Asciential Property Insights
- Peter Ward
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
March 2026
In this edition...just one topic:
Why Research Matters More Than Most Investors Realise
Why Research Matters More Than Most Investors Realise
A lot of Australians assume that successful property investing is simply a matter of buying something and waiting long enough. The evidence suggests otherwise.
ABS data shows that among households who own a residential property other than their home, 68% own only one.
AHURI’s more recent landlord research found that:
half of all residential property investments last only two years,
the average investment period is nearly four years, and
around 28% of landlords still hold a rental investment after 20 years.
That tells us something important. Property investing is not just about “getting into the market”. Many investors buy the wrong property, in the wrong location, at the wrong point in the cycle, and never build the momentum needed to move forward.
AHURI also found that higher rental yield reduces the odds of selling over time, which reinforces the importance of buying assets that are not only capable of growth, but sustainable to hold.
This is exactly where Asciential plays an important role.
Our work is not about helping clients buy just any investment property. It is about helping them understand what to buy, where to buy, when to buy, and what to avoid. That means looking beyond headlines and focusing on the drivers that matter most — affordability, supply and demand, rental resilience, asset quality, and the market’s remaining growth capacity. A market can still look affordable, but if supply is too loose, growth may not follow. Informed timing and asset selection matter.
The current Asciential client dataset reflects that discipline. Across the properties in the reviewed portfolio with sufficient current valuation coverage (over 140), the median annualised capital growth rate (CAGR) is approximately 8.3%.
For context, that sits well above key broad-market benchmarks:
PropTrack’s 30-year national average annual growth of 6.9%,
ABS eight-capital-city benchmark of about 6.3% p.a. over the decade from December 2011 to December 2021.
Proptrack reports capital city house price increases that equate to roughly 5.0% per year.
Of the 140+ properties, 95 properties have complete rent data that shows median rent has increased from about $410 per week to about $670 per week, while median gross yield on original purchase price has increased from about 4.7% to 7.6%.
These figures are based on current third-party value and rental estimates, not realised sale prices (and of course no strategy removes all risk). But they do reinforce an important point: not all property performs equally, and informed selection matters.
That is the value of Asciential’s role in the journey — helping clients make better decisions so they are better positioned not just to buy property, but to grow equity, improve cashflow, and move toward the next acquisition when the time is right.
Existing Asciential clients will be receiving a portfolio update in the next 14 days, but if you would like to review your current position and discuss whether the next acquisition may now be within reach, please get in touch.
Contact Peter on 0404 02 6000 or peterward@apginvest.com.au.