In this episode of the Let’s Talk Wealth podcast, host Todd Polke introduces Sam, a co‑founder of Positive Real Estate, who shares his outlook on the Australian property market over the next decade. Sam frames the future as a “great supply disaster,” noting that chronic under‑building has created a severe shortage of housing stock. This shortage, combined with higher interest rates and lingering inflation, is driving a pronounced rental boom, with weekly rents on a two‑bedroom unit in Teneriffe, Brisbane jumping from $800 to $1,300 – a $500 increase. He predicts 2‑3 more rate hikes before a potential easing later in the year, which benefits current owners but squeezes renters and prospective buyers. Sam also highlights a resurgence in demand fueled by post‑pandemic immigration, especially as overseas students return to Australian universities. The overall message is that supply constraints and rising costs are creating challenges for those who have not yet invested in property or who are trying to become homeowners, while existing landlords are the primary winners in the current cycle.
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All right.
Hey team, I hope you guys are amazing. I'm super excited about today's. Now I'm literally going to be diving straight into it. So those of you who don't know, Sam is one of the founders of Positive Real Estate. And someone I've known for almost probably 19 years now, I would say. It's been a long period of time. When I cut my teeth in the investing world, when I was about 19 or 20 years old, Positive Real Estate with Sam and his business partner, Jason. So mate, I'm just going to hand it over to you, buddy, and let's rock and roll.
Yeah. Awesome. All right. Well, thanks for the introduction, Todd, and welcome aboard everyone. Thank you for Giving up some time in your day to, yeah, come and learn a little bit about real estate. So a big part of my journey really these days is simply sharing information on the real estate economy. And certainly I think from a real estate perspective, the next 10 years we really are facing what is termed the great supply disaster. We're already seeing some of the introduction impacts of that with things like rents on the rise and so forth. So from the current cycle, obviously we are seeing higher levels of interest rates with inflation certainly on its way to peaking this year. No doubt we'll see another 2 to 3 rate rises, but by the end of the year, we do believe that things will start to mellow out and potentially even end the rate rise cycle and maybe even see a rate reduction towards the end of the year. But certainly those people who own real estate are the big winners at the moment because of the rise in rents. And it's fair to say we are seeing a rental boom, which has been Long withheld in the marketplace and rents are certainly skyrocketing. I think anyone who is renting at the moment is starting to even question whether they should maintain being a renter or jump into the market. By way of example, the biggest rent increase we've seen, we have seen a $500 per week rent increase on a 2-bedroom apartment. in Tenerife, Brisbane, going from $800 a week to $1,300 a week in rent. So things are skyrocketing when it comes to certainly the rental marketplace. And it's probably fair to say some of the rental growth that is underway is exponential at this point. Really does link back to some of the challenges Australia has in entirety when it comes to its ability to produce stock. Really, in summary, supply is the problem for Australia, and at the moment it's, you know, being dealt with through higher interest rates. But we are seeing a real challenge unfold for people perhaps uninvested or who haven't invested enough in real estate. Or perhaps even people trying to get into the market to become a homeowner. So demand is obviously returning. A lot of that has come through immigration. Just yesterday I saw in the newspaper, you know, the Chinese government had aborted anyone doing a degree around the world. They can't do it online anymore, so they need to come back to Major universities. So again, we're starting to see Australia's demand return to a more normal level, obviously disrupted during the pandemic era. It is tougher for people who don't look at real estate as an asset with an income-producing tone. Obviously, their serviceability is dropping.
Sam, super appreciate you, brother. Appreciate you coming in and sharing all your wisdom and experience. I know you've got to bounce, so, um, mate, thank you very much.
Thanks everyone for being— for tuning in. Sorry, I've got a jet. I'll, uh, leave you with Todd. Bye.
