Grinch Report

The bloke in the red fat suit still hasn’t got a gig. The Grinch has elbowed him aside and is on the Salubria prowl muttering “No! No! No!” While the buyers are saying, “Too much!” and “Are you kidding?”

14 St George’s Road, Toorak No $50m. “No way.”
4 Erskine Street, Armadale “Fabulous block, great spot, pity about the price.”
42 Heyington Place, Toorak “Love it. Won’t pay it.”
7 Barnard Road, Toorak “Who are they kidding?”
21 Iona Avenue, ToorakI have news for you, it’s the buyer who decides how much a home sells for and this one says no sale.”
There’s a lot of Grinch around. What you have to wonder is what are the agents up to? When nobody buys, nobody wins.
And then…
11 Whernside Avenue, Toorak “All yours for $23-25m,” they said. “I’ll give you $21m and throw in a haircut.” Sold!
Meanwhile, down where agents bid for work and reality goes to relax,
16 Moule Avenue, Brighton
2022, no sale. 2023, no sale. 2024, the trifecta?

The Year of The Mysteries

2023 at the top. Would you like an EOI with that? No? How about off-market.No wonder the pundits couldn’t get a handle on what was really going on.

Overall? A Buyers Year, But…

But there was a lot of not as much as usual.
Why?
1. Post COVID shell-shock
2. “I’m not selling until I’ve found something I want to buy.”
3. “I’d buy and renovate but you’d be mad to renovate when it costs the earth and you can’t get stuff.”
4. “I’ll wait til the world gets sane again.”

Those that sold?

Around half found love without drama. Very few had suitors lined up at the door. Significant numbers needed significant wooing (is that a word?) before finding love with a significant other.

Joy to The Grinch

Those hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on no sale. Imagine. All that money and only inflated agency profiles to show for it.

China has Deep Pockets

Price can become unimportant, leaving vendors smiling right up until when they need to buy again. That’s a sword with two edges.

And then came … Pinocchio!

Innocent Vendor listens to predictions of the impossible.
No sale (at that price, what else?).
New trick in the Pinocchio bag: Innocent Vendor has been signed up to 6 months exclusively with Pxxx.

Can economists predict the past?

Many are not too good at the future:

  • February: “The market will drop 20%”
  • July: “It will rise by 10%”

Now a 8-10% rise is on offer.
You can view the market from the 23rd floor or get down on the street where the people are.
The closer you get, the clearer it gets.

That’ll be see you later from us.

Here’s hoping that if you’re getting a break, and if you’re not, you and yours will have a bonza time.
See you next year…

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