Inside the wild homeowner retirement scheme few people know about
Single renter Yvette Buckley bought her first apartment in November of 2025 – but the law says she can never live in it.
Instead, the purchase is part of the 44 year-old’s unique plan on investing for her retirement, using her superannuation to pay for her home’s deposit.
Ms Buckley said despite working since she was 16, she felt she didn’t have enough money to buy a place without drowning in repayments.
“I didn’t want to be a slave to my mortgage,” she said. “I wanted to do something different, make more money and set myself up for retirement.”
Yvette is a first homebuyer who will not be able to move into her new unit: because she bought it with her superannuation, as a means of investing for her retirement. Picture: Liam Kidston
Buying a home with one’s super means it must be treated as an investment asset: meaning it can never be lived in by the homeowner, their family or friends.
These homes are required to be permanently rented out, with the rental fees and additional super payments going to repaying the property’s mortgage.
The strategy is a unique version of ‘rentvesting’, where homeowners will buy a residence and rent it out while continuing to rent themselves.
Buying a home with your super locks you off from ever living in it; but allows the mortgage to be paid off with rent and super income while it grows value as an investment property.
Ms Buckley she was inspired when she discovered a Defence Force program that did the same thing, and decided to try it for herself.
“It meant I could buy a much higher deposit than I could normally afford,” she said, “and have a smaller mortgage overall.”
The strategy has allowed Ms Buckley to keep renting where she wants to live in Nundah, while paying less than she would if she had bought her new apartment outright.
Ms Buckley saw the Australian Defence Force offering military homes to rentvest as part of a similar scheme, which inspired her to take the risky move of pursuing it on her own.
While PropTrack models reported typical Brisbane rental prices could rise beyond some mortgage repayments by 2034, Ms Buckley said she felt comfortable renting was more affordable for her own long-term situation.
“There are benefits to owning a home,” she said. “It’s wonderful if you can do it. You can put nails in the wall, have as many pets as you want; but you also have that mortgage around your neck.”
The process comes with several risks. Placing one’s superannuation into an investment property means the retirement fund is dependent on the health and value of the home.
The move comes at a time when PropTrack models show a chance of some Brisbane rents rising beyond mortgage repayments by 2034, sparking concerns for future renters.
Very few banks were available to assist Ms Buckley in the process, and the homeowner struggled with finding a house that even qualified as an affordable investment.
“I had almost given up finding a property,” she said. “I knew how much I could spend, I knew what my ceiling was, but I could not find a property for love or money … you almost need a full-time job to find one.”
Thanks to help from a buyers agent, she was able to purchase a home in Dakabin for $720,000, which was still being rented by its tenant.
“The exact same layout in the exact same complex went for $770,000 the next week, so that’s how quickly the housing market is moving,” she said.
Ms Buckley was happy to have found a home in her budget to help make her retirement secure, content with continuing to rent for the near future. Picture: Liam Kidston
Buyers agent Lauren Jones, who helped Ms Buckley find her home, said the rentvestor would be priced out of the market if she tried to buy a home in that range today.
“People just need a greater budget now,” she said. “In Brisbane, you really need $800,000 to get something okay for a super fund.”
Ms Buckley warned potential buyers about using their super to buy an investment property without considering its long-term value.
“We still want to be buying products that owner-occupiers want,” she said. “People need to be careful when buying with their super fund. This is your retirement you’re playing with – if you’re buying a bad asset, that could be a major problem.”
Buyers agent Lauren Jones said it was important for anyone considering rentvesting with their super to closely evaluate what they were buying – or it could spell disaster for their savings.
But Ms Buckley said she felt she made the right decision. The Nundah resident said she wanted to use Australia’s most reliable growth market to keep her own retirement secure, after seeing her parents struggle without a retirement fund.
“Watching them struggle, and now as they’re elderly … they can’t afford to go into care, or a retirement home, or have the care they need, because they didn’t consider what their retirement looked like,” she said.
“I think a lot of people my age have their parents in the same boat.”
