Breaking the Mold: The Expat Family Who Didn’t Invest in Australian Real Estate
13 October, 2025
John and Lucy, both expats living in Singapore, had managed to save 500,000 AUD over the last 10 years.
They both understood that the eroding effects of inflation would cause the value of their savings to depreciate over time and as a result knew that they needed to invest their savings immediately.
John and Lucy wanted to know if it was better for them to use their 500k AUD as a deposit on a new 1.5 million-dollar investment property in Australia or to invest their 500k AUD in the stock market (S&p 500 Index)?
John, being a numbers man, was curious to know which investment would yield a greater return, the leveraged and taxed investment property back home, or the untaxed capital gains from the stock market (There is no CGT while living in Singapore).
John wasn’t an expert in financial projections, so he booked a complimentary session with Singapore’s leading Australian expat financial consultant, Sean Abreu, to run the numbers and compare both investment options before making his decision.
Here’s the scenario John and Sean ran together:
Purchase price: $1.5 million
Expected growth rate: 6.5% p.a.
Deposit: $500,000 AUD
Loan: $1 million at 5.5% interest
Stamp duty: 4% (WA)
Ongoing costs: 2.4% land tax/strata + 0.5% upkeep
Rental income: 4% of property value, minus 10% agent fees
Selling costs: 2% agent fee on sale
Capital gains tax applied on profit
John and Sean then compared this to putting the same capital into the S&P 500 index instead.
The result: over 10 years, the property would leave John with about $570,000 AUD less than the stock market S&P 500 index alternative. And that’s before factoring in the stress, time, liquidity constraints and administrative headaches of owning an investment property. From a purely monetary and capital gains perspective, buying property made absolute no sense. This was largely due to high interest rates, land taxes and capital gains taxes.
When asked why John and Lucy refused to buy an investment property in Australia while living in Singapore they replied with:
“Most people never run the numbers. Rather than seeking advice from a professional like Sean and doing the math, they let cultural conditioning, family pressure, and outdated narratives dictate their financial choices. But wealth isn’t built by following the herd, it’s built by stripping out emotion and making decisions grounded in mathematics and opportunity cost. The difference between a good investment and a bad one isn’t just a few percentage points, it can be millions of dollars over time and even more importantly, peace of mind and location freedom”.
For a more detailed and in depth look into John and Lucy financial calculations watch the video below…..
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