February 2021: townhouses become the rational play
House-and-land queues blew out. The clean asset switch was infill townhouses — same depreciation envelope, half the lead time.
Why townhouses worked
With builder lead times for detached product stretching to 12+ months and timber prices already moving, off-the-plan townhouses in established middle-ring suburbs delivered new-build tax treatment with 6–9 month settlement windows. Yields ran 80–120bps above comparable detached at the same entry price.
Where the buy was
Brisbane's middle-ring north — Stafford, Wavell Heights, Chermside — and Melbourne's Box Hill / Glen Waverley corridor offered the strongest combination of school catchment, transport, and rental depth.
Dax Stanley
Founder & Principal Strategist, Hera Property. #1 international bestselling author of Real Estate Investing Using ChatGPT.