State of Origin: Home Town Bias

Posted by Luke Graham

We have all read the statistics: New South Wales has not won a State of Origin series since John Howard was Prime Minister. At that time, Facebook was still only a social forum of American college students, Black Caviar was not yet conceived, and the ‘Crazy Frog’ was piercing the eardrums of the globe.

The rules of participating in Rugby League’s State of Origin are complicated, but to simplify it, you must play for your home state. If you grew up playing Rugby League in Balmain, New South Wales you cannot play for Queensland, and vice versa.

So how does a research analyst manipulate the hype of State of Origin into a research article?

WELL…

It may come as no surprise to you that the majority of property investors across the planet behave in line with a characteristic that has been coined as home town bias. Home town bias is a phenomenon where, due to emotive decision making, an investor is more inclined to purchase an investment property within 100 kilometres of their home town, rather than taking a holistic and objective approach.

The Wall Street Journal reports that home town bias is even more prevalent among those that are inexperienced i.e. those whose lives are a little busy attending to more ‘immediate’ concerns including their own career, family, social life, and others. At more risk are the young, who are even further predisposed to emotive decision making including the constrictive home town bias.

The two hot topics at the Sunday afternoon barbeque in Sydneysiders’ homes at the moment are:

New South Wales finally winning the State of Origin
How we should all be investing in a blanket fashion within the suburbs of Sydney

The result of the former will be learned in short time. The latter, although a potential strategy for some, is tainting the opportunity that investors have to develop a property portfolio based on a truly objective and holistic approach.

Blue Wealth researches and assesses opportunities nation-wide to ensure that our clients are not suffering from the condition of home town bias. Unlike the participants of the State of Origin, the investor has the opportunity to wear whichever jersey they so desire, in order to gain the most from effective timing and time in market. It is essential that you wear the right jersey at the right time.

Posted by Luke Graham, on 27th May 2014