Why do Australians prefer property over other investment vehicles

One reason not often mentioned is the large number of immigrants from cultures that highly value home ownership: Italians, Greeks, Vietnamese, Chinese, Indians, etc…

Not only that, coming to a new country from impoverished environments with the opportunity to (re)build their lives it’s only natural that they favour assets that reflect these aspirations: a new beginning, a place to live and raise a family, security, stability, a symbol of success… all of which are epitomised in home ownership. Throw in the availability of land and you have an explosive mix.

Look at house prices and you’ll notice how it all took off in the 50s, 60s around the time of the first immigration waves. Other factors were at work too but surely the immigrant mindset was an important reason for the rise of property in the Australian psyche.

Now their offspring are getting the virus too !

 

Apart from those others have said, there are two additional reasons:

1. It is something you can actually touch. You can go around and look at it ("I own *that* - ignoring the banks ).
2. Something particular in Australia is our rental laws. Other country's rental laws (eg here or here ) favour tennants much, much more than Australia's. Minimum length of time for a lease, circumstances under which you can remove someone, etc. The effects are at sale - you're selling with tenant mostly; if you want to renovate then you are compensating the tenant, not evicting them; if you're going to develop the property then it's at the tenants discretion often, not your timing. I'm not saying either way is good/bad, but the particular laws here have aided the private property investor mindset and ability.

 

I was infected by my parent's need to purchase land too

 

Another reason, not sure if already said is that it is cheap to get into and it is too an extant poor mans asset class