October 13, 2025 • 9 mins
Australians love property, so it's no surprise that it's a key area of interest for self-managed super funds.
Adam Lang speaks with Gary Cox, GM Class and Shelley Horton, Executive Manager, Mortgage Solutions, about why Aussies love investing in property so much, and what SMSFs need to be aware of before investing in real estate.
Fear & Greed is the media partner for Class Ignite 2025
Find out more: https://fearandgreed.com.au/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to Fear and Greed Q and A. I am
Adam Lang.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Today's episode is part of a commercial partnership with class
Ignite twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Who are proud supporters of this podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
We are here at the conference in Sydney talking about property,
obviously a key area of concern for self managed super funds.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Please note that this is.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
General information only and you should seek professional advice before
making any investment decisions. My guests are Shelley Horton, executive
manager of Mortgage Solutions, and Gary Cox, general manager at
class Shelley, Gary, welcome, great to be here. Shelley can
ask you a question first please. Property is a big
focus for many self managed super funds. What is driving
(00:48):
this appetite for direct property investments?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Well, I think property has always held a special place
in the strained psyching. People love property. It's often referred
to as a national sport. But to put that into perspective,
track are being part of the raa group. We see
in any given mark of twelve million people coming to
visit real estate dot com doo au either looking to buy, finance,
celele rent property.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
That's a staggering number.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
It's a huge number. And that audience is growing. I
think actually last month it was just under thirteen million,
so it's growing by the day, by the month. And
in addition to that, there are now maybe one in
three people tracking their property king to know what it's worth.
So over four million people tracking their property across the
relevant experiences keen to know what that's worth, and so
(01:36):
I think that speaks volumes for the interesting property. I
think for self managed super fun trustees, there's probably two
things when it goes to property. One is the ability
to directly control that asset and to be able to
play a role in that. And the second one is
that probably compared to shares or manage funds and other
asset classes, it feels more real and I think because
(01:57):
it's part of the trands psyche, people feel more comfortable
with that set class and so it's more relatable I
think to investor. So that's that I think is key.
The performance of property over time again has been really consistent,
so that gives people a level of confidence that they
can invest in property, and so that's another thing that's
really sort of driving that attention. And for business owners,
(02:21):
so Australia has got a very active self employed population.
So being able to own a property and pay rent
back through your retirement savings and have that for that
asset there at the end of your time is also
very attractive to business owner as well instead of paying
somebody else's rent. So we're seeing alone of that as well.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
So that sort of.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Sees, you know, it new from more just residential property,
but now into sort of commercial and other asset classes
as well.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah, so it's something you can see, it's something that's
important to us and it has meaning to everyone. Really
good points scary valuations have become a key issue. Property
valuations are healthy, shall we say, especially with the ATO
Australian Tax Office pushing for more frequent checks. How is
(03:08):
class helping accountants, advisors and trustees to manage that?
Speaker 4 (03:13):
This spot on In March twenty twenty four, the ATI
actually called out sixteen and a half thousand properties within
sub many superfunds had not had evaluation the last three years.
This coincize would did two nine to six and three
million dollars, so of course got message out there to
look for trustees to value their property more regularly. What
(03:37):
classes doing this really integrating with professional providers to bring
that valuation forward due in the timing manner rather than
winning weeks or months sometimes to get that done as
well in order to meet the ATO guidelines, to make
sure that that valuation does meet the requirements waders up
on top of that, using these professional partners, you're taking
(04:00):
the workway from what might be a related party. So
the real sat age was reaping out the property would
kind of do the evaliation on the side, hasking out,
take it all away and it's independent.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Shelly back to you.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
From a lending and mortgage perspective, what are some of
the challenges that you see self managed super funds trustees
when they're investing in property.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
What challenges are they facing.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Well, it's a very different piece to residential and standard lending.
