What Actually Makes People Move (Hint: It’s Not Rates)

Welcome back to our first new listings email of 2026.

The Stonnington market has taken its time waking up after summer.

That’s not unusual.

February is often more of a warm-up lap than a flying start.

But don’t be fooled.

March is where things start to matter.

This year, Q1 is unusually compressed, with just five proper auction weekends in total, and three of them landing back-to-back in March — the 14th, 21st and 28th — right before Easter.

It brings a burst of new stock early, as sellers try to get ahead of the curve. And then, just as quickly, it thins out.

If you’re sitting around waiting for “more choice”, history suggests you may be waiting longer than you think.

Against that backdrop, Team Fetter/Sciola has a strong pipeline of quality Stonnington homes coming to market — family homes, renovated period houses, and a handful of genuinely rare opportunities. Some very good real estate is about to trade hands.

Now, on interest rates.

Yes, there was a hike this week. And yes, it was widely expected.

But I struggle to believe a single 25-basis-point move is the difference between a serious buyer acting or not acting in Stonnington.

For your average Stonnington family, a 25-basis-point hike is roughly equivalent to a handful of items from Leaf Organic Grocer or one new tyre on the Range Rover Sport.

Jokes aside, if you were already on the fence, this rate hike might give you an excuse to pause.

But fence-sitters don’t buy or sell. They mostly just