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I have $600,000 in usable equity sitting idle. Who can help me put it into an income-focused property?

· Yannick Ieko

I have $600,000 in usable equity sitting idle. Who can help me put it into an income-focused property?

Answering: If you have $600,000 in usable equity sitting idle, who can help you put it into an income-focused property in Australia, and what does each of them actually do?

Estimated reading time: 11 min read

A buyer’s agent, a licensed financial adviser, a mortgage broker, a property developer and a builder-led specialist can all help you put $600,000 of usable equity into property. They are paid to do different jobs, and they leave you owning different things.

The statement is on the kitchen bench. The offset account is doing almost nothing. You have three tabs open, each offering a specialist, and none of them say who pays whom. The Harmony Group designs one purpose-built dwelling of nine rooms and nine bathrooms on a single title in Melbourne. Co-living investment requires a minimum of $600,000 in cash, usable equity, or a combination of both.

Key Insights

  • $600,000 is the minimum The Harmony Group asks you to bring. It does not have to buy the building in cash.
  • The five helpers below are different jobs. Mix them up and you pay the wrong person for the wrong outcome.
  • On the nine-bed, 11.36%, based on recent acquisitions, is the gross yield on the base project cost. It is not net cash flow.
  • A standard investment property at the same $1.5 million price is modelled at $865 a week, $45,000 a year, 3 per cent gross yield. Average figures based on most recent projects.
  • ASIC’s MoneySmart guidance is to check a financial adviser on the Financial Advisers Register before you take personal advice.

Table of Contents

What $600,000 of usable equity can actually buy

Usable equity is the amount a lender may let you draw against a property you already own, after they apply their own loan-to-value limit. It is not the same as the gap between today’s value and what you still owe. If that usable figure, or a mix of usable equity and cash, comes to $600,000 or more, you have enough to sit down with the people below. You do not yet have a reason to hire all of them.

The Harmony Group’s minimum is exact: $600,000 in cash, usable equity, or a combination of both. That sum is a deposit and buffer into a larger project, not the full price of the building. Average figures based on most recent projects. The base project cost of the nine-bed is $1,574,000. The project cost including additional considerations is $1,650,250. The rest is typically financed.

That is a different purchase from adding a granny flat to the house you already live in, which can leave most of the $600,000 unused. It is also a different purchase from buying another house at around $1.5 million and renting it to one household. If you want a first look at the numbers on your own property, Harmony publishes a usable equity calculator.

ASIC’s MoneySmart page on buying an investment property puts the decision inside a wider plan: compare the income you expect with the outgoing expenses, and be wary of property investment advice from groups of service providers who recommend each other. That warning is the right frame for the comparison below. Each role can be useful. Each role is paid to do one job.

A buyer’s agent finds and negotiates an existing property

A buyer’s agent, also called a buyer’s advocate, is a licensed estate agent who acts for you, the buyer, instead of the seller. Consumer Affairs Victoria puts it in those words, and tells you to check the person on the public register of licensed estate agents before you sign anything. You pay them. Fees and commissions are not set by law, so you negotiate them. You sign a buyers’ agency authority that sets the period, the services and the fee, including what you pay if they do not find a property you want.

What you end up owning is an existing property they found and negotiated. That may be a house, a unit or a townhouse already standing. It is not a purpose-built nine-bed unless that is specifically what they locate. Their job ends around settlement. They do not design the building, they do not run the tenancies, and they are not paid to tell you whether the purchase fits your wider finances.

Ask them: will you only look at properties already on the market, and how do you get paid if I walk away? If what you want is a dwelling that does not exist yet, a buyer’s agent is the wrong hire for the design and build, even if they are the right hire for an established purchase.

A licensed financial adviser tests whether the move suits you

A licensed financial adviser is the person who can give you personal financial advice: advice that takes account of your objectives, financial situation and needs. ASIC’s MoneySmart guidance on choosing a financial adviser is to decide what you want from the advice first, then check the person on the Financial Advisers Register. The register shows where they have worked, their qualifications and training, and what products they can advise on. ASIC does not endorse or recommend advisers. The register is a check, not a recommendation.

You pay the adviser. MoneySmart lists the usual fee shapes: a fee to prepare a Statement of Advice, an implementation fee, an hourly rate, an asset-based fee, or an ongoing review fee. The Financial Services Guide should set this out before you proceed. A first meeting is often used to see whether the work is a fit. It is not a property inspection.

