TG

The top end, AAA and and the rest. There is, we hear (we don’t often visit), life in the sub-800k market while at the top end, above $1 million, we’re hearing nothing but auctioneers gasping for air. Except. Except AAA. The rare properties or positions which have it’s-now-or-never quality still have buyers competing hard. So […]

Thank you for asking. Night and day. A share market which was heading for 7,000 and nothing but blue sky (even if some were hearing stall warning bells) is now close half that with prospects of gloom, gloom, gloom Pre-Christmas property sales driven by the need to scale back rather than the desire to trade

Famine to feast. The top end, at last, is being spoiled for choice; coinciding with very few buyers who are prepared to come to the table. It’s now the classic recipe for a buyers’ market, but unless a property is have-to-have, why would you? It’s only going to get better: more choice and prices are

The world’s been watching re-runs of Hill Street Blues: “Let’s be careful out there.” Capital preservation is the new mantra. We have been shouting that for months; and the weekend suggests we’re not alone. However and but. Just when you think you?ve got the market’s direction nailed down, some giddy optimist comes along at 180º.

A headline from today’s Financial Review: ?Home Auctions in Doldrums Despite Rate Cuts? No. That’s not the real news. The real news is the failure of the auction system itself; and how agents and auctioneers aren’t coping with the pressure. Right now the system is on the ropes because the market has tanked; but its

Melbourne is closed for the Cup. Nothing to report. We’ll be back next week.  

The day the market stood still. It was buyers’ advocate Nirvana! It was arguably the worst Saturday for auction clearances at the top end since the late 80s. The spring market failed its litmus test. Dismally.  Yes, many did sell afterwards; some near vendor?s expectations, others well short, but the clearest (and unreported) message of

There. In the distance. A band is playing. But it’s so far away that you can’t tell whether the tune is Auld Lang Syne or Happy Days Are Here Again. At the very top end, in real estate if not the share market, the trumpets are soaring. In a roller-coaster week there were four sales

A bunch of years ago, Bob Dylan wrote “The Times, They Are A Changin”. He could have been singing of now; as we write, banks are going “Whoops”, Governments are going “Oh bother”, car dealers are saying “Where is everyone?”, shops, travel agents and hotels are all loitering like barristers without briefs and we still

This, without doubt, is the slowest and quietest September in over 20 years. Did everyone go North? Yet the imagination of the real estate agent is a rare and remarkable thing. They can see buyers where we see … nothing. Yes, there has been a flurry of listings in the last week. Forced selling? From