What does an Australian property investor look like?

Property investment is an incredibly popular form of putting your money to work, both overseas and within the local market. For many, it's a way of building enough capital to retire in the comfort they want; for others it's the entire basis of their income.

There are plenty of different reasons that people invest, and everybody from mums and dads to fund managers choose to include it in their portfolio. However, you might be surprised by just what the "average" investor actually looks like, according to a new CoreLogic RP Data report.

Finding the average property investor

You might be surprised by just what the "average" investor actually looks like.

First, let's begin with the kinds of properties that people invest in. Because a lot of people are buying an additional property while paying off their current mortgage (perhaps accessing their current equity), it's understandable that they would go for something a little cheaper. Perhaps a unit. Unsurprisingly, that's exactly what has been happening, with CoreLogic reporting that 48 per cent of Australia's apartment stock is owned by an investor.

Meanwhile, the actual average value of an investment property is likely to be lower than that of the city wide median value. This is in keeping with the general trend of units being cheaper than houses.

Location location location

The knowledge of where the best place to invest could be considered a Holy Grail for the real estate industry.

The best places to invest could be considered a Holy Grail for the real estate industry, and what's right for you will differ greatly depending on your ultimate financial goals. However, if you wanted to follow the trends, you'd be either looking at a capital city (no surprises there) and, perhaps as a result of recent price increases, the lifestyle or coastal regions, as well as mining towns.

As discussed, investors are after a bargain, and there are few better places to find that than the more regional zones of the country, or even just in states that have seen somewhat of a downturn. Perth, for example, has seen a 4.66 per cent value drop over the last 12 months according to CoreLogic RP Data. Meanwhile, you can find some Queensland regions that have a buy-in below $200,000 - quite a change from the near-million median that Sydney boasts.

So what does the average real estate investor look like? According to CoreLogic, they will be older, own between one and two investment properties and have an income between $60,000 and $80,000 dollars - not all that different from the average Australian after all!