Can property upgrades boost your investment returns
Two identical buildings. One big difference. Here’s the tax trick that made it happen.
A simple school drop-off turned into a lightbulb moment about how smart investors can boost property value and maximise tax deductions. In this blog, I break down a real-world example of how one block of units pulled ahead—and the little-known sinking fund strategy that made all the difference to the owners’ bottom line.
These days I like to drop my daughter off to school as much as I can. I know soon enough she’ll be embarrassed of me – so better make hay whilst the sun shines right?
The other day as I was dropping her off, I looked across the road and noticed something strange.
I said to myself “wait a minute…I reckon those two blocks were the spitting image of each other in another life”.
So being the nosey real estate junky I am – I raced to work and did some research on RP Data and Google maps.
Crunching the numbers
Sure enough, back in the day, these two blocks were pretty similar. But now the block on the left leaves its poor cousin for dead!
Being a Quantity Surveyor – I quickly did some maths – I reckon new balconies, render & paint for a block that size probably cost each owner around $65k.
But I’m thinking they’ll get a $120k more each in resale value.
That’s a pretty good return, but I’ll let you into a very little known trick that’ll make that return even better.
If the work carried out was paid for from the sinking fund…the total cost would have been 100% tax deductible.
So, if the body corporate had been increasing levies whilst the work was being planned – the investors in the block would have been able to claim the work as an outright deduction.
However, if the body corporate had to raise a special levy to do the work, most of the work would only be claimable at 2.5% per annum based upon the cost of the work.
That’s a MASSIVE difference to the bottom the line.
If you need a depreciation schedule – get a quote here.
Or work out how much you could claim on your property by using our free calculator.
Learn how to maximise your tax deductions on property upgrades
