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The Property Trio (formerly The Property Planner, Buyer and Professor)

The Property Trio (formerly The Property Planner, Buyer and Professor)

Written by: Cate Bakos David Johnston and Mike Mortlock
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About this listen

 Formerly The Property Planner, Buyer and Professor, our show rebranded in 2023 to The Property Trio.

Residential property is the only asset class we live in, it is where we raise our families, and it is our most expensive investment, yet property advice remains unregulated. Our objective is to educate time-poor professionals through deep insights from our experts who have provided thousands of Australians with personalised advice and education spanning two decades. In a climate where we are overloaded with information and one size fits all recommendations from the media, well-meaning friends and family and so-called advisers, we will distill the raw truth from the ill-informed.

So join the Property Planner, David Johnston, The Property Buyer, Cate Bakos and the Quantity Surveyor, Mike Mortlock as they take you on a journey of discovery through the maze of property, mortgage, and money decisions to empower you to create your ideal lifestyle!



Links to your hosts:
https://www.catebakos.com.au/
https://propertyplanning.com.au/
https://www.mcgqs.com.au/

Copyright The Property Trio Economics Personal Finance
Episodes
  • #325: Clearing the Deposit Hurdle - Why the Old 20% Benchmark No Longer Stacks Up and How Buyers Are Adapting

    #325: Clearing the Deposit Hurdle - Why the Old 20% Benchmark No Longer Stacks Up and How Buyers Are Adapting
    Sep 1 2025
    Got a question for the trio? https://forms.zohopublic.com/propertyplanningaustralia/form/GotaquestionforthePropertyTrio/formperma/zYCQAxzE_24CVlDafP1ozyzwtmB-8m1iCNtCTgDvHXM

    🎙️ In this eye-opening episode, Dave, Cate and Mike dig into brand-new research on housing affordability from MCG Quantity Surveyors. But instead of looking at mortgage repayments, this report flips the focus to deposits — an obvious entry hurdle for buyers. What they uncover is staggering: the time it takes to save a 20% deposit has tripled or even quadrupled since the 1970s. However, the Trio also delve into the deposit size and question whether 20% is all that applicable in today's day and age.

    📊 Mike explains why deposits matter more than repayments in understanding affordability. Back in 1975, saving a 20% deposit took around six months of income. Today, it takes two years or more — before repayments even begin. Prices have risen 30–40× since the mid-70s, while wages have only grown 10×. The gap is where affordability has collapsed, and it’s clearly visible across every Australian capital city.

    🏡 Cate takes us through the hard numbers: Sydney’s deposit multiple has jumped from 29 weeks of income in 1975 to 121 weeks today. Melbourne has moved from 32 to 97, Brisbane from 28 to 104, and Adelaide from 35 to 114. Even Hobart, once the most affordable, has shifted from 40 to 93. These figures make one thing clear — buying into the market now requires a far longer savings journey, even at a reduced deposit size.

    💰 Cate shares a Sydney case study. In 1975, a family needed just $6,860 for a 20% deposit — achievable in seven months. Fast forward to 2025, and the required deposit has blown out to $282,000. At today’s incomes, that’s more than two years of full earnings. Factoring in tax, rent and everyday living costs, translates to a decade or more of disciplined saving.

    📉 Brisbane paints a similar picture. Back in 1975, buyers could scrape together a deposit in six months. Today, despite lower house prices compared to Sydney, Brisbane buyers still face a two-year deposit hurdle. With house prices in Brisbane and Adelaide surging 70% since COVID, affordability in these “cheaper” markets has eroded just as sharply.

    🏦 The Trio also break down the role of government schemes — from first-home buyer grants to stamp duty concessions. While these policies help individuals in the short term, they’re stimulatory, adding buying power but pushing prices up. The result? Affordability worsens for those left out of the schemes, and the saving treadmill just speeds up. Yet Dave and Cate shed light on some of the advantages and initiatives on offer for today's first home buyers. Is the 20% hurdle a fair one to contrast to the old days?

