Melbourne, Hobart and Darwin, with median house price growth between 106 and 147 per cent.
The best capital city between 2003 and 2008 was Darwin at 91 per cent growth; from 2008 to 2013, it was Sydney at 41 per cent; and from 2013 to 2018, both Sydney and Melbourne at 38 per cent.
According to Mr Koulizos, the data showed that “no market is the strongest for a sustained period of time, with Sydney’s market actually the strongest prior to the most recent price upswing”.
“However, for investors who tried to time the market but chose the worst-performing capital cities over each five-year period, they could be out of pocket to the tune of $137,701,” Mr Koulizos said.
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