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Bharat Patel and his wife Vaishali have hit 35 properties in their portfolio.
A prolific Aussie property investor who bought six homes this year – three since September during high rates – has pivoted to an unpopular location for his next buying spree.
Bharat Patel, who bought his first home on a $54,000 salary during the global financial crisis in 2009, and now owns property across almost every state – a dozen of which are spread across Queensland – has around $1m in equity he’s tapping into as he eyes a 40 property target next year.
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He has just bought this brand new property in Melbourne for $470,000.
“I just secured my 35th property in Melbourne. It will settle just before the Christmas. It’s a brand new house,” he said.
“This is my sixth one this year. It’s the second highest number I’ve bought in a single year since Covid. My serviceability is very good, and that’s why I can extract the equity and purchase at the same time.”
He acknowledges that his next move to Melbourne’s market goes against popular rhetoric around where the next big thing is for Australian property – with rental yields “a bit low” around 5 to 5.5 per cent and land tax issues.
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Bharat and Vaishali Patel continue to expand their property holdings, and now also help others do so.
A distressed property he bought in Melbourne for $450,000.
“I see things differently because my position allows me to now. I’ve got enough equity which I released after my property portfolio hit 30. I went to refinance at least 10 of my properties and got $940,000 equity which I’m going to use to buy more.”
“Melbourne is a bit flat now, but it won’t be for long because nothing is available for less than half a million dollars in any of the capital cities. Even Adelaide is very expensive now, forget what Brisbane and Gold Coast cost, it’s very hot as well. NSW, there’s no way, so it’s only one capital city available for me. Definitely, it will grow as well.”
The only property in his portfolio that’s completely paid off is his home in Sydney, he said, with the rest being used to piggyback more investments.
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The only property he has fully paid off is the family home where the Patels live in Sydney. Picture: Sam Ruttyn
A property in Townsville the couple added for $478,000 which sits on a 5,000sq m block next to the beach.
“Currently it’s 35 properties, around $13m overall portfolio position. I just extracted $940,000 and I have more than $2m which I’m going to extract after a couple of properties build more equity.”
“The house that I live in in Sydney is completely paid off, so there’s no mortgage there. Other properties, if I can I will pay off but at the moment, I have momentum where I’m extracting equity to buy more property.”
“I will be doing so in the near future, but I haven’t decided yet when I will be (paying them off fully).”
The 35th property, a house located 27km west of Melbourne CBD, ticks all the boxes for the Sydney-based investor, who holds more than a dozen rentals in South East Queensland too including one bought this year in Townsville.
“The train station is nearby, it’s less than 2km to a childcare centre, next to the shopping centre. No one is buying there, but I feel good about Melbourne,” Mr Patel said.
“In coming years, it’s going to be become a hot position, like how Brisbane and Queensland went after Covid.”
One of his favourite purchases is this beautiful property in Hobart close to the water bought for $478,000.
Mr Patel and his wife Vaishali now run a buyers agency full time called Cash Flow Properties – helping other investors move towards achieving what he has done.
“I did four deals this month in Melbourne for my investors, and I’m getting very good bargains because the market is bit soft and I’m taking advantage. I’m very confident in less than two years, it’s going to be a hot market.”
He expects prices to boom once interest rates start dropping, but say there will be a rise anyway if people are buying right.
“As long as if someone is buying less than half a million dollar property with a vacancy rate of less than 1 per cent and stock is very, very low, these markets will boom in 2025.”
“The moment rates come down, everyone will be wanting to buy and markets will definitely boom again.”