    🚦Dave reminds listeners that the affordability gulf isn’t about monthly repayments — it’s about the growing difficulty of getting through the deposit door. But he also promises to share a counter episode on deposits! Stay tuned...

    And our gold nuggets!.....

    Cate Bakos's gold nugget: Cate explains the difference between the deposit and the servicing. Both are very important, but mutually exclusive.

    David Johnston's gold nugget: Dave has some great suggestions for our first homebuyer listeners, from planning, to assessing their needs, to starting with a smaller property as a stepping stone. "You need to be pragmatic, because the earlier you get into the property market, the better."

    Mike Mortlock's gold nugget: Mike conducts this research because he loves to start a conversation. He also mentions some statistics that Alan Kohler shared on the ABC (see notes in our shownotes).

    Shownotes: https://www.propertytrio.com.au/2025/09/01/clearing-the-deposit-hurdle/
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    41 mins
  • #324: Unpacking Investor Challenges – The Build, Hold or Sell Vacant Land Conundrum

    #324: Unpacking Investor Challenges – The Build, Hold or Sell Vacant Land Conundrum
    Aug 25 2025
    Got a question for the trio? https://forms.zohopublic.com/propertyplanningaustralia/form/GotaquestionforthePropertyTrio/formperma/zYCQAxzE_24CVlDafP1ozyzwtmB-8m1iCNtCTgDvHXM

    🎙️ Should I Build or Hold? A Listener’s Dilemma with a Vacant Block in Tasmania In this week’s episode of The Property Trio, we tackle a thoughtful listener question from Lauren, who finds herself at a crossroads with her property journey. Living in inner-Geelong and loving the lifestyle, Lauren is currently priced out of the local housing market for her own home. But with a block of land she purchased in Tasmania back in 2022, she’s weighing up whether to build an investment property on the land, or take a different approach to reach her financial and property goals.

    🏡 Lauren’s Situation
    Lauren bought her block of land for $180,000 (with $150,000 still owing), and she’s been told by local agents that demand for built homes in the area is strong. With building costs estimated at $330,000 and potential rental returns of $550–$595 per week, the numbers initially sound promising. On a healthy income of $100,000, paying just $1,000 in rent for her share house, Lauren has managed to save a 5% deposit. Adding to the opportunity, her sister has offered to go guarantor for the remaining 15%—a generous offer that could help her avoid costly lenders’ mortgage insurance.

    💡 The Questions
    But Lauren has some big considerations:
    • Is sitting on vacant land in a market with oversupply a sound move, or is it better to build?
    • How should she assess the Tasmanian growth drivers, and are there risks she hasn’t yet considered?
    • What does the land-to-asset ratio tell us about this strategy?
    • How could she think about a close family member's offer of guarantor, and what safeguards should they both put in place?
    • Most importantly, how will taking on this investment impact her ability to borrow for her own future home? Will the rental income and equity help her, or will lenders view the added debt as a hurdle?
    📈 The Trio Weigh In
    Cate, Dave, and Mike unpack the intricacies of Lauren’s situation, looking at the opportunity through the lenses of lifestyle, risk, and financial strategy. Dave's team have modelled some borrowing capacity details to assist the Trio when weighing up the possibilities for Lauren's scenario; Borrowing capacity for home purchase:
    • Current position: Existing $150,000 loan (for land) and $6,000 Credit card = borrowing capacity of $316,000 for home purchase
    • Closing the credit card: Existing $150,000 loan (for land) = borrowing capacity of $345,000 for home purchase
    • Proceeding with the construction and closes the credit card: Existing loan increased to $478,000 (land and construction) = borrowing capacity of $240,000 for home purchase
    • Selling the land and closes credit card: borrowing capacity of $492,000 for home purchase
    Lauren has a HECS balance of $50,000 with approx. monthly repayments of $472 that is also dampening the borrowing capacity. Dave goes into some great detail on lending policy constraints and enablers with regards to the impact of HECS. The scenario modelled suggests a further borrowing capacity lift to $558,000 could be possible, and he also shares the impact of further rate cuts too. How do the potential solutions pan out? Tune in to find out...

