Now let’s be clear. What’s happening at the top end is that it’s:
Booming
Tanking
Quiet
Frenetic
And that’s just the weekend.
So every expert, every optimist, every pessimist, every Nostradamus is right on the money. Everybody wins!
And then a little sense kicks in. At the top end, every home is unique, every trend is a trend of one.
“OK, OK. So what should I do?”
If you’ve found the home you love, it’s worth more to you than anyone.
Decide the point at which you can move in without financial regret and don’t go over that.
Living in Interesting Times
The Summer With The Lot. Fires, smoke, floods, grief and now The Virus and the knock-ons of more grief and fear and an unpredictable economy.
Remember the Global Financial Crisis? Our real estate market was expected to bust.
It boomed.
Nerves. $1m.
Last Friday. Owners wanted $13m. Buyer was ready with $12m.
Owners sensed the times and relented.
Too late. Buyer evaporated.
The Talk
Caution. Concerns. There are worries out there.
“We’ve decided not to buy until things settle down.”
There’s a lot of it about. Uncertainty at the top end contrasting with hyperactivity further down.
Land. Lots of.
20 blocks in Toorak we can point to. Starting at $3.5m and heading up to the national debt.
A $20m development site in SY that went for $11.5m a couple of years ago?
We don’t think so.
You’re confused?
Imagine the vendor:
Agent One: “It was $14m last year. They’ll take $12.5m.”
Agent Two: “I can get it for $11m.”
$28m will buy you…
A good house on 10,000 sq ft.
In one agent’s dreams.
Impress the neighbours. Buy the neighbourhood.
OK, not quite the neighbourhood, but a significant slice of St G’s Rd.
All yours for $80m.
The money is out there — for now?
There is a great deal of money around, all looking for somewhere to live.
And then the view of a well informed client:
“I woke up on Saturday, put my head out the window and didn’t smell smoke, but there was the distinct whiff of margin calls.”
Grim Truths
It’s a truism that the top end drivers tend to be the Three Ds: Death, Divorce and Downsizing.
We may need to add an M and a V.
Margin calls and The Virus.
And crystal balls selling out.