If you own a home and are thinking about diversifying your investments by developing a property portfolio, it may not be as difficult as you imagine. For some home owners, the equity in their current property can be enough to invest in a second property. Equity is the difference between what your property is worth and your remaining mortgage balance (which includes available redraw funds). So if the value of your home has increased since you bought it, and in that time you’ve also paid off a chunk of your mortgage, you’ll have built up equity that you may be able to leverage to buy your second property.

When it comes to owning investment properties, are you looking for rental yield or capital growth? Ideally you’ll have a strategy in place that delivers both, but this is not always possible.Broadly, a positively geared property means that the gross rental income is greater than the ongoing costs of owning the property.If you’re on a high income, you may choose to prioritise capital growth because you’re confident you can cover the cost of the mortgage. Alternatively, some investors choose to negatively gear their properties to reduce their tax payment at the end of the financial year. Negatively geared properties are those where the rental income is less than the ongoing loan repayments and other costs. The losses incurred in renting the investment property can then be offset against your salary, which ultimately reduces your total taxable income and therefore the amount of tax you have to pay.

POCKETS of the Brisbane property market are tipped to outperform this year, as southern markets cool and more interstate buyers turn their attention north.While Brisbane as a whole is predicted to continue its slow and steady price growth, analysts have revealed some areas will go above and beyond.

The state economy is improving, last year Queensland created more jobs than any other state or territory, the interstate migration figures are now favouring Queensland again, particularly southeast Queensland, and there is quite a strong factor of people leaving Sydney and heading to places like southeast Queensland and part of the reason for that is the affordability equation.