T.E.T.

There is no single market at the top end. No rows of identical mansions, each on its allotted acre with pool, tennis court, six car garage and eight bedrooms. Here, every home is its own market and every vendor needs to understand that. But, too often, doesn’t. Too often, and too often persuaded by agents […]

Stravinsky could have written the music. Calm. Storm. Lightning. Thunder. Four and five hands waving and wanting. Wounded under-bidders wandering. Hungry.  Can’t say we didn’t expect it — last April, we predicted it. Now ANZ is joining the parade and predicting a rise of 15% over the next 12 months. Have they been reading our

Game over. Tigers in a canter. Crowds pour out of the MCG. So where did they all go? To open houses, that’s where. One had 70 groups through on Saturday and another 30 on Sunday. Queuing. People were queueing. Who could have expected the market to flip so quickly? Well, if you’re asking: Us. We

It’s not supposed to be like this. Real estate markets have bottoms, middles and tops.  So what has happened to Melbourne’s top end? There’s nothing doing. Just a few old stayers, staying unloved.  Step closer and you’ll catch whiffs of lemon or an aroma of fish — an owner or two big game fishing with

A certain football legend said that, or something like it (thanks, Ron). As we suggested last May, and roused the doubters while doing so, a return to the basics was getting started. Supply and demand must eventually rule. That’s normal. (That said, in a mad mad world, normal can be a fleeting experience.) So …

… where? A month ago there was talk of a market at the top end, which really only proved that talk is cheap. There were a few flutterings but nothing you could call a pulse. Then came the election that could not be won or lost and it was lost and won and that has

About 10 minutes ago the market was hitting ever-rising ceilings. 10 minutes is a long time in real estate. We’ve gone from puffed up to puffed out. Buyers, that is. Those who are now ready to buy something, anything, just to put it all behind them. There he was, ready to pay $6m for a

… or one person’s curse is another’s blessing. Making sense of the logic of a lot of today’s agents is akin to trying to predict the flight of a blowfly. (OK, you can expect some window-bounces, but apart from that…) Amazing Appreciation Albany Road offered at $35-38m? Was that the home that went for $12m

OK, truths. Plural. Legions of them and, especially at the Top End, too many players pretending they don’t exist. Truth: For weeks now, there’s hardly a Sold sign to be seen on any EOI. Truth: Expect the same this week. Truth: Vendors are still being promised the earth. Truth: Said vendors are still waiting. Truth:

There’s been talk talk talk of real estate falling off a cliff and while that’s  been true in the lower reaches, there’s little evidence the same is true at the top (the real difficulties are of a different kind — we’ll get to those). That hasn’t stopped a few top end mountaineers creating cliffs of their