Tradie who once lived in rented granny flats but now enjoys a $6million waterfront home, Lamborghini and 50ft yacht reveals the biggest financial mistake young Aussies are making

A property investor who once lived in rented granny flats but now enjoys a $6 million waterfront home has shared his top advice for young Australians trying to enter the tough housing market.

Daniel Walsh, 33, bought his multi-million dollar home near Palm Beach on Sydney’s northern beaches last year.

The married father-of-one also owns a Lamborghini Huracan and a 15-metre yacht on top of his $20 million property portfolio, which includes $14 million worth of 19 investment properties rented out in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Australia. Perth.

But instead of saving up for a mortgage sum to buy the ultimate property, Mr Walsh started his investment journey by buying a four-bedroom house in Thirlmere, 95km south-west of Sydney, for $324,000.

He was able to save and buy more properties by using the rental income and borrowing against the value of the other houses to further expand his portfolio as high population growth increased property values.

He and his wife Sophie also lived in rented granny flats until he was 28, when he moved into a house.

“I was living in a granny flat, instead of living in a house and paying a lot more rent,” he told Daily Mail Australia.

‘My wife and I could then save more money to spend on houses. We did that until I was 28.

“I was always into delayed gratification.”

He also said the narrative that young people can’t afford homes is damaging, even though the average house price in big cities is out of reach for most people.

“People need to change the perspective and say it’s just too hard,” Walsh said.

“If you see my journey, I bought two properties two hours away from Sydney and then I couldn’t afford Sydney in 2012 so I had to go to different states.”

The former apprentice motor electrician and freight train driver, who left school at 15, said too many young people made the mistake of saving a 20 per cent mortgage for an attractive home in a nice suburb.

“They’re saving money to buy their own dream house and when you find out – especially if you’re in more expensive capitals like Sydney – they’re trying to buy a $1.5 million to $2 million house,” he said.

“They save money, but by the time they save their money, house prices keep rising, so they save for ten years to try to get their first property.”

Mr Walsh, the founder of Your Property Your Wealth buyers agency, said when he couldn’t afford a house in Sydney, he bought homes in affordable suburbs of Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth that were within commuting distance of the city centre. .

“I focused on smaller real estate investments: buying houses for $400,000,” he said.

‘I like to have a commutable distance to a major CBD if I can.

“I normally want to buy houses in the suburbs because as the population grows, most people generally pursue houses to settle down with their families.

“By purchasing affordable items, properties will continue to increase in value as the population continues to move into those areas.”

Mr Walsh didn’t buy his first home to live in as an owner-occupier until 2021, when he bought a house in Camden, in Sydney’s south-west, for $1.35 million – and sold it two years later for $1.85 million .

“Up until then, I ‘rented’ my entire trip,” he said.

Someone with an average full-time salary of $98,218 can buy just $639,000 with a 20 percent mortgage down payment.

This is well below Sydney’s median house price of $1.396 million, Melbourne’s midpoint of $942,779 and Brisbane’s $899,474, CoreLogic data shows.

But if you look beyond Sydney, there are worthwhile places 25 to 55 kilometers away from the city center.

Frankston North has an affordable average price of $596,656 and is 55km from Melbourne city centre.

“To some extent Melbourne is undervalued at the moment; prices are quite affordable in the suburbs,” he said.

This suburb near Port Phillip Bay is also near much more expensive suburbs and has room for gentrification, despite its higher unemployment rate.

On either side of Brisbane are suburbs in Logan, including Slacks Creek, where the average house price is $653,257 despite being just 25km from the city.

“If you look at Logan, for example, in terms of economy and population, everything there is very super strong – you’re halfway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast,” he said.

In the Moreton Bay area, Deception Bay, 46 kilometers north of Brisbane, has an average house price of $634,325.

When it comes to buying in the suburbs, Mr Walsh advised against buying property in areas such as Broadmeadows in Melbourne’s north, noting tenants would be less reliable.

“I would be careful about coming down too hard, there’s just too much housing provision,” he said.

He also advised against purchasing a location with an older population, such as Bribie Island north of Brisbane, arguing that such areas experienced weaker economic growth.

“I probably wouldn’t go to Bribie Island: there are too many retirees, it’s not really an economic centre,” he said.

Instead, he advised potential buyers to focus on buying an investment home – but not a unit – where there would likely be population growth.

“I always look at where people are moving to and always compare the number of building permits with the population moving in,” he said.

“If I see 100,000 people moving into an area, but I see only 20,000 building permits in a state, for example, I know supply is going to become increasingly difficult.”

A record 518,000 migrants moved to Australia in the 2022-2023 financial year.

This meant house prices in the capital rose 11 per cent in the year to February, despite the Reserve Bank raising interest rates for the 13th time in 18 months in November, taking them to a 12-year high of 4 .35 percent.

The average house price in Sydney rose 11.7 per cent, but in Perth, a recipient of interstate migration, values ​​rose 18.6 per cent to a still relatively affordable $718,560.

In January, Mr. Walsh’s new book, Six Principles to Retire Younger and Richer, was published by Major Street Publishing.