Investment By Design

Most Australians are taught the same financial formula: get a good job, earn more, buy a house, upgrade your lifestyle and hopefully retire comfortably. But that path does not automatically create financial freedom. In this video, I break down the 7 rules that have shaped how I think about money, debt, property and lifestyle after building a portfolio of 10 properties over roughly 10 years. We cov...

Australian property investors are disappearing. But what if they're leaving at exactly the wrong time? In this video, I break down why investor confidence has been hit by recent government policy changes, how borrowing power has changed, and why many Australians may be overlooking one of the most interesting property market setups we've seen in years. While headlines focus on falling prices and in...

Is the Australian property market heading for a crash in 2026, or is the current fall in house prices simply another correction? Australian property prices are falling again, but this isn't the first time. Over the past 60 years, Australia has experienced multiple major housing market corrections, including the early 1980s recession, the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, the 2017–2019 credit tight...

Australian rents can’t keep rising forever… can they? Rental affordability has deteriorated dramatically across Australia, but the assumption that rents are simply approaching a hard ceiling may be missing something important. In this video, I look at what could happen next if households continue adapting to higher housing costs at the same time as the economics of property investing are changing....

What would 74,000 property investors do with $600,000? I asked one of Australia’s largest property investing communities where they believe the best buying opportunities are right now. From their responses, I selected five markets and put them to the test. The five contenders: Cairns North, QLD Launceston, TAS Dubbo, NSW Sunshine, VIC Parramatta, NSW Rather than relying on opinions, hype or predic...

Building a new home has changed. Higher construction costs, smaller blocks, changing buyer expectations and pressure on housing supply are reshaping what it means to build in Cairns, Far North Queensland and regional Queensland. In this episode, I sit down with Ram Singh from Five Rivers Group, a Cairns-based builder and property professional whose business delivers around 50 dwellings a year whil...

Has the Australian property market entered a new phase? With tighter rental regulations, changing investor sentiment and evolving tenant expectations, many investors are asking the same question: where are the best opportunities now? In this episode, I'm joined by a leading Cairns property management expert, Adam Saitta from Benchmark Real Estate, to discuss why regional markets like Cairns could...

The property investing playbook that worked ten years ago may not work today. Borrowing capacity has tightened, ownership structures matter more, SMSF investing is under pressure, tax strategies are being questioned and simply buying any property and waiting for it to grow is becoming increasingly risky. So, what are the new rules of property investing in Australia, and how can investors still bui...

Is now the right time to buy an investment property in Cairns, or should investors wait another 12 months? In this episode of Investment By Design, Shaun Craike is joined by financial planner and former accountant Ben Cole, mortgage broker Stacey Hart, and top-performing Ray White real estate agent Natasha Whalley-Thompson to build a practical blueprint for investing in Cairns property after the 2...

Should you pay off your mortgage or buy an investment property? In this video, I compare mortgage reduction with property investing over 10 years, using current Australian interest rates, historical property growth and two real Cairns property results from my own portfolio. In 2024, after selling our previous business, my wife and I had a major financial decision to make. We could reduce our owner...

Townsville property market vs Cairns: where would I invest $700,000 if I had to purchase one property and hold it for the next 20 years? In this detailed Townsville real estate comparison, I analyse Townsville vs Cairns across eight categories, including market fundamentals, historical price performance, rental returns, population growth, employment, major infrastructure projects, land supply and...

Buying property in Cairns can be a great opportunity, but the wrong decision can cost you tens of thousands of dollars. In this video, I break down five costly mistakes Cairns property buyers keep making, including failing to compare insurance quotes, overlooking council planning overlays, dismissing units because of body corporate fees, buying without a clear strategy and letting emotion influenc...

In this episode of Investment by Design, we look at Cairns property investing through a different lens: Cairns tourism, local business growth, major development, the Cairns Aquarium, the Cairns economy, and what these forces mean for the future of the Cairns real estate market and North Queensland property investors. What does it really take to make a $54 million bet on Cairns? I sit down with Dan...

Cairns property investors are facing a new wave of uncertainty as government tax changes and shifting property policies continue to impact confidence across the market. In this Cairns property market update, we discuss how recent tax changes, legislative inconsistency and poor communication from government can affect investors, landlords, homeowners and buyers trying to make smart long-term decisi...

In this video, I break down the 5 best suburbs to buy property in Cairns and 1 suburb I’d be very careful investing in right now. If you’re looking at the Cairns property market, Cairns real estate, or trying to understand where to buy an investment property in Cairns, this video will help you think through the suburbs with long-term growth, lifestyle appeal, rental demand and risk. After investin...

Cairns property investing is one of the most talked-about opportunities in the Queensland property market, but is Cairns still good value for investors, or has the easy money already been made? In this episode, I am joined by David Galloway-Penny, Ken Turner and Tim Lyon to debate where they would invest today, including houses vs units, the best Cairns suburbs to buy in, the risks investors need...

Everyone told me not to buy this property. My wife hated the complex. Most investors would have walked away. On paper, it looked like the kind of property you avoid. But I saw something different. Seven years later, that $165,000 purchase is now worth approximately $470,000 and generates around $300 per week positive cash flow. In this video, I break down: • Why almost everyone thought buying this...

Would you bet your financial future on one property market Every property investor is making a bet, whether they realise it or not. Buying is a bet. Waiting is a bet. Sitting on the sidelines is also a bet. In this episode, I break down how I would think about choosing a property market in 2026, using Cairns as the case study. This is not just a Cairns property market update. It is a decision-maki...

In this episode of Investment by Design , we launch a new monthly segment: Beers and Business . Each month, three Cairns locals working in the property, finance and investing space sit down to unpack the biggest stories shaping the Australian property market, business landscape and investor sentiment. In this episode, Shaun Craike is joined by Ben Cole and Kurt Checketts to break down a massive mo...

Is Cairns property still worth the risk in 2026, or has the market already run too far? In this video, I break down the Cairns property market through the lens of risk vs reward, and more importantly, asymmetric returns. Most investors ask the wrong question. They ask, “Will property prices keep going up?” A better question is: “What is the realistic downside if I am wrong, and what is the potenti...

Most property buyers think the hard part is finding the right property… But the reality is the way you BUY property can completely change the outcome you get. In this episode, we break down the brutal truth about: Private Treaty Multiple Offer Situations Property Auctions We discuss how buyers overpay, the psychology behind real estate negotiations, auction tactics, buyer mistakes, and the strateg...

Are new builds actually the better investment… or are investors being distracted by tax benefits? In this episode we break down the REAL numbers behind established vs new build property investing in Australia, including:* negative gearing* depreciation* cashflow* construction holding costs* rental income* property growth* land value vs building value* and why location still matters more than tax d...

The 2026 Federal Budget may have just changed Australian property investing forever. The government says these changes are designed to improve housing affordability, yet Treasury is forecasting 35,000 fewer homes as a result of the policy changes. At the same time, Cairns has secured major infrastructure funding including upgrades to the Western Arterial Road, education investment, and regional de...

Is the Cairns property market heading for another boom, or are buyers about to get caught out? In this episode of Investment By Design, I sit down with Cairns-based mortgage broker Stacey from Zory Financial Solutions to break down what is really happening with borrowing capacity, buyer behavior, lending conditions, and property opportunities in the Cairns property market in 2026. With Cairns hous...

Everyone says we just need more housing… but in Cairns, there are already approved developments that never get built. So what’s actually stopping them? In this episode, I sit down with James McPeak from McPeak Town Planning to break down the Cairns housing market, land supply, and the real reasons developments stall—even after council approval. If you’ve ever wondered: -Is there really a land shor...