DIY Super For Dummies, 3rd Australian Edition

Chapter 17

Investing in Property

In This Chapter

Investing in property via your SMSF

Following the special rules when investing in residential property

Taking advantage of unique opportunities with business-related property

Borrowing to buy property via a limited recourse borrowing arrangement

P roperty seems to be the poor cousin to shares when you read about investing in the newspapers. For every one property analyst quoted in business pages of papers, there are usually a dozen or more share analysts discussing the sharemarket. Despite this lack of media coverage or, perhaps because of it, property continues to be a popular option for Australian investors, and is becoming increasingly popular with SMSF trustees.

Property as an asset class is a broad term that can describe ownership of a home, an office building, a shopping centre, a car park, a factory or even a farm. Investors can choose to buy property directly, or invest in property indirectly via listed investment vehicles and managed funds.

The choice of property investments available to SMSFs is similar to the options ...