Our internal sort of brokerage arms within the area group
have firsthand experience and there's a couple of things. One
it is the complexity that's associated with self managed super
fund lending. So there are more rules, there are more
loopholes to jump through, often lower LBRs, which means are
(04:45):
higher contributions needed less the lenders of dissipating, so the
competition isn't necessarily there. It's considered to be a more
complex space the regulatory and compliance milestones and require elements
with that. BATO banks are regular regulated by approsoa is
the superannuation industry. It's not necessarily straightforward. It's really important
(05:10):
that you've got great people in your can professionals, accountants
and auditors who know what they're doing and can give
you good advice in terms of establishing that finance. So
it's not as easy to get. It's something that you've
really got to be invested in and understand world to
be able to participate. So a lot more compliance, a
lot more loopholes, a lot as easy, higher interest rates,
(05:32):
you know that sort of thing. So a very specialist
niche space.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Gary back to you.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
How can technology and cloud based systems make the valuation
in compliance process perhaps even a bit simpler and all
more reliable or both all of the above.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
So to me, it's about consistency through the automated valuation process.
Do a title search. You can have multiple titles on
same property, even good lots of things to see if
there's parable sales to make that valid. If there isn't,
then you can go to the next stage where you
can allow or someone to do a visit to the
(06:07):
property and perhaps pay for a specialist valuation. You can
also look beyond just residential property. You're looking into commercial
properties too, and even some farming type properties or agnate
business as well. So that consistency is really really important.
If there is some kind of standard deviation or something
that doesn't look quite right, then you go to the
(06:28):
next level and prompts you what to do, so you
can keep the trustee and the property own up to
date all the time and take that information. We store
that all the DMS as well, which means that it's
easy there to retrieve and from order to someone with
that information. The key thing yearies. We can also add
additional specialist values in over time through open APIs, so
(06:49):
we can broaden that ecosystem in terms of collecting data.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
That sounds like you're making technology do a lot of
heavy lifting for people. I'm almost relieved to hearing you
talk about it, Shelley. Looking ahead the trends, what do
you see as trends in self managed super funds approach
to property investment in the coming years.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
I think we'll still continue to see strong interest in property.
I think that's so well ingrained for short of it,
right there's a housing supply issue partuckarly with residential property.
We may start to see and we're starting to see
an increase in commercial lending, so I suspect there'll be
more participation with commercial as the MEATSEF investment, potentially even
(07:31):
fractional investing getting back to their ownership and affordability sort
of challenges and just not having supply. So what are
the different ways that someone can still participate if it's
not direct investment, indirectly through shared sort of structures, those
sorts of things. And I think, you know, the watch
this space thing is always interest rates and financial markets
(07:52):
and how they play out. You know, we do see
things shifts and have seen them shift over time as
borrowing costs go up. We've now had a couple of
rate drops. So let's hope that sort of stays, but
that could shift at any time, or you know, things
could say stagnant for a while. But then there's the regulation,
which we've spoken about, you know, ato changes and other
regulatory changes that can increase the cost of maintaining that
(08:15):
asset and complying. And so I think that's sort of
a space to sort of watch and see over the
cunning period, but we're certainly not seeing a slow down.
I think, if anything, we'll probably see people more carefully
venture in to selp many super funds.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Gary, if you had one piece of advisory accountants and advisors,
I know it's.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Hard to boil it down, but if they are.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Working with self any superfund clients on property, what would
that one tip be.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
Well, the first thing in the obvious thing is comply,
absolutely need to do that.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
They're there for a reason, right.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
That's in laser focus right now. But really I would
work with the fund auditor and make sure they're happy
with your process. Then today they're working. It's a sign
up for the data. Yes, So if you can bring
your order to here on that journey early, then you're
not going to have any problems. So work with your order.
This is what I would do.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Terrific advice, Shelley Gary. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Property valuations are clearly a critical part of self managed
super funds, and your perspectives shed light on those challenges
and opportunities.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Thank you for joining us today. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
We're talking to you from Classic Night twenty twenty five.
