A Dakabin property might look like any other rental from the outside, but for its new owner, it represents something far more deliberate: a retirement plan funded by superannuation, and a first step onto the property ladder taken in a way most Australians have never considered.
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Yvette Buckley, a renter from Nundah, paid $720,000 for the Dakabin property in November 2025. She has never lived in it, and under Australian law, she never can. That is not a problem — it is the whole point.
Buckley used her superannuation to fund the deposit and purchase the property as an investment asset. Because the home is held inside a super fund, she is legally prohibited from living in it, as are her family and friends. It must remain permanently tenanted, with rental income and ongoing super contributions directed toward repaying the mortgage.
It is a strategy that sits within the broader concept of “rentvesting,” which is buying an investment property while continuing to rent where you want to live, but with superannuation doing the work of the deposit. While it is not widely known, it gave Buckley options she felt she did not have through conventional home ownership. Despite having worked since she was 16, she did not want to be weighed down by a mortgage she could not comfortably afford.
Her inspiration came from a Defence Force housing program that operated along similar lines. Once she understood the structure, she applied the same logic to her own superannuation, allowing her to access a larger deposit than she could have saved independently and take on a smaller overall loan. She has continued renting in Nundah while the Dakabin property remains tenanted.
The process was far from straightforward. Very few banks offer loans for this type of purchase, and finding a property that both qualified and sat within her budget proved exhausting. She described the search as nearly a full-time job in itself, and came close to abandoning the plan altogether before enlisting the help of a buyers agent.
The buyers agent who assisted with the purchase, helped Buckley secure the Dakabin property before the market moved on. The speed of that shift was telling, an identical property in the same complex sold for $770,000 just one week later. Jones has noted that buyers in Brisbane now need a budget of around $800,000 to find something suitable for a super fund.
The strategy carries real risks, and Buckley has been candid about that. When a retirement fund is tied to a single property, the fund’s performance becomes inseparable from that asset’s value. A poor purchase can put retirement savings at serious risk. Her advice to anyone considering this path is to focus on properties that appeal to owner-occupiers, not just investors.
Her decision was also shaped by what she had witnessed in her own family. Watching her parents reach older age without sufficient savings, unable to access the care or housing they needed, made her determined to plan differently while she still had time. She believes many people her age are watching their parents face the same situation.
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For North Lakes and Dakabin residents, Buckley’s story is a reminder that the area is attracting buyers with a long view, and that the window to buy in this price range may not stay open for long.
Published 12-March-2026
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