Key takeaway: The biggest investing mistake in 2026 is chasing the same hotspots everyone sees in the data. Jordan De Jong, founder of Gameplans, which works with about 67% of Australia’s investment-focused buyers agents, says a suburb that grows 15 to 20% in 12 months has often pulled future growth forward, against a 30-year national average of about 6.8% a year.
In this episode of Geared for Growth, Mike Mortlock is joined by Jordan De Jong, founder of Gameplans and one of the sharpest minds at the intersection of property investing, data, and AI.
With access to transactions from over 550+ buyer’s agents, roughly 67% of the market, Jordan brings a rare, behind-the-scenes view of how Australians are actually investing right now.
But here’s the catch: more data hasn’t necessarily made investors better.
In fact, it might be doing the opposite.
From “hotspot chasing” and self-fulfilling price booms… to the rise of AI-powered decision-making… this episode challenges the way modern investors think about strategy, timing, and risk.
Because in a world where everyone is looking at the same data…
Who’s actually making the right decisions?
And more importantly, who’s quietly getting left behind?
Jordan cautions against it. He says heat maps from data houses create a self-fulfilling prophecy: everyone clicks the biggest bubble, buys there, and the bubble grows. When a suburb’s growth is brought forward into one year, buying late in that run may mean little further growth for two to four years, and that opportunity cost can be large compared with buying elsewhere.
Jordan says lending has tightened since the days when investors could spread loans across trusts and banks. He estimates you can typically borrow about six times household income, so a $200,000 household can borrow around $1.2 million. With two $700,000 properties carrying $550,000 of debt each, that leaves only about $100,000 of capacity, not enough for another $700,000 property through the big four banks.
Jordan’s typical structure starts with a strong capital growth foundation property. Equity then funds properties two and three, which he calls momentum properties: still growth-focused, but with higher yields so they sit closer to neutral. Many investors then add commercial property, where some lenders focus on the property’s rental income rather than full income verification, with a deposit of around 30 to 35%, sometimes 40%.
Jordan thinks AI will make suburb data instant, matching your brief to suburbs in seconds, but he warns against treating it as gospel. Property data is often outdated and relies on agents reporting it accurately, and automated valuation models are usually 5 to 10% out. He adds that some AI models are built to please, so a human with local experience is still needed to filter the results.
This is general information from the podcast, not financial advice.
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