As so many investors bought property during COVID-19 in regional tree-change areas, many are now working out what to do as the pandemic, hopefully, subsides.
“I was one of those,” says Luke Harris, chief executive of The Property Mentors and co-author of the property investors’ guide“I bought a place at Airlie Beach in the beautiful Whitsundays and shifted there from Melbourne. Nathan Lewes, managing director of boutique investment firm AssetBase, says it’s a very common quandary.But he’s been advising his owners to let out their houses and apartments to long-term renters, often with longer leases to avoid the costs of re-advertising.“Rents have really gone up in a lot of regional areas and, in a lot of instances, you’re looking at a rental return of 5 to 5.5 per cent, which is really, really good,” he says.
Rents generally have been strong in most regional areas, rising by more than 50 per cent in some areas as tree-changers on city wages move in and price locals out of the market.