Off the plan or Hurstville properties

Congrats on your first post!

I don't personally know the Hurstville area sufficiently enough to give you a yes or no on the property that you are looking but just a few ideas to consider:
1. you can buy either side of the median price in an area and still get excellent growth.  The median is just that, the middle – it does not mean it's what gets the most growth however.  What it does do is give you both the greatest number of competing properties for sale but also the greatest number of buyers as well.
2. I would go to a bank and get some sort of pre-approval for your property to be doubly sure that you can borrow the funds that you need – you don't want to be in a situation where you can't settle in 2 years – don't forget, buying off the plan gives you an additional level of risk – if you're earning less, if rates go up or if you're not working in 2 years, you may not get a loan.  I've seen it happen before!
3. Don't compare prices with other off the plan units – compare it to units that are less than 5 years old and are similar size and location.  At the end of the day, your unit will be near identical to one that is 1-5 years older once you've had a tennant or two through it.

Best of luck!

Hi a few things to consider.

How many units are being built in the complex?  On settlement if investors have purchased them to buy now off the plan and then to put them on the market and cash in at settlement, an influx of units for sale in the one complex may devalue the block and impact on your expected profits.

There is often a hype gap that goes with off the plan deals $100K above medium price may highlight this, but you need to research what else you can buy for these prices and less.  Also a marketing budget factored into the equation, are you dealing directly with the developer?  You may be able to negotiate a lower deposit.  Its always better the money being in your account over the time instead of theirs.

On finance, do they require you to go unconditional on the contract before the banks will give you unconditional approval?  Many developers require unconditional finance to take the contracts to the banks for pre sale proof before the first draw down of construction finance can be released to them.  It will most likely be difficult for you to go unconditional on finance unless you know that you are in a very strong financial position.

If capital growth is your strategy, what is the benefit of buying an existing property, most likely for less now and riding some growth while receiving rental income etc now as opposed to waiting 2 years before you are really in the market.

I hope this gives you some extra things to consider.
Cheers
Paul.