Heating up

This unseasonably warm weather has been a welcome yet unexpected treat lately, like a Raygun lighting up social media feeds around the world.

The August heatwave is very timely too, given that most of us had to do a double take when reading our latest energy bills, which seemed to have doubled since last winter.

I’m not quite sure if it’s an Olympic pep, the sunshine, or just a seasonal uptick in real estate activity, but it feels like it’s really heating up out there in the market.

Team Fetter/Sciola were three from three for our auctions on Saturday, each selling with multiple bidders comfortably above expectations.

The standout result being an unlivable, knock down on 482sqm at 18 Alfred Street, Prahran, which sailed past reserve to sell for close to $3,000,000.

Described by one of the buyers as ‘a unicorn’, this ideal block with front and rear access and no heritage overlay was hotly contested by two local families who have been searching for their forever home for years.

Given neither bidders have had any luck finding a period home on big enough land in this specific area over the last few years, the appeal of a blank canvas on which to build a modern family home walking distance to the kids’ schools was simply too enticing to miss.

As always, scarcity drives price when the demand is there.

For the underbidder, it could be a couple more years until another opportunity like this comes up.

We’ve seen strong numbers through our opens in recent weeks, and more upwards price revisions than downwards, pointing to some more blue sky for property prices this spring.

The clearance rate across Jellis Craig’s 40 offices finished at 79 percent on Saturday out of 89 auctions (comfortably above the state average of 64 percent, as reported by REA).

Our clearance rate is a great litmus test of the overall Melbourne housing market, given our strong market share for detached homes within 20km of the CBD.

It’s been a while since all of our vendors were thrilled with their auction results on a Saturday.

High fives and champagne popping prices were very much the norm in 2016, 2017 and 2021.

Hand shakes and Prosecco were more common in 2018, 2019 and 2023, when vendors had to be far more realistic.

But before you start dusting off the Dom Perignon, have we really seen the bottom already?

Did the mortgage rate cliff turn out to be a mortgage rate mobility ramp?

Are we about to finally ride some sustained price growth in the coming year(s) like our little brother and sister capital cities?

We don’t know.

But it’s great to feel a bit of heat either way!

Feature Property: 30 Lambeth Ave, Armadale