    From forward planning to assessing milestones, and from understanding bank servicing calculations to weighing the risks of construction in a shifting market, the Trio leave no stone unturned.

    And our gold nuggets!.....

    Cate Bakos's gold nugget: It's important to ask yourself the question, "what's the end goal?"

    David Johnston's gold nugget: Getting good strategic mortgage broking advice can make the difference between sitting in limbo, and making an educated decision with the options on hand.

    Mike Mortlock's gold nugget: Mike talks about the importance of having experts who are able to help guide clients through journeys such as this. "There is so much to it. It's not really a zero/one binary situation."

    Shownotes: https://www.propertytrio.com.au/2025/08/25/unpacking-investor-challenges/
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    42 mins
  • #323: Market Update July 2025 – Darwin Soars, RBA Flags More Cuts Ahead, Rents Re-Accelerate & Vacancy Rates Tighten

    #323: Market Update July 2025 – Darwin Soars, RBA Flags More Cuts Ahead, Rents Re-Accelerate & Vacancy Rates Tighten
    Aug 18 2025
    Got a question for the trio? https://forms.zohopublic.com/propertyplanningaustralia/form/GotaquestionforthePropertyTrio/formperma/zYCQAxzE_24CVlDafP1ozyzwtmB-8m1iCNtCTgDvHXM

    In this latest market update episode, the Trio unpack the findings in the July data, and they reflect on the recent cash rate cut and what this could mean for the market.

    🏡 Capital City Highlights
    Darwin leads the chase by a very large margin and Mike touches on the chances of double-digit growth for 2025. Cate notes that every capital is sitting in positive growth territory for the past month, and while Darwin is galloping, Perth's 0.9% increase in one month is impressive too. Could Darwin's median value eclipse that of Hobart's? The Trio ponder the growth and pay credit to William, a lovely listener who tempted the Trio to create an episode on Darwin at the beginning of the year.

    📈 What is happening with rents?
    Is affordability biting, and behaviours changing in response to this? Mike suggests some possible reasons why the pace of rental growth is slowing down. Factoring in share housing, increasing household formation rates, re-partnering of couples following COVID, and a slowdown in skilled migration have all contributed to a slow down in rental growth.


    💰 Rental Yields & Investor Trends
    Gross rental yields tell an interesting story for some of our cities. Brisbane's rental yield has shown a subtle shift downwards. Recently on par with Melbourne and Adelaide for some time, the slight reduction signals the fact that the rental growth hasn't kept up with the capital growth.

    Hobart's tight stock supply has the Trio talking. A city of over a quarter of a million people only has 335 available dwellings; surely a challenging imbalance, and one that explains the tight vacancy rate.

    📉 Listings Drop, Pressure Builds
    Total listing numbers are down when contrasted against the same time last year, but not all cities are exhibiting tighter stock numbers. Cate reflects on the Old Listings data and draws on the annual change for Darwin in particular. What does this indicate about investor behaviour, and does it signal a risk for investors who aren't selecting carefully?

    📊 The RBA Rate Decision
    The Trio chat about Governor Michelle Bullock's speech about the recent rate cut. Cate was surprised at our Reserve Board Governor's openness about further rate cuts. When contrasted against her previous board meeting speeches, her willingness to boldly discuss more cash rate cuts was stark. Productivity continues to remain a key concern, and in the face of reasonably strong employment figures and lower inflation levels, it seems the RBA have more challenges to keep an eye on. Lastly, Dave wraps up with a great overview of productivity and what it means for our nation.

    Shownotes: https://www.propertytrio.com.au/2025/08/18/ep-323-july-2025-market-update/
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    49 mins
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