Are we back in the Dark Ages? It certainly feels like it with the last week of school holidays and a whole lot of not very much that can be spoken out loud.
And the number of sales over the last quarter has probably nudged the fewest in 25 years.
Is there any light in this tunnel?
Yes! Yes! Yes!
We’ve dusted off Pinocchio’s nose and awarded it to a would-be prominent Toorak agent for this authoritative report:
“We sold 32 properties out of the Toorak office last month, this month may be 40, ranging up to $13 million.”
Audited by … himself?
The D Market is Showing Signs
Over the last few months, to buy a good property you had to be a really good truffle hunter. AAA properties are there but you won’t find them on the net and if you wait for an agent to call you back you’re in for endless.
Yes, Spring is still unsprung.
However.
The three D’s of real estate are still there and in fact are continuing to build.
- Divorce. Splits lead to sales.
- Death. Estates are wound up.
- Downsizing. Too much house is too much.
And if you believe the papers, there’s now one more:
- Debt. (But not at the top end.)
The $80m Nuke Has Fallout
The $80m transaction goes off with a bang. There’s a ripple through 3142.
“We’ve won! We’re rich(er)!”
Not so fast.
Your buyers are no richer than they were a couple of weeks ago. If you head off for the lofty there’s a good chance you’ll arrive alone.
Give it a little time to settle and you’ll see that the sun is still rising somewhere predictable.
Winter Sports (Cont’d).
The games agents play in the quiet months are not all thawing out.
Conflict of interest. That’s a game.
“What I normally do is look after my buyers, sell them a house and get their house for sale. Call that old fashioned but that’s the way I prefer to do it.”
You may say to yourself, “Who would trust an agent who does that?”
You wouldn’t be alone.
The Games of EOI
Armadale. The highest bidder has the right to negotiate.
Yup. Us.
We agreed the price.
Time passes.
The phone rings. “I have another $250k. Wanna match it?”
The choice we had was rolling over or heading off to the Supreme Court while everyone lives in doubt for 18 months.
We’re not too good at rolling over. Sense prevailed.
The Lesson Of The Day is Know The Rules And Use Them.
The Peninsula Is A Very Nice Place
And Summer is coming.
Where there’s demand, there’s supply
Media suggestions that the bottom is falling out of AAA is more headline than reality.
Prices will remain solid. The hoped-for pre-plum pudding event is probably 2-3 weeks or more away but it’s likely the last six weeks of ’23 will be busy.
Welcome, Dan. Welcome Melissa.
The Victorian government is at last making serious moves to end underquoting. We’ve railed at CAV before, but this looks like it may make a real difference.
Being able to buy or sell a home and trust that the agent is offering an honest price estimate. So much anxiety and disappointment avoided.
We know hundreds of honest agents who will welcome this with open arms.
Is this the fastest year on record?
It feels like January was about a week ago.