The Brokerage sat down with Jordan Navybox of Cohen Handler to talk through the Brisbane property market, the very different experiences facing owner-occupiers and investors, and how the right strategy can create meaningful equity in the first year of ownership.
Josh: Jordan, let’s start with the owner occupier market. How are you finding conditions for buyers right now?
Jordan: It is genuinely tough. When you have a buyer looking for a house in suburbs like Camp Hill, Norman Park or Coorparoo with a budget of around $2.5 million, the experience is incredibly challenging. We might present an owner occupier with two or three properties in a given week, and even within those tightly defined suburbs, finding the right house at the right price is hard work.
The question I get asked every week is about interest rates and what they mean for buyers. And while cost of living pressures are real and there are absolutely people feeling the strain of higher repayments, the demand side of the market remains strong enough that well-located properties are still achieving strong prices when they go to market.
Josh: And how does that compare to the investor experience?
Jordan: It is a completely different exercise. With an investor, we might be looking at ten properties in a week. The scope is so much broader because the asset class is not defined by emotion or lifestyle. Investors can consider houses, townhouses, units across a much wider geographic range, and that gives us a real advantage in identifying opportunities that are priced below market value.
Once we have identified the right suburbs and the right streets within those suburbs for a given investor, the work becomes about finding properties that are trading at a meaningful discount to where they should be. That is where the value is.
Josh: When you sit down with a new investor client, how do you work out what the right strategy looks like for them?
Jordan: The first thing we do is understand their goals and objectives, and how actively involved they want to be. That question alone separates investors into very different camps.
Some clients want a genuinely passive investment. They are not interested in maintenance, not open to a renovation project, not looking to add value through capital works. They want a quality asset in a good location that generates income and grows over time. That is a completely legitimate strategy, and we build the brief around it.
Other clients are open to a more active approach, and that opens up a different set of opportunities entirely.
Josh: Can you give us an example of what that looks like in practice?
Jordan: A good example would be two buyers with the same budget. Buyer A wants something passive, so we might find them a townhouse in Norman Park. Quality asset, good location, strong fundamentals. Set and forget.
Buyer B has the same budget but is open to adding value. So we might look at a three bedroom house in Stafford. On the surface it looks like a similar price point, but the opportunity is different. With a relatively straightforward addition of a fourth bedroom, an upgrade to the kitchen and a bathroom refresh, that buyer might spend $200,000 in improvements on a property purchased for $1.2 million. At the end of those works, the property could be worth $1.65 million. They have created $250,000 in equity and uplift within the first nine months of ownership.
Josh: That is a compelling outcome. What is the key to making that work?
Jordan: Understanding what the client is actually trying to achieve, and being honest about matching their investment approach to the right asset. We try not to push buyers toward any single strategy or suburb. There are so many groups that do that, and it rarely serves the client well. Our job is to understand what they are working toward and find the opportunity that fits their objective, their risk appetite and their timeline.
If you are looking to purchase your next property and want to understand how your finance structure can support your investment strategy, The Brokerage is here to help.
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About Jordan Navybox Jordan Navybox is the Managing Director and a Buyer’s Agent at Cohen Handler, one of Australia’s most highly regarded buyer’s agency firms.