By Rich Harvey, CEO & Founder, propertybuyer.com.au
Investing in property has been one of the most rewarding decisions my wife and I have ever made. It’s helped us create a fantastic lifestyle for our family, along with the satisfaction of knowing we will be financially secure in retirement. Learning how to invest in property effectively has been key to building wealth and setting ourselves up for the future. It means we can look forward to plenty of freedom and good times once our work life is done.
It’s a path available to everyone, but there’s one crucial hurdle stopping everyday Aussies from achieving their dreams via real estate. It’s a choice that means the difference between a life of struggle and one of plenty.
That decision is… procrastination.
Average Australians are failing to act on their investing due to fear, uncertainty and distraction. Many are also biding their time in hope of buying at the bottom of the price cycle. Obviously, no one wants to pay more than they must for an asset. However, that delay is costing them hundreds-of-thousands of dollars in lost opportunity.
The saying goes that when it comes to property, time in the market beats timing the market – and I can tell you from experience, it’s absolutely true.
Here’s why not acting on property investment is massively eroding your potential returns.
The other day I bumped into a guy who I used to regularly play tennis with five years ago. During our catch-up, he mentioned my posts on social media about getting into the market and said he'd been meaning to buy a property—especially after seeing some of the client success stories I’d shared. The funny thing is, we’d had this exact conversation on the court half a decade ago. In those five years he’d taken no action and had missed out on one of the hottest runs of price growth in recent memory.
People procrastinate for a variety of reasons.
Like my friend, many start with good intentions, but their busy days get in the way. This delays their purchasing plan again and again and, before they know it, years have gone by. It’s understandable of course – weddings, birthdays, kids starting school, job opportunities, travel and so on are significant life events that require your attention. However, they also derail other plans and mask the missed financial opportunities that come from delaying your investing.
Then there’s the ever-present fear of making a mistake. What if I choose the wrong property, or pay too much? How do I know it will stay tenanted? What if there’s an expensive unexpected repair needed?
Fear becomes the justification for inaction.
Then there are those who are trying to time the market. They want to pay at the bottom of the cycle and enjoy all the upside. While that seems reasonable on the face of it, history shows it’s an unrealistic rationalisation because long-term ownership is where the real money is made in real estate. Buying as soon as you’re able at a reasonable price has proven time and again to be more effective than waiting for the market to slow down.
Let’s illustrate the hip-pocket hit that comes from investment delays.
According to CoreLogic, the median house price in Sydney in April 2019, was $866,524. In April 2025, that figure reached $1,474,343. That’s approximately $610,000 – or just over 70 per cent – of capital gain lost on a median-priced purchase if you didn’t buy. This is passive wealth building because home values kept rising even while you slept.
For other cities, the missed potential is even greater. If you’d bought in Brisbane in April 2019 at the median of $538,464, that asset would now be worth $989,818 which is around $451,000 – or 84 per cent – more today. For those who delayed a Perth decision to invest in April 2019, their asset would have increased from a median of $464,551 to be worth $842,413 in today’s market. That’s approximately $378,000, or an 81 per cent upswing, of lost opportunity.
That’s got to sting.
Lost equity gains have flow-on effects to. It impacts your borrowing power so there’s less available to draw on for more investments and amplified returns. Not to mention all that lost rent in some of the nation’s tightest rental markets.
All of this could have been helping you accumulate more wealth at a faster pace.
There is another important factor making things even worse for procrastinators, and that’s all the missed compound growth. Because regular percentage increases in property value are applied not just to your original investment, but also to the gains you’ve made during the time you’ve owned the asset, the increases are amplified over time. Put simply, the longer you hold a property, the more magnified your gains are.
Take another look at the table above. Over the past 20 years most capital cities have seen their property values double to triple. These sorts of numbers demonstrate the incredible value of holding your real estate for the long term.
Breaking the habit of paralysis can seem difficult, but there is one sure-fire way to help you step up, take action and reap the rewards… and that’s to get professional guidance.
By simply engaging with a qualified, independent buyers’ agent, you can start your journey. We can walk you through your investment plans with all the support you need. We can assist with defining your goals as an investor and help you build a strategic plan to get you to where you want to be.
We can show you property options that will help you get started and demonstrate why they're within reach. This approach ensures you make informed, timely decisions, all with specialist support to alleviate your fears and maximize potential upsides. Rather than endlessly chasing the "perfect property”, we focus on acting on the fundamentals that deliver the best outcome from your asset.
The cost of waiting is rarely visible upfront but becomes glaringly obvious in hindsight. Stop hesitating and start acting. Don't let indecision cost you and your family the financial security you deserve. Instead, draw on our team's expertise to guide you toward financial freedom through property investment. It all starts with one simple call.
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call us on 1300 655 615 today.