Ravi Sharma: He owns 23 properties worth Rs 150 crore in Australia but still lives on rent. Check his unusual strategy

An Indian-origin property investor in Australia owns 23 homes worth about Rs 150 crore, but he still lives in a rented apartment by choice. Ravi Sharma, 32, says this unusual decision helps him grow his wealth faster and keep his money free for new investments.

Sharma, the founder of Search Property Buyer’s Agency, shared his journey in an interview with Coposit, a property-buying app, as reported by news.com.au. His company has been shortlisted as a finalist for Best Buyer’s Agency at the REB Awards in both 2023 and 2024, according to LinkedIn.

Ravi Sharma owns 23 homes across Australia

Ravi Sharma said his property portfolio is spread across different cities and towns rather than being concentrated in one expensive market.


“I have a portfolio of about $25 million, and I have like 20 odd properties in that,” Sharma said. “I have only got one or two in Sydney, but then the rest of them are across all of Australia.”

His strategy focuses on buying homes in affordable locations and renting them out to generate income and long-term value.

Ravi Sharma still pays rent in Sydney

Despite owning so many homes, Sharma does not live in any of them. He rents a three-bedroom penthouse apartment in Macquarie Park, Sydney, where he lives with his wife.

“I pay nearly $1,420 a week in rent,” Sharma said.

This choice is part of a strategy called rentvesting. It means renting in a location you want to live in while buying investment properties in cheaper areas that can deliver better returns.

Why buying a Sydney home did not make sense

Sharma said purchasing a home in Sydney would have required a very large deposit. That money, he explained, would have been locked into one property and would not help him continue investing.

“While the idea of not having to pay rent sounded attractive, having all that money tied up in an asset that wasn’t going to perform just meant that I had no choice,” he said.

He added that if he later sold such a property, he could lose money because of stamp duty and other costs.

From a $190,000 house to a Rs 150 crore portfolio

Sharma bought his first property at the age of 21. It was a three-bedroom house in Dubbo that cost $190,000. Over the next decade, he kept adding properties across Australia and renting them out.

Today, he runs Search Property Buyer’s Agency and also manages a YouTube channel, Personal Finance with Ravi Sharma, which has more than one lakh subscribers. He was also named Australian Business News Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2024 in Property and Construction.