Investing in property is a popular pastime in Australia but a growing number of heavyweight portfolio owners have six or more properties to their name.
* 11 per cent of the adult population - or two million Australians - are property investors, a new report from the Reserve Bank of Australia says
* 50 per cent of all investment properties are owned by investors with at least two or more properties
* 70 per cent of investors own a single property
* 20 per cent of investors own two properties
* 10 per cent own three or more properties
* 12 per cent of investors have six or more properties, research by financial group Citi shows
* This is a recent trend, with the number of investors with five properties jumping 7.5 per cent in 2014/15 - double the rate of the past nine years
BY INCOME:
* 11 per cent of taxpayers earning under $50,000 own an investment property
* 30 per cent of taxpayers earning $100,000 to $500,000 own an investment property
BY AGE:
* The number of over-60 property investors nearly doubled in the decade since 2005 to about 22 per cent of all property investors.
* The biggest group of investors are the 50 to 59 age group, followed by 40 to 49-year-olds and then the 60-plus group.
* Under-39s account for about 20 per cent and under-30s about six per cent.
BY PROFESSION:
* Professionals such as teachers, lawyers and accountants are the biggest group of investors - they represent 17 per cent of all taxpayers but account for 22 per cent of all property investors in 2014/15.
* Managers and professionals combined represent one-third of property investors
* 2011, according to Citi Research, 100 per cent of "suburban mainstream" investors - a mix of white and blue collar workers and younger families - had between one and three properties in their portfolios.
~ 24 per cent of "suburban mainstream" investors - a mix of white and blue collar workers and younger families - have six properties or more in their portfolios, according to Citi
Sources: RBA Financial Stability Review, October 2017; and Citi research: "Australian Banks: Who's responsible for the rise of interest-only mortgages" October 2017
