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Property investors living interstate or overseas have increasingly relied on digital platforms to connect with trusted agents who can oversee sales and mitigate the challenges of remote selling.
According to PropApp, Australia’s surge in interstate property investment has created a growing challenge for sellers: the “tyranny of distance,” which further adds stress and complicates the sale process.
In 2025, Cotality data showed that investor mortgage lending in Australia rose to 40.6 per cent, marking the highest share since 2016 and well above the decade average of 33.4 per cent.
Australians investors have also been buying interstate more, with Western Australia, Queensland, and Victoria seeing the largest increase.
PropApp co-founder Zac Burd said that while more investors choose to buy interstate, they have been facing the “tyranny of distance” when selling their assets.
He said that this has become a common issue for investors, who struggle to find local agents to manage the sale of their property.
“With interstate migration at record highs and many Australians owning investment properties far from where they themselves live – including expats – selling remotely is becoming a growing challenge for many,” Burd said.
“Owners often lack local contacts, can’t afford interstate travel or find the time to travel from overseas, and fear being taken advantage of – especially older Australians or those in financial distress.”
According to PropApp, a platform connecting buyers and sellers with agents, interstate investors, especially older Australians, have been particularly impacted by the issues, sometimes leading to precarity.
The proptech company said a recent case of a nearly retired Singleton woman had nearly left her homeless after her current rental faced tenant damage, rising costs, and unstable housing.
With no housing security herself, Gaynor urgently needed to sell the property but couldn’t manage it from afar, leaving her living in a caravan and uncertain about her financial future.
Gaynor said that her repeated attempts to contact a local agent to sell her Western Australian property either failed or resulted in lowball appraisals.
One agent told her she’d be “lucky to get $700,000” for the property, a figure that wouldn’t have been enough to buy even a modest home in Singleton.
After connecting with a local agent through PropApp, her property sold quickly for $840,000, allowing her to purchase a fully furnished home in Singleton and regain stability.
PropApp co-founder Joel Wermut said that Gaynor’s experience highlighted a growing issue, with interstate and overseas property sales increasingly becoming stressful and costly for mum and dad investors.
“People assume owning an investment property means you’re secure, but if you can’t access it, inspect it, or find someone trustworthy to sell it, you’re effectively stuck.”
Burd said the platform has increasingly been used by interstate investors, highlighting the importance of access to local agents who can manage and support property sales when owners cannot be there in person.
“When you’re thousands of kilometres away, including living overseas, you can’t just pop in to meet an agent on-site or check on the property yourself.”
“Being able to connect sellers with trusted agents remotely is becoming essential, not optional,” he concluded.
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