EBS 29: Be Greedy When Others Are Fearful | Was Buffett Right for Property?

Episode 29 challenges the way property experts apply Warren Buffett’s famous advice to “be greedy when others are fearful.” Using more than a decade of online search data and decades of historical price movements, we test whether buying into fearful property markets actually produces stronger future growth.

The results show the opposite pattern, with markets displaying stronger buyer demand and positive momentum generally delivering better growth over the years that follow.

The episode also explains why property behaves differently to shares, including the dominance of owner occupiers, slower transaction speeds and significantly higher entry and exit costs.

The takeaway is simple. In Australian property, fear is not automatically an opportunity. The better strategy is to recognise where demand exceeds supply and buy into a seller’s market rather than assuming falling prices are a bargain.

Episode Highlights:

00:00 - Introduction

01:53 - Share investing vs property investing

02:59 - Measuring fear & greed

03:34 - Online search interest

05:10 - Online search interest vs 3-year growth

07:31 - 1-year price growth vs next 3-years growth rate

11:36 - 1-year growth vs next 5-years growth rate