Owning your own slice of Australia has long been considered the “Great Australian dream”.
But, not only is residential real estate increasingly facing an affordability issue, but it’s also only a small slice of the potential opportunities that are out there for investors looking to profit from property.
Property is not just housing. It is office buildings, hospitals, and shopping centres, to name but a few. There are also supporting industries, most notably mortgage finance and other forms of credit, as well as building materials, that, while not being traditional property businesses, are driven by the same factors.
And at any given time, companies in these sectors can offer greater potential returns and diversified risk compared to focusing only on residential real estate.
Below are three of possibly the best ASX stocks that could present good options for people looking for property exposure, but without actually buying property.
Qualitas (ASX:QAL)
Qualitas promises “unrivalled expertise in real estate investment management” and its ability to prove that is why it is one of the best ASX stocks for investors looking for exposure to property.
Qualitas focuses on investing in a diverse range of opportunities in the property sector across geographies and asset classes, with a strong focus on debt and private credit for property projects.
As an investment manager, Qualitas doesn’t necessarily own property. Instead, it creates funds that invest in either property directly or the financing vehicles that allow properties to be built or managed. Its main source of revenue comes from management fees from its funds rather than rent from tenants. This also means that its core risks come from borrowers not paying their financing rather than tenants not paying rent, which is different to traditional real estate ownership.
Qualitas allows investors to invest in a property-exposed asset class that is not readily available to the average person.
Want to see what the Simply Wall Street Community thinks about Qualitas? Here is what the most followed narrative has to say.
Helia (ASX:HLI)
Helia is one of Australia’s largest providers of lenders’ mortgage insurance and one of the less obvious candidates for the title of best ASX stock for real estate-focused investors.
Lenders’ mortgage insurance protects lenders who provide finance to people with a small deposit. It protects the lender from the risk that the borrower is unable to make repayments and the lender is unable to recover the loan amount from the sale of the property.