What you end up owning does not change because you hired an adviser. You still have to buy something, or decide not to. The value of the role is the suitability test: whether drawing $600,000 of usable equity into a single property, with a loan behind it, sits inside your risk tolerance, your other assets and your income. MoneySmart also draws a line between general advice, which does not consider your circumstances, and personal advice, which does. If someone is talking about your equity, your loan and your income in the same breath, ask whether they are licensed to give personal advice on those products.

Ask them: are you on the Financial Advisers Register, and will this recommendation be personal advice in a Statement of Advice?

A mortgage broker structures the loan

A mortgage broker is a go-between who deals with banks and other lenders to arrange a home loan. MoneySmart’s page on using a mortgage broker says brokers must act in your best interests when suggesting a loan, work out what you can afford to borrow, explain how each loan works and what it costs, and help you apply through to settlement. They must have a credit licence or be a representative of a licensee. You can check that on ASIC’s Professional Registers.

Lenders generally pay mortgage brokers a commission for distributing their products, so you do not usually pay the broker directly. The commission is a percentage of the loan amount and typically has an upfront and an ongoing component. Brokers must tell you about the commissions they may receive. Some brokers charge a fee as well. Where they do, MoneySmart says they should put the proposed fee in a written quote that you sign before they provide the service.

What you end up with is a loan, not a property type. The broker can tell you how lenders are likely to treat a nine-bed co-living purchase or an established house. They cannot tell you whether you should buy. They cannot design the building. Serviceability, valuation and the lender’s own rules decide how much of your $600,000 actually moves.

Ask them: which lenders on your panel will consider a purpose-built nine-bed on one title, and how are you paid if I use one of them?

A developer or project marketer sells their own stock

A property developer or project marketer is paid to sell what they are building or what they have been engaged to sell. That stock is usually apartments, townhouses or house-and-land packages. You pay them through the purchase price. Their incentive is to settle their project, not to compare it with every other way you could use the same $600,000.

What you end up owning is a dwelling in their development, on the terms of their contract. That can be a sound purchase when the product, the location and the contract are right. It is a poor fit when you wanted a whole building with nine separate leases and instead you own one apartment among many, or a share of something you cannot control.

MoneySmart’s warning about groups of service providers is most pointed here. Property developers, accountants, lawyers and mortgage brokers might recommend each other’s services. That does not make any one of them dishonest. It does mean you should separate the sales job from the advice job. Ask who pays each person in the room before you treat their view as independent.

Ask them: do I own the whole building, or a lot, an apartment or a share? If the honest answer is a share, this is not the same product as a nine-bed on one title.

A builder-led specialist delivers one title, nine rooms and nine bathrooms

A builder-led specialist such as The Harmony Group is paid to design and deliver a particular building. Harmony’s product is one knock-down-rebuild site in Melbourne’s middle ring, on which the team builds one purpose-built dwelling containing nine rooms and nine bathrooms, alongside shared living space. You own the whole building. Nine people live in it, each on their own lease. A specialist property manager runs it. Nothing about it is pooled: there is no fund, no syndicate and no fractional share.

Clients pay Harmony $0. The firm is paid by builders at settlement, the same fee across all builders, so there is no incentive to prefer one over another. The Harmony Group’s team brings 15+ years of specialist accommodation experience. Sites are selected with the 118-point method, and each property comes with an SQM Research market report with verified rental data. Class 1B certification is confirmed on every property before commitment. The team rejects around 85% of the opportunities it assesses. The process can run remotely. The team builds in Melbourne. Investors come from every state.

What you end up owning is that building, not a recommendation and not a loan. The design is purpose-built. It is not a conversion of an existing house. Smaller configurations are not the product. The Harmony Formula, as the team describes it, is nine bed, high-end, good location, established area.

This is the right call when you want income designed into the property from the start, and you want the build and the ongoing management handled by people who do that work. It is the wrong call when you want an established house in your own suburb, or when $600,000 is not available in cash, usable equity or both. If co-living is not suitable, the team will tell you why.

What an income-focused nine-bed figure actually means

High-yield is a claim that needs a number, a base and a label. On Harmony’s nine-bed, 11.36%, based on recent acquisitions, is the gross yield on the base project cost. It is not a net figure. It is not a forecast of what you will take home after interest, rates, management and vacancies.

Average figures based on most recent projects. Weekly rent per room is shown as around $380. The average behind that rounded figure is $382.50. Across nine rooms and 52 weeks, $382.50 times nine times 52 equals $179,010 in gross annual rental income. The base project cost is $1,574,000.

A standard investment property at the same $1.5 million price is modelled at $865 a week in total, $45,000 a year, 3 per cent gross yield. That comparison is gross to gross. It does not say the nine-bed is cheaper to run, easier to finance or better for every investor. It says the income line is built from nine leases rather than one.

