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For more than a decade, Australian property investors have clung to a simple benchmark of success: own six properties, and you are in the top 1 per cent. Recent research, however, suggests the real threshold is far higher.
According to data from buyer’s agent client retention platform Gameplans, investors need portfolios exceeding $12 million to rank in the top 1 per cent of property investors across Australia, a figure that reframes long-held assumptions about wealth and scale in residential property.
The research challenges a widely quoted statistic, often recycled by commentators, that fewer than 1 per cent of investors own six or more properties. While true on paper, experts have argued that it ignores the single factor that matters most: value.
Jordan de Jong, founder of Gameplans, says the “six-property myth” has become an increasingly misleading measure of success in the real estate market.
“Almost every property commentator has made a piece of content on the data that fewer than 1 per cent of property investors own six or more properties,” he says.
“My biggest gripe with this statement is that you could either have six properties worth $300,000 each or one property worth $1.8 million and have the same overall portfolio value. Why do we use this metric as a measure of success?”
He says counting properties without considering asset quality, performance, or total portfolio value has distorted how investors assess themselves and how success is marketed.
“The traditional ‘six-properties’ metric doesn’t clarify the value of each asset, the quality of the portfolio, or whether those properties are actually performing,” he says.
“And many investors, with what I would consider ‘lemon properties’, pride themselves on being in the top 1 per cent when in reality they are not.”
The numbers are stark.
Gameplans’ analysis shows the average portfolio value for the top 1 per cent of investors sits at $11.7 million. The top 5 per cent hold portfolios worth $5.89 million, the top 10 per cent $4.35 million, while half of all investors have portfolios valued at $1.54 million or less.
Only 7.21 per cent of investors hold portfolios above $5 million.
The findings suggest that scale alone does not create elite outcomes, and that Australia’s true property heavyweights are far rarer and wealthier than popular narratives suggest.
Cate Bakos, chair of the Property Investment Professionals of Australia (PIPA), says investors often chase arbitrary milestones instead of sustainable strategies.
“Too often we see investors chasing a number rather than a strategy,” Bakos said. “The value, performance and suitability of each asset matter far more than how many properties someone can accumulate.
“Investors who work with qualified property investment professionals build portfolios based on quality, not quantity – and that’s what leads to long-term success.”
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