Risk/reward and unemployment

Not sure if this is the right place for this, but oh well.
Over the last 6 months I've been selling down my holdings in ASX shares (which severely underperformed) to leverage those funds into property. Since I've sold them, they've all shot up in value - such is life.

My reasoning:

Let's say we have $50K to invest.

If we choose property:
With 10% deposit + 6% for costs , we have a max purchase price of $313K.
Let's assume decent yield, so that our IP is neutrally geared.

Every 1% gain in the property's value is a 6.3% gain on your $50K investment.
If it grows at inflation pace (~3%) that's an annual gain of almost 20% on the initial investment.
At 5% (not unreasonable) that's over 30%. Even allowing 2% for maintenance costs, you still come out 17% p.a ahead . Being able to leverage into property without the possibility of a margin call makes it very attractive. And you can add value through renovation or other methods - I'm young, I don't need a completely passive investment just yet.

The problem: I have never held a permanent job, and have always been casual, which is why I invested in shares in the first place. I save a good amount every week, and will reach my first deposit + buffer goal by Dec 31st - the day my contract ends. So I will not be making a purchase this year, even though the interest would be far less than my current rent.

If you were (or are) constantly in/out of employment, what would you invest in? If I had already built up an IP portfolio I probably wouldn't have to worry as much. But as I'm just starting out, my job is my only source of income, and this instability is making it difficult to kick off my investment journey.