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When property prices fall and repayments rise, selling can feel like the sensible option. But sometimes the cost of holding onto a property is considerably less than the cost of selling it at the wrong time.

There’s a conversation I’m having with more and more property owners at the moment. They’ve got an investment property, a lifestyle property or perhaps a substantial property portfolio, and the repayments are starting to hurt. Their question is usually some version of, “How much longer can I keep doing this?”

Quite often, they’ve already convinced themselves that selling is the responsible thing to do. Reduce the debt, stop the financial pressure and move on.

But I think there’s a question worth asking before you make that decision. What if spending $60,000 to keep a property for another three years could save you from accepting an offer that’s $200,000 below what it might achieve in a stronger market?

You’d still be spending money. You might even need to borrow more to do it. But when you compare those two outcomes, the decision to sell doesn’t necessarily look quite so sensible.

This is something I spend a lot of time working through with clients, because sometimes the biggest financial mistake isn’t taking on more debt. It’s selling a perfectly good asset because you haven’t worked out how to get through a difficult period.

The problem with selling when everyone else is nervous.

We’re in an interesting property market. Borrowing costs are higher, consumer confidence is weak and there’s a lot of uncertainty about where interest rates and property prices are heading.

The Westpac–Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment Index fell to 80.4 in October 2026, reflecting just how cautious Australian households have become. And when people are nervous about their finances, they’re generally less enthusiastic about making big purchasing decisions.

There’s an old saying in real estate about the three Ds: death, divorce and debt. These are the circumstances that can force someone to sell, even when the market isn’t particularly favourable.

Obviously, people sell for all sorts of reasons. But when confidence is low, those who have the option of waiting often do. The people who need to sell don’t always have that luxury.

I see this particularly with prestige homes, lifestyle properties and certain commercial investments. These are the sorts of assets that can achieve extraordinary prices when the market is running hot. But when conditions turn, buyers become much harder to find and the discounts can be substantial.

We’ve recently seen lifestyle properties changing hands at discounts of around 10 to 15 per cent against vendors’ expectations. That’s a significant amount of money, particularly when you’re talking about properties worth well over a million dollars.

And here’s the thing. A property that’s difficult to sell today isn’t necessarily a bad asset. Sometimes it’s simply an asset in a market where there aren’t many buyers.

That distinction matters enormously if you’re considering selling because of cash-flow pressure.

Would you spend $60,000 to avoid a much bigger loss?

Let’s work through an example, because I find this is where people start to see the situation differently.

Say you’ve got an investment property that you believe could be worth $1.5 million in a stronger market. You’ve tested the market today, and the best realistic offer is $1.3 million.

That’s a $200,000 difference between the offer you’ve got and what you think the property might achieve under better conditions. Of course, the $1.5 million isn’t guaranteed. It’s an estimate that needs to be tested against comparable sales and the property’s long-term prospects.

Now let’s say the property costs you $20,000 a year to hold after rental income and expenses.

Most people look at that $20,000 and think, “I’m losing money every year. I need to get rid of this thing.”

I look at it differently. I want to know how much it’s going to cost to give yourself time.

Illustrative figures assuming a constant annual cash shortfall, before additional financing costs and other variables.

If you could comfortably fund that $60,000 shortfall over three years, you’ve potentially bought yourself three years to wait for better selling conditions.

Now consider what happens if the property does eventually sell for $1.5 million. You’ve received $200,000 more than today’s offer, at a holding cash-flow cost of $60,000.

That’s a $140,000 difference in this simplified example, before additional interest, transaction costs, tax and the financial benefit of receiving the sale proceeds earlier.

And you don’t necessarily need the property to reach $1.5 million for holding to make sense. Even a smaller recovery could justify the cost, depending on your overall financial position and the full costs involved.

But what if it doesn’t recover? What if the market takes five years instead of three, or prices fall further?

Those possibilities need to be modelled too. I wouldn’t suggest someone borrow more money based on nothing more than a hope that property prices will go up.

What I’m saying is that you should compare the actual cost of keeping an asset with the financial consequences of selling it today. Because they’re two very different numbers, and too often people only look at one of them.

Sometimes the best strategy is simply getting through the next few years.

Property markets have always moved in cycles. We’ve seen periods of strong growth, downturns, higher interest rates and eventually recoveries.

That doesn’t mean every property will recover its previous value, or that we can predict exactly when conditions will improve. Some markets can remain subdued for a long time.

But if you’ve bought an asset as a long-term investment, it makes sense to consider whether a difficult few years should determine what happens to it.

One of the things I find interesting is how differently people think about debt depending on the situation.

Most of us have been taught that the responsible thing to do is pay down our debts as quickly as possible. And generally speaking, that’s good advice.

But businesses take a different approach to managing cash flow all the time. They use overdrafts and working capital facilities to cover periods when income and expenses don’t line up. They plan for those shortfalls rather than automatically selling assets to cover them.

Yet when it comes to our own property investments, we can be reluctant to consider the same principle.

If you’ve got a temporary cash-flow problem, it doesn’t automatically mean you’ve got a bad investment. It may mean you need a better financing strategy.

