Matt and Sarah Sherman at home in Hamilton. pic: Lyndon Mechielsen
SEASONED investor Matt Sherman says first-home buyers shouldn’t be deterred from taking on debt.
“It can be so overwhelming for young people to start,” said Mr Sherman, who has just completed the build of a luxury family home in inner-city Hamilton, where he owns several other townhouses and apartments.
“But don’t be deterred from buying property. A mortgage is a good thing — every time you pay a mortgage you are paying down the principal on the loan, every time you’re paying rent it’s paying someone else’s mortgage.”
The couple’s development company, Mayan Developments, is based in Brisbane. Pic: Lyndon Mechielsen
Mr Sherman and his wife, Sarah, co-founded Mayan Developments with Ryan Graham in 2015, and relocated from Sydney to Brisbane two years ago.
Capital growth generally offsets extra costs on the ticket price of the home, including council rates, stamp duty, and building insurance, Mr Sherman said.
“Every property we’ve bought in the last 5 or 6 years has gone up by about 5 to 6 per cent per annum, and we’re still buying.”
Hamilton house prices have exploded since 2003, from a median of $492,500 to $2.26m in 2023, Ray White data shows.
But Mr Sherman said the area still represented excellent value coupled with the laidback Queensland lifestyle.
“Our new house has the sort of Sydney high-end finishes that Queensland doesn’t yet have in that price bracket,” he said.
“We’re calling it affordable luxury, because the Hamilton house is $3m in value, but what we’ve built on Kent St, unless you’ve spent $5m, it just doesn’t exist anywhere else.”
The home is one of two adjacent builds, each on a 405sq m parcel secured in 2022.
The Hamilton home is one of two side-by-side new builds
It’s located in one of Brisbane’s top growth markets
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Mrs Sherman, an interior designer, selected luxury finishes for the home the couple shares with their two children, aged 3 and 1.
They previously had two other development companies in Sydney, and currently also run a commercial fit out business with projects across five states.
Mr Sherman said their personal investment strategy has been to hold their properties, pay down the loan as much as possible, and draw down on equity accrued to buy again.
“I don’t believe you should ever sell unless you have to,” he said.
An exception is a three-bedroom townhouse at 1/14 Allen St, Hamilton they have listed for $1.5m in order to realise “liquid cash”, since the property has increased in value by $450,000 in 3 years.
Stone benchtop in the kitchen
Luxury finishes inside
Currently tenanted at $850 per week, the semi-detached home in the Jardin Residences was designed by architect, Joe Adsett, and is marketed by Belle Property Ascot principal agent, Brooke Hawthorne.
They are selling a home inside the Joe Adsett-designed Jardin Residences
Inside the townhouse
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