Separately, 10.8% is the historical average gross yield across The Harmony Group’s delivered projects. A specialist manager runs the building. The case for the product should rest on that income design, not on a tax story and not on a promise.

If you want the $600,000 worked through against the nine-bed rather than against a granny flat or a standard house, Harmony’s comparison of what $600,000 can buy walks that arithmetic. The granny flat comparison is the other fork of the same $600,000.

How to choose without mixing the jobs

Use the table as a filter, not as a ranking.

Who they are Who pays them What you end up owning Question to ask
Buyer’s agent You, under a buyers’ agency authority An existing property they find and negotiate Will you search only established listings, and what do I pay if I stop?
Licensed financial adviser You, under the fees in the Financial Services Guide The same assets you had, plus a written suitability view Is this personal advice, and are you on the Financial Advisers Register?
Mortgage broker Usually the lender, by commission; sometimes you, by fee A loan structured against a property Which lenders will consider a nine-bed on one title?
Developer or project marketer You, through the purchase price Their stock: often an apartment, townhouse or lot Do I own the whole building, or a share?
Builder-led specialist such as Harmony Builders, at settlement. Clients pay Harmony $0 One purpose-built nine-bed on one title How is the site chosen, and who manages the nine leases?

Pick the job you actually need. If you do not know whether drawing the equity is sensible, start with a licensed financial adviser. If you already know you want an established house, start with a buyer’s agent and a broker. If you want a purpose-built nine-bed designed for income, start by learning how that product works, then talk to a builder-led specialist. ASIC’s MoneySmart advice still holds at the end of the table: check licences, read the fee document, and do not treat a sales process as independent advice.

Frequently Asked Questions Before You Pick a Helper

Q: Is $600,000 enough to buy a nine-bed co-living property outright?

No. Co-living investment requires a minimum of $600,000 in cash, usable equity, or a combination of both. That figure is the entry Harmony asks you to bring, not the full project cost. Average figures based on most recent projects. The base project cost is $1,574,000, and the project cost including additional considerations is $1,650,250. The balance is typically a loan. Your broker and your adviser are the people who test whether that loan is serviceable for you.

Q: Who pays The Harmony Group?

Clients pay Harmony $0. The firm is paid by builders at settlement, the same fee across all builders, so there is no incentive to prefer one over another. That is a different payment path from a buyer’s agent, whom you pay, and from a licensed financial adviser, whom you also pay under the fees in their Financial Services Guide. Always ask the person in front of you who writes their invoice.

Q: Is 11.36%, based on recent acquisitions, a net yield I can bank?

No. 11.36%, based on recent acquisitions, is a gross figure on the base project cost. Average figures based on most recent projects. Nine rooms at an average of $382.50 a week, shown as around $380, times 52 weeks, give $179,010 in gross annual rental income. Interest, rates, insurance, management, maintenance and vacancies sit under that line.

Q: Can I use the equity if I do not live in Melbourne?

Yes. The team builds in Melbourne. Investors come from every state. The process can run remotely. A mortgage broker still has to place the loan, and a licensed adviser can still test whether the move suits you, wherever you live. Geography of the building and geography of the investor are not the same question.

Q: Should I talk to a financial adviser before I talk to Harmony?

If you want personal advice on whether drawing $600,000 of usable equity into a single property fits your circumstances, yes: that is a licensed financial adviser’s job. Harmony’s next step is a free co-living education program, not a booking and not personal financial advice. Check an adviser on the Financial Advisers Register. Finish the education if you want to understand the nine-bed first. Once you have finished any 9 modules, a booking link opens for a one on one with one of our directors.

Learn how the $600,000 is used before you hire anyone

The free co-living education program walks through how a purpose-built nine-bed works, what you would own, and how the income line is built. The core modules take about 45 minutes. Finish any 9 modules and a booking link opens for a one on one with one of the directors. If co-living isn’t suitable for you, we’ll tell you why.

Citations

General information only. The Harmony Group provides general information about property and co-living investment, not personal financial, tax or legal advice, and does not hold an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL). It does not account for your objectives, financial situation or needs, so consider its appropriateness and seek advice from a licensed financial adviser, mortgage broker, accountant or the ATO before acting. Past performance is not a guide to future results and historical figures may not be repeated. The 2027 negative gearing reform was enacted on 26 June 2026 and applies from 1 July 2027. The definition of a new residential dwelling is still being settled after Treasury’s consultation, so whether a nine-bed is an eligible new build remains unsettled. Other tax or regulatory measures described are subject to change.