A proud supporter of fear and greed, and we're delighted
to partner with them to bring you this discussion. If
you've got something you'd like to know, send you a
question via LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, or headover to Fearangreed dot
com dot au will be delighted to provide an answer.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
My name is Adam Lang and this has been Fear
and Greed Q and a
Welcome to Fear and Greed Q and A. I am
Adam Lang.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Today's episode is part of a commercial partnership with class
Ignite twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Who are proud supporters of this podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
We are here at the conference in Sydney talking about property,
obviously a key area of concern for self managed super funds.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Please note that this is.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
General information only and you should seek professional advice before
making any investment decisions. My guests are Shelley Horton, executive
manager of Mortgage Solutions, and Gary Cox, general manager at
class Shelley, Gary, welcome, great to be here. Shelley can
ask you a question first please. Property is a big
focus for many self managed super funds. What is driving
(00:48):
this appetite for direct property investments?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Well, I think property has always held a special place
in the strained psyching. People love property. It's often referred
to as a national sport. But to put that into perspective,
track are being part of the raa group. We see
in any given mark of twelve million people coming to
visit real estate dot com doo au either looking to buy, finance,
celele rent property.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
That's a staggering number.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
It's a huge number. And that audience is growing. I
think actually last month it was just under thirteen million,
so it's growing by the day, by the month. And
in addition to that, there are now maybe one in
three people tracking their property king to know what it's worth.
So over four million people tracking their property across the
relevant experiences keen to know what that's worth, and so
(01:36):
I think that speaks volumes for the interesting property. I
think for self managed super fun trustees, there's probably two
things when it goes to property. One is the ability
to directly control that asset and to be able to
play a role in that. And the second one is
that probably compared to shares or manage funds and other
asset classes, it feels more real and I think because
(01:57):
it's part of the trands psyche, people feel more comfortable
with that set class and so it's more relatable I
think to investor. So that's that I think is key.
The performance of property over time again has been really consistent,
so that gives people a level of confidence that they
can invest in property, and so that's another thing that's
really sort of driving that attention. And for business owners,
(02:21):
so Australia has got a very active self employed population.
So being able to own a property and pay rent
back through your retirement savings and have that for that
asset there at the end of your time is also
very attractive to business owner as well instead of paying
somebody else's rent. So we're seeing alone of that as well.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
So that sort of.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Sees, you know, it new from more just residential property,
but now into sort of commercial and other asset classes
as well.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah, so it's something you can see, it's something that's
important to us and it has meaning to everyone. Really
good points scary valuations have become a key issue. Property
valuations are healthy, shall we say, especially with the ATO
Australian Tax Office pushing for more frequent checks. How is
(03:08):
class helping accountants, advisors and trustees to manage that?
Speaker 4 (03:13):
This spot on In March twenty twenty four, the ATI
actually called out sixteen and a half thousand properties within
sub many superfunds had not had evaluation the last three years.
This coincize would did two nine to six and three
million dollars, so of course got message out there to
look for trustees to value their property more regularly. What
(03:37):
classes doing this really integrating with professional providers to bring
that valuation forward due in the timing manner rather than
winning weeks or months sometimes to get that done as
well in order to meet the ATO guidelines, to make
sure that that valuation does meet the requirements waders up
on top of that, using these professional partners, you're taking
(04:00):
the workway from what might be a related party. So
the real sat age was reaping out the property would
kind of do the evaliation on the side, hasking out,
take it all away and it's independent.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Shelly back to you.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
From a lending and mortgage perspective, what are some of
the challenges that you see self managed super funds trustees
when they're investing in property.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
What challenges are they facing.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Well, it's a very different piece to residential and standard lending.
