Types of property investment.
Property investment in Australia comes in several forms. The most common is residential proerty, which includes houses , apartments, and townhouses that are rented out to tenants. This is often what people think of when they picture property investment and is often considered the first step. Investors earn rental income and hope for capital growth over time. i.e. the property price will grow.
There is also commercial property, that includes offices, warehouses and retail spaces. These often provide higher rental yields but can be more complex and carry longer vacancy risks. Industrial and mixed use properties also fall into this catagory. Another growing option for investors is Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) which allow people to buy units in property portfolios traded on the ASX. This gives exposure to large scale property assets without directly owning real estate.
At the profesional level, where property development is a day job rather than an investment the projects often involve purchasing empty blocks of land. Depending on the zoning, the developer will contruct a property and either sell or rent it out. This carries much larger risks and requires both industry knowledge, coordination and lots of money readily available.