The important word there is temporary. If a property is going to cost you more than you can reasonably afford for the foreseeable future, that’s a different conversation altogether.

Before you sell, look at what you can change.

When someone comes to me worried about holding onto a property, we don’t start by looking at how quickly they can sell it. We start by looking at their loans, their cash flow and what options might be available.

Sometimes there’s quite a bit we can do.

Refinancing is often the first place to look. If your existing lender isn’t competitive, moving to a different lender or restructuring your loans could reduce your interest costs. Across a substantial portfolio, even a relatively small interest rate saving can make a meaningful difference.

Interest-only repayments can also be worth considering for investment loans. Moving from principal and interest repayments to interest-only may reduce your monthly commitments and free up cash flow. You’re not paying down the loan during that period, and you’ll generally pay more interest over time, but in the right circumstances it can provide some breathing room.

Extending the loan term may be another option. Depending on your circumstances and lender approval, spreading repayments over a longer period can reduce what you’re required to pay each month. Again, there’s a trade-off because your total interest costs may increase.

Then there’s using available equity to establish a financial buffer.

This is something people don’t always consider, because borrowing more money when you’re already worried about debt can feel completely counterintuitive.

But let’s say you’ve worked through your numbers and you know you’ll need another $50,000 or $60,000 to comfortably maintain your property over the next few years. If you have sufficient equity, income and borrowing capacity, it may be possible to arrange an appropriate lending facility in advance.

Depending on the structure, you may only pay interest on the amount you’ve actually drawn. That gives you access to funds as they’re needed, rather than scrambling to find money when an expense arrives.

Of course, that additional debt still needs to be repaid, and accessing equity isn’t always possible or appropriate. I want to know what the exit strategy is, what happens if rates rise further and whether the household can genuinely afford the arrangement.

The objective isn’t to borrow your way out of an unsustainable situation. It’s to use the lending options available to you intelligently.

The spreadsheet that tells me what’s coming 18 months from now.

There’s another part of this conversation that I think is just as important as the loan structure, and it’s something I do with my own household finances.

I run an 18-month cash-flow forecast.

It’s a spreadsheet that tracks our income and expenses month by month. Not just the mortgage and groceries, but everything. School fees, insurance, rates, car registration, holidays and all those irregular expenses that tend to arrive when you’ve forgotten about them.

At the end of each month, the surplus or shortfall rolls into the next. I can change a figure today and see what that means for the amount of money we’ll have available six, 12 or 18 months down the track.

It sounds simple, because it is. But it’s incredibly useful.

If I can see that I’m going to be $20,000 short in eight months, I’ve got eight months to work out what I’m going to do about it. I might adjust our spending, change the timing of a large expense or review our lending arrangements.

What I don’t want is to discover that shortfall when the money has already run out.

And this is where I think a lot of property owners get caught. They know their repayments are uncomfortable, but they haven’t actually calculated what the next 12 or 18 months will look like.

Without that information, it’s very easy to make decisions based on fear rather than the numbers.

If you do need additional funding, planning early also gives you more time to explore your options. Lenders still need to assess your ability to repay, and getting finance can become harder if your financial position deteriorates.

If you’re already struggling to meet repayments, speaking with your lender about financial hardship assistance is an important first step.

The smartest decision isn’t always to keep the property.

I want to be clear about something. I’m not suggesting everyone should borrow more money to hold onto every property they own.

Sometimes selling is absolutely the right decision.

If the property has poor long-term prospects, the holding costs are unsustainable or the additional borrowing would put your household under too much financial pressure, then selling may be the most sensible option.

But I’d rather someone arrive at that decision after understanding the alternatives than sell simply because they’re frightened about what the next few years might look like.

Before you put a property on the market, I’d encourage you to work through three questions. What will it realistically cost you to hold it? How long can you afford to do that? And what would the property need to sell for in the future to justify the additional cost and risk?

Once you’ve got those numbers, you can make a much more informed decision.

I’ve seen how quickly sentiment can change in property markets. I’ve also seen what happens when someone feels they have no choice but to accept a heavily discounted offer.

You can’t control the property market, but you can often do more to manage your finances than you might realise.

And sometimes, spending money to protect an asset is a better decision than selling it to stop spending money.

Thinking about selling because your repayments are getting uncomfortable?

Before you make that decision, book a free Strategy Session. We’ll help you explore your lending options and put some numbers around what keeping your property could look like.

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About the Author

Since 2008, David Thomas has built a business aimed at servicing the needs of property investors, owner occupiers and small business owners. David is recognised as one of the top 10 independent mortgage brokerages in the country, David and his team have settled almost billions of dollars worth of residential and investment loans over the last decade.

Known for his straightforward, relatable style, David believes by educating people about property funding; they fare better in the market. By sharing his expertise openly, some of the people he educates will likely become his clients. It's a win-win approach.

David Thomas is a credit representative (Representative Number 506153) of BLSSA Pty Ltd, ACN 117 651 760 (Australian Credit Licence 391237).