Our internal sort of brokerage arms within the area group
have firsthand experience and there's a couple of things. One
it is the complexity that's associated with self managed super
fund lending. So there are more rules, there are more
loopholes to jump through, often lower LBRs, which means are
(04:45):
higher contributions needed less the lenders of dissipating, so the
competition isn't necessarily there. It's considered to be a more
complex space the regulatory and compliance milestones and require elements
with that. BATO banks are regular regulated by approsoa is
the superannuation industry. It's not necessarily straightforward. It's really important
(05:10):
that you've got great people in your can professionals, accountants
and auditors who know what they're doing and can give
you good advice in terms of establishing that finance. So
it's not as easy to get. It's something that you've
really got to be invested in and understand world to
be able to participate. So a lot more compliance, a
lot more loopholes, a lot as easy, higher interest rates,
(05:32):
you know that sort of thing. So a very specialist
niche space.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Gary back to you.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
How can technology and cloud based systems make the valuation
in compliance process perhaps even a bit simpler and all
more reliable or both all of the above.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
So to me, it's about consistency through the automated valuation process.
Do a title search. You can have multiple titles on
same property, even good lots of things to see if
there's parable sales to make that valid. If there isn't,
then you can go to the next stage where you
can allow or someone to do a visit to the
(06:07):
property and perhaps pay for a specialist valuation. You can
also look beyond just residential property. You're looking into commercial
properties too, and even some farming type properties or agnate
business as well. So that consistency is really really important.
If there is some kind of standard deviation or something
that doesn't look quite right, then you go to the
(06:28):
next level and prompts you what to do, so you
can keep the trustee and the property own up to
date all the time and take that information. We store
that all the DMS as well, which means that it's
easy there to retrieve and from order to someone with
that information. The key thing yearies. We can also add
additional specialist values in over time through open APIs, so
(06:49):
we can broaden that ecosystem in terms of collecting data.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
That sounds like you're making technology do a lot of
heavy lifting for people. I'm almost relieved to hearing you
talk about it, Shelley. Looking ahead the trends, what do
you see as trends in self managed super funds approach
to property investment in the coming years.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
I think we'll still continue to see strong interest in property.
I think that's so well ingrained for short of it,
right there's a housing supply issue partuckarly with residential property.
We may start to see and we're starting to see
an increase in commercial lending, so I suspect there'll be
more participation with commercial as the MEATSEF investment, potentially even
(07:31):
fractional investing getting back to their ownership and affordability sort
of challenges and just not having supply. So what are
the different ways that someone can still participate if it's
not direct investment, indirectly through shared sort of structures, those
sorts of things. And I think, you know, the watch
this space thing is always interest rates and financial markets
(07:52):
and how they play out. You know, we do see
things shifts and have seen them shift over time as
borrowing costs go up. We've now had a couple of
rate drops. So let's hope that sort of stays, but
that could shift at any time, or you know, things
could say stagnant for a while. But then there's the regulation,
which we've spoken about, you know, ato changes and other
regulatory changes that can increase the cost of maintaining that
(08:15):
asset and complying. And so I think that's sort of
a space to sort of watch and see over the
cunning period, but we're certainly not seeing a slow down.
I think, if anything, we'll probably see people more carefully
venture in to selp many super funds.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Gary, if you had one piece of advisory accountants and advisors,
I know it's.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Hard to boil it down, but if they are.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Working with self any superfund clients on property, what would
that one tip be.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
Well, the first thing in the obvious thing is comply,
absolutely need to do that.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
They're there for a reason, right.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
That's in laser focus right now. But really I would
work with the fund auditor and make sure they're happy
with your process. Then today they're working. It's a sign
up for the data. Yes, So if you can bring
your order to here on that journey early, then you're
not going to have any problems. So work with your order.
This is what I would do.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Terrific advice, Shelley Gary. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Property valuations are clearly a critical part of self managed
super funds, and your perspectives shed light on those challenges
and opportunities.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Thank you for joining us today. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
We're talking to you from Classic Night twenty twenty five.
A proud supporter of fear and greed, and we're delighted
to partner with them to bring you this discussion. If
you've got something you'd like to know, send you a
question via LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, or headover to Fearangreed dot
com dot au will be delighted to provide an answer.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
My name is Adam Lang and this has been Fear
and Greed Q and a
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