New Property Investing

Where to start with your first investment property

We help busy professionals create a property strategy, buy with confidence, and continue building wealth through property over the long term.

Recognised across Australia's property and business press

  • Yahoo Finance
  • ABC News
  • Finder
  • The Australian Business Journal
  • Your Investment Property
  • ValiantCEO
  • Founders Magazine
  • CEO Weekly
  • Auspreneur
  • WSABE
  • Australian Small Business Champion Awards
  • AusMumpreneur
  • AusMumpreneur Awards, Gold winner
  • NSW Business Awards, Finalist
The Four Factors

Every property strategy begins with four factors

  • Finance

    Capital, borrowing capacity and the financial structure supporting the strategy.

  • Focus

    The investment principles that guide decisions, rather than reacting to headlines or short-term noise.

  • Support

    How much of the process you want the team to manage, and how involved you want to be along the way.

  • Flexibility

    How broad the brief is across markets, locations and property types, giving the research room to work.

Learn more
Opportunities matched to each client's investment brief
Our approach

Exclusive access to opportunities that align with your strategy

Every property begins with a strategy. From there, our research team continuously assesses opportunities as markets change. When a property earns its place, it's introduced to the clients whose investment brief it best supports.

An API client at their new investment property
The Investor Quiz

Find your next step

The Investor Quiz takes about five minutes. You'll receive a personalised summary highlighting where to focus first, along with practical next steps.

The thinking behind our fee model

  • Research comes first

    We assess five fundamentals: economy, infrastructure, population, planning and investment appeal.

  • Only 16% reach a brief

    Each one is tested against our strict research criteria.

  • Assessed continually

    Our pool of properties and locations changes daily.

  • Growth is the goal

    We facilitate the right opportunities and support the implementation to optimise success.

  • Complimentary service

    We receive a marketing fee from the vendor when a property is purchased.

The fee model

Our service is
complimentary

We are professional researchers first, identifying locations with the fundamentals that support long-term investment and opening access to boutique developments and selected off-market opportunities.

As licensed real estate agents, we receive a marketing fee from the vendor when a property is purchased. Unlike the traditional real estate model, we don't present every opportunity we're offered. Each one passes through our strict Research Culling Process, measured against the fundamentals that drive long-term growth.

The three-step consulting approach

Our approach to property investing

  • Strategy

    Strategy comes before any property. Together we define your goals and set the investment brief that guides every recommendation, a discipline refined over twelve years.

  • Research

    Our Disciplined Research Culling Process weighs each market against the fundamentals that drive long-term demand and tenant appeal, narrowing hundreds of possibilities to the few that fit your brief.

  • Support

    A specialist team stays with you at every stage. Our relationship rarely ends at settlement. Many clients return for their second, third and fourth property.

View our full process

What our clients
are saying

  • I approached API after they were recommended to me by a close friend. I was skeptical at first but after the first meeting, I thought I would see how it goes. They were extremely helpful and professional throughout the whole process. I will be using them again and I have already recommended to family and friends.

  • Emma and the team from Active property are the best we’ve ever dealt with. Emma’s patience and extreme friendliness to teach and inform us on the latest updates of the property market deserves all the stars! I’ve recommended them to all our family and friends who are interested in the property game.

  • It’s been a great experience for my wife and I as first time property investors in dealing with API. We’ve learned a lot from them throughout the journey. Everyone in the team is friendly, professional and responsive, and nothing is too much trouble.

  • I had no idea about the process. They supported us in each and every stage and provided their assistance. The entire team at API is very positive, friendly and responsive in no time. We will certainly deal with them again in the future.

  • The team at API is seriously amazing. They really made everything super easy to grasp and navigate through. With their help, the whole process felt way less intimidating.

  • The level of service, attention to detail and support has blown me away. They guided me every step of the way and explained everything in detail so that I felt comfortable. If you are thinking about investing and need support, look no further.

  • Emma runs an amazing ship and Chantal was a wealth of knowledge. No question was ever left unanswered, and she guides you through the whole process, which made it all feel easy.

API Property Letters
API Property Letters

A quarterly property investing letter

Every quarter, practical observations on the property market, the thinking behind our recommendations, and what matters for investors at every stage of their journey, delivered straight to your inbox.

Quarterly. Unsubscribe anytime.

Insights

The thinking behind our approach

Short articles on the strategy, finance and market fundamentals that shape confident investment decisions.

View all insights
Emma Allen, founder of Active Property Investing
Meet the Founder

Emma Allen, Founder of Active Property Investing

Emma has spent almost two decades in the Australian property industry, including the last twelve years building Active Property Investing.

An active investor herself, Emma has shaped API around a simple belief: successful property investing begins with strategy and is strengthened by disciplined research. That thinking continues to guide the way the team works with every client and every property.

Emma is an award-winning entrepreneur, contributing author to two Amazon best-selling business anthologies, and a podcast co-host.

FAQs

Common questions from first-time investors

  • How does API get paid, and what does it cost me?
    Our service is complimentary. As licensed real estate agents, we receive a marketing fee from the vendor when a property is purchased. Every property still passes our Research Culling Process first, so what we introduce is measured against the fundamentals that drive long-term growth, independent of any one seller or developer.
  • I have never bought an investment property. Is API only for experienced investors?
    Plenty of our clients start with their first purchase. We bring the research, the strategy and the support to guide you through it, and the Investor Quiz shows you a clear first step from wherever you are today.
  • How do you decide which properties to put in front of me?
    Every market and property runs through our Disciplined Research Culling Process, measured on five fundamentals: economy, infrastructure, population, planning and investment appeal. Only around 16% make it through to a client brief. We do not release a public list, so each property is introduced to the clients whose brief it best supports.
  • Can I start investing before I buy my own home?
    Yes. Many first-time investors rentvest: they buy where the numbers work and keep renting where they want to live. Whether that suits you comes down to your strategy and your brief, which is where every engagement begins.
  • What happens after I take the Investor Quiz?
    You get a short summary of what you shared and the one step most worth taking next, whether that is a strategy conversation, the next Property Letter, or more reading. No score, no label, no pressure.
Recommended first step

Not sure what comes next? Start here

Five minutes. A practical summary and a clear next step.