![Home investors art x x x](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1024 768"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Which professions are buying the most properties in Australia right now?
Australia’s top property investors by occupation have been revealed, with a surprising profession making the top ten.
School principals are outstanding in the national field, with data from the Australian Taxation Office showing more than a third of school top dogs earn income as a landlord.
Surgeons were the most prolific investors, with nearly half – a whopping 1788 – of the nation’s surgeons reporting rental income to the ATO.
RELATED: Best suburbs for property investors on a budget, according to experts
Where investors can buy now and instantly pocket hundreds a month in rent
Real estate investment: Investor ‘no-go zones’: NSW and Victoria deemed poor choices for property
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1280 720"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Medical professionals such as surgeons, anaesthetists and internal medicine specialists were among the top property investors.
Australia’s investment properties are held by a range of occupations.
Anaesthetists, internal medicine specialists, psychiatrists and dental practitioners rounded out the top five investor occupations, with school principals coming in at No. 6 with more than 4000 individuals, or 34 per cent, owning a rental property.
Mortgage broker and Mario Borg Buyer’s Agents boss Mario Borg said school principal clients over the years often sought a form of passive income as they neared retirement.
“Once their career has passed its peak, one way to earn an extra income is to invest in property, which has a proven history of providing ongoing passive income when you’re in your retirement years,” Mr Borg said.
“Principals I dealt with were generally in their late 40s and early 50s and were starting to plan their retirement, but their super wasn’t going to be enough.”
He was unsurprised to see medical professionals ranked highly as they generally had a higher disposable income.
“They’re driven by reducing their tax, which is one of the reasons they invest … they also tend to be time poor which means they tend to engage buyer’s agents for help with sourcing properties, who are good at getting people off the fence and taking action.”
How does your occupation stack up?
Surgeons were revealed as the most proflific property investors.
A number of banks also waive lender’s mortgage insurance (LMI) fees for medical professionals, and some even for accountants and mining executives — professions also proven to hold a number of property moguls.
Medical professionals may even receive lower interest rates.
The Investors Agency director Darren Venter noted these discounts and exemptions were a significant factor contributing to the high number of property investors working in medical fields.
“They have the ability to waive LMI, which allows them to get into the investment market with lower deposit sizes,” Mr Venter said.
Advantage Property Consulting director and The Block property expert Frank Valentic said his clients mostly comprised doctors, surgeons and anaesthetists.
“They’re all time poor and they refer all of their medical friends, so once you get in with one you get in with all of them,” Mr Valentic said.
“They’re also paying too much tax, especially in the pandemic they were earning up to $800,000 per year and paying $400,000 in tax, so they buy investment properties to reduce their taxable income.”
Mr Valentic noted IT managers and accountants, occupations where 28 and 27 per cent of individuals respectively own investment properties, were also among his high-paying clients.
He said IT professionals, as well as school principals, were generally well educated about the benefits of property as an investment.
“School principals are on pretty good salaries too, more than $100,000 per year with good perks and bonus, but paying quite a bit of tax,” he said.
There were also more than three million people whose profession was classified under ‘occupation blank’, of which 608,232 reported a rental income.
Mr Venter said this could be individuals whose main source of income was their investment properties, or those working in newer, online professions such as influencers who may have moved away from more traditional careers during the height of the pandemic.
“There’s also been a big recognition of online currencies like crypto where those investors are now coming over to property,” he added.
“The vulnerability they’ve experienced has caused quite a bit of trauma and they’re looking for more stability.”
Caravan park managers were another surprising inclusion in the top 20, with 27 per cent of individuals in the occupation reporting a rental income.
Caravan park managers were also ranked highly. Pictured is manager Tanya Cran at the Big4 Adventure Whitsunday Resort caravan park in Airlie Beach, north Queensland. Picture: Supplied
Mr Valentic said if a caravan park manager owns the park they would likely be earning a good income with high expenses and “paying a bit of tax”.
Surgeon Guy Woodhatch met his anaesthetist wife at university and they began their journey investing in property shortly after graduating.
“I started fairly early, but I grew up in the country so I’m quite handy and we did a lot of our own renovations,” Mr Woodhatch said.
“We bought quite a few properties over the years … once our family came along we sold a few off to buy a main house, but then added a couple more later.”
Although Mr Woodhatch and his wife didn’t receive any discounts or waivers on stamp duty, they did have an advantage as medical professionals getting a higher loan to value ratio (LVR) without paying lender’s mortgage insurance (LMI).
“But I do think it’s just more about the consistency of medical income, you’re pretty much guaranteed work,” he said.
“Banks have a large database and they look at fields like this that are recession proof.”
TOP 20 INVESTORS BY PROFESSION, AUSTRALIA
Occupation, Number of individuals reporting net rent, Number of individuals in occupation, percentage of individuals that own investmentproperty
(most recent one-year period available)
1. Surgeon, 1788, 4159, 43%
2. Anaesthetist, 1421, 3509, 40%
3. Internal medicine specialist, 3985, 9906, 40%
4. Psychiatrist, 1099, 3030, 36%
5. Dental practitioner, 3317, 9467, 35%
6. School principal, 4355, 12898, 34%
7. Other medical practitioners, 9181, 28696, 32%
8. Engineering manager 8091, 25728, 31%
9. Senior non-commissioned defence force member, 1818, 5834, 31%
10. Mining engineer, 2731, 9120, 30%
11. Optometrist or orthoptist, 1606, 5645, 28%
12. Air transport professionals, 4312 15,191, 28%
13. Chief executive officer or managing director, 60,570, 217,959, 28%
14. IT manager, 20,044, 72,866, 28%
15. Caravan park manager, 639, 2332, 27%
16. Accountant, 47,535, 174,691, 27%
17. Electrical engineer, 6910, 25,421, 27%
18. Commissioned officer – management, 3665, 13,685, 27%
19. Land economist or valuer, 1296, 4859, 27%
20. Finance manager, 16,212, 60,811, 27%
Source: ATO *national data *excluding ‘profession not specified’
Sign up to the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here to get the latest Victorian property market news delivered direct to your inbox.
MORE: Kialla Y2K lakeside house with ‘southern’ style makes bold statement
Ugly duckling suburbs: Cheapest city spots with price potential, according to Terry Ryder
Nepo babies of Hollywood: Some of the most famous children of celebrities and the cribs they call home
emily.holgate@news.com.au