Australia is often referred to as a nation of landlords. Perhaps that will change.
Before turning 30, Tim Abbott made what for most Australians has been a great financial move. He purchased an inner city apartment in Sydney to call home.
“When I settled on the apartment in March 2022, I had a huge sense of relief of ‘finally’ being in the property market, and a one bedroom apartment was all I was ever going to be able to afford in Sydney,” he told Yahoo Finance.
Like many millennials, he’s been highly focused on improving his financial position and trying to build some wealth – although he got started a lot earlier than most people.
To pay the deposit on his new apartment, Tim sold shares in tach giant Apple which he had bought in 2008, around the age of 15, after getting an inheritance.
The decision to swap his shares (which had rocketed in value) for a mortgage is one most people would make. But it has also left him more than $300,000 worse off as his homeownership dream hasn’t exactly gone according to plan.
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“I thought my equity would be more secure in a property, rather than the stock market,” Tim said.
But a couple years ago, owners in his building were informed the apartment complex would need some major works done. What was originally projected as a roughly $30,000 bill per owner has ballooned to many times that with Tim forced out of the building for months while construction works take place.
“This apartment has absolutely changed my perception on property. I never intended to buy it as ‘an investment’, but it has been extremely costly,” he said.
“My strata special levies totalled over $50,000 in 2025, and this year it’s been over $120,000. That’s just special levies. That doesn’t even equate to my mortgage repayments.”
Apple shares, meanwhile, are up more than 90 per cent from March 2022, meaning the roughly $180,000 in shares Tim cashed in to buy the property would be worth more than $340,000 today.
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Tim tried to sell the apartment at the beginning of the year, offering it below market value, listing his home at $700,000, which would mean an $80,000 nominal loss from the higher price he paid, plus stamp duty.
“Everyone loved the apartment, loved the location but wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot pole because of the strata issues,” he said. “I was unable to sell the property, and that cost me $20,000 in staging furniture and marketing.”
The inability to liquidate the asset at a tolerable price has compounded his frustrations.
