Aussie property investor only ate rice and broccoli so she could afford to buy ... trends now
A young woman who runs a successful property investing business has revealed how she had to choose between proper meals and cracking into the tough real estate investing market.
Maggie Zhang from Melbourne works as a healthcare management consultant and also runs her real estate venture, which now includes six properties, with a business partner.
Her purchases include her own Melbourne home, a unit in Heathmont that she is renovating with a friend, and rental properties in Broadmeadows and Frankston.
'I was happy to eat brown rice, baby broccolis and chilli sauce for dinner for a year when things were tight rather than miss out on a property opportunity,' Ms Zhang told real estate.com.au this week.
'It wasn't easy, but I'm very glad I did it.'
Maggie Zhang said she ate only brown rice and broccoli for about a year for dinner while she used her money to invest in property but that she is glad she did
Ms Zhang said the string of interest rate rises that were implemented between November 2020 November 2023 - which brought the cash rate up from a record low of 0.10 per cent to its current level of 4.35 - were particularly tough.
But she added that with inflation now appearing to ease, most economic analysts believe that interest rate cuts will happen this year, and that should make for better conditions for borrowers.
'I think now is a really good time to get into the market, investors are really aware rate cuts are imminent although no-one knows when,' Ms Zhang said.
All four big banks are forecasting the rate cuts, with CBA suggesting there could even be three 25-basis point reductions by the end of the year.
The bank's head of Australian economics Gareth Aird said the rate cuts will be likely this year with inflation nearing the central bank's target band of 2-3 per cent.
'The six-month annualised pace of price increases on track to be 3.2 per cent for the current quarter ... just outside the target band,' he said.
He added the rate cuts would be required as the RBA's focus shifted this
