You don't know. It's a leap of faith you've just got to take.
Check out www.onthehouse.com.au for free sales data, and allhomes.com.au for Canberra realestate ads (more focussed on the ACT, as opposed to the big boys RE.com and domain).
ACT stamp duty is decreasing quite substantially year on year. They're slamming investors with YUUUUUGE land tax bills. Pretty soon there won't be any investors left in Canberra apartments, screwing the lot of us with a ridiculous Land Tax formula that charges a higher marginal rate for low value units than for houses worth many multiples more.
I agree with Fresh Bread, the whole process is terrifying the first time around. You make an offer, sign the contract, THEN go talk to the Bank. Like I said, leap of faith!
It gets easier after that. First loan I got I was dressed in my best suit. Last loan I got I was in a singlet, boardies and thongs. The level of stress tends to go down over time. First week is "holy shit I owe the Bank fuckloads what the fuck am I doing am I a fucking idiot" etc etc you get the gist.
After a while you realise the bank is never going to call in the loan, they want you paying it off forever and your stress levels go down.
Yes, that's how I was in my early 30s..... then one day in my early 40s I reverted back to "holy shit I owe the bank fuckloads. What the fuck am I doing. Am I a fucking idiot." This was shortly followed by what are my options? which in turn led me to MMM.
.... at some point I just got sick of being a slave to my job, and my mortgages were making me a slave... they still are for now (bring on 2019).
But whilst it sucks having a big mortgage over your head, having big mortgages has been the main way that I have generated wealth. I got lucky with the timing of my becoming an adult and have ridden a 20 year property boom. I'd roll the same dice in my mid 20s again.
However, I do think the game of taking massive leveraged positions on Aussie property to make big capital gains is not likely to be as fruitful as it has been. There's more downside risk than upside opportunity on Australian residential property today I reckon.
Talking of leaps of faith, the last place I bought was very casual and quite a leap of faith.
I flew up to Brissy for a weekend away with the DW, and decided to poke my head in to a few open houses (much to DW's annoyance) to fill in a spare hour.
I'd never been to the suburb where we were that day and have never been back since. But after a quick squiz at a few places it occurred to me that I could get close to a 6% gross rental yield in Brissy (compared to closer to 3% in Sydney) and could lock in a 5 year fixed interest loan at 4.6% at the time. With almost positive cashflow from day 1, I figured buying in Brissy was a pretty safe bet.
I took the plunge borrowing 110% of the purchase price the next day and did the whole transaction over the phone. I never met my banker, my lawyer or the selling agent. I have never met the agent I use to rent out the place either. Lol. I've never even been back to visit the house I bought.
The house hasn't proven to be a truly great investment yet, but given that I didn't put 1 cent of my own money on the table to buy, and only a little since i call it a small winner. I've had it around 4 years now. Maybe a little more.
I'd say it's been getting 4.0% net rent yield + 3.0% capital gains each year. So a 7% return against a borrowing cost of 4.6%... plus a little tax sheltering from the depn deductions as well. As I said, not a massive get rich scheme, but $10,000 a year net gain from not 1 cent originally invested of my own money is not so bad.