“From our data, we can see that almost one third of all millennial property investors actually purchased their investment property on their own,” he said.
Over the past year, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics found investors were the key driver of new lending, with lending growth to this segment reaching 18.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, lending to first home buyers rose by 13.2 per cent, while owner-occupiers saw a 3.4 per cent increase in lending.
“Interestingly, what we continue to see from many Aussies is the inclination to ‘rentvest’, buying property where they can afford and then renting where they wish to live,” Dr Baumann said.
“Rentvesting gives Australians the chance to get their foot on the property ladder sooner rather than later and purchase a property in a lower cost area without having to give up the lifestyle they have become accustomed to when renting.”
Nationally, the top postcodes* for new property investment purchases in 2023 were 2000 (Sydney CBD, including Haymarket); 3029 (West Melbourne, including Hoppers Crossing); 2765 (North West Sydney, including Marsden Park), 3064 (North Melbourne, including Craigieburn), and 2155 (North West Sydney, including Kellyville).
Dr Baumann said the majority of the top performing postcodes had proven to be consistently popular with investors for many years. CommBank data from 2019 found three of the year’s top performing investment postcodes were still at the top of the list in 2023.