THEY’RE in their mid-20s and earn average incomes, yet Emily Sharp and Luke Rogers own 22 homes — 19 purchased in the last year alone.

The Sydney couple’s $3 million property portfolio includes homes in Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Queensland, which they’ve purchased mostly over the past 12 months despite one of the biggest price booms in history.

Ms Sharp, 25, and Mr Rogers, 24, purchased their homes with no financial help from friends or family and have relied instead on a clever home buying strategy and savings from their salaries — she works a graduate position in marketing, he works in the army.

They owe their success to a mix of determination and strict saving, Mr Rogers said.

media_camera An apartment complex in Logan, Queensland, where the couple own a studio apartment.

He started saving for his first investment property at age 17 and together the couple have agreed to forgo luxuries to keep their expenses down. Last year he sold his car and motorbike.

“We don’t spend money on flashy things,” Mr Rogers said.

The tactics they’ve used to purchase nine times as many homes in a year as the average Aussie will own in a lifetime may seem complicated, but anyone can do the same, Mr Rogers said.

“The trick is to have equity in the home the day you purchase it. You then take out that equity to buy your next properties,” he said.

media_camera A block of six apartments in Lithgow the couple own.

They developed this strategy after becoming dissatisfied with their first purchase: a house in Gympie, Queensland.

Mr Rogers bought the home four years ago, but the rents weren’t good and its value increased slowly.

“I realised I wouldn’t achieve the lifestyle I wanted by buying properties like that again so I started researching how other people made money in real estate.”

media_camera One of the couples’ many homes is in this residential complex in Fairfield.

His research led him to Nathan Birch of Binvested, a Western Sydney native who bought more than 150 properties before turning 30. They decided to mirror Mr Birch’s approach.

Any homes the couple now purchase must meet three criteria: the home must be in an area where prices are about to go up fast, the monthly rental income must exceed their mortgage repayments and the price must be below the property’s true market value.

media_camera They own another home in Runaway Bay on the Gold Coast.

This approach means that after only a few months of ownership the property will be worth substantially more than they paid for it. They then refinance their original loan and use their newly gained equity as a deposit on their next home.

The high rents also guarantee their properties don’t drain their finances so banks can continue to issue them loans.

“Trying to secure new loans and good deals on homes is time consuming, so we get help,” Ms Sharp said.

They use mortgage broker Graham Turnbull of Zinger Finance to negotiate their loans and a buyer’s agency Binvested to help find homes selling under their value.

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The majority of their properties are blocks of units in Cairns and Lithgow, as well as apartments in Gold Coast purchased mostly below Australia’s median house price of roughly $450,000.

Their Sydney homes include units in Fairfield and Granville, although they’re sceptical of the Harbour City market.

“For us, you’ve got to look at the future growth areas and Sydney has already seen a lot of price growth. Brisbane looks better,” Mr Rogers said.

But 22 homes is enough for now, Ms Sharp added. “Our rental income is now higher than the income from our jobs, which is great, but I think we’ll stop buying for a while.”