A Finance blog by Paul Bennion.
An increase in the number of apartments in Australia, as revealed in the latest national Census, will have a significant long-term impact on the property investment market, predicts Paul Bennion, Managing Director of DEPPRO.According to Bennion, the recently published 2011 Census showed that the number of apartments in Australia has topped 1 million for the first time.The Census revealed that there were 1,056,236 apartments in Australia, compared to 932,862 recorded during the previous Census. Census data showed that apartments accounted for 13.6% of all dwellings in Australia, up from 13.1% in the 2006 Census.This increase in apartments is thought to be due to a larger proportion of the population now living alone, a social trend also supported by the Census results. According to the Census, some 24.3% or one in four of all households were comprised of people who lived alone. This equates to around 1.8 million single or lone person households throughout the country.DEPPRO’s Bennion is enthused by the shift in trends, predicting a significant impact on the property investment market over the long term.”This high number of lone person households is encouraging more investors to purchase higher density homes such as apartments to cater for the growing rental demand for these types of homes,” he said.”There are also the other benefits of apartments, which include low maintenance requirements and the possibility of higher rental returns than a standard home.”But with first time property investors still the most common group of investors to fail to obtain their full tax entitlements, Bennion urges anyone purchasing apartments for investment purposes to complete a tax depreciation report.”Tax benefits from depreciation can be just as important as rental income so it’s important not to overlook these entitlements, regardless of the type or age of the investment property you buy.”According to Bennion, many investors fall into the trap of not completing an accurate depreciation schedule and therefore failing to claim their full tax entitlements.”All investors should seek expert advice to ensure they are claming their full tax depreciation benefits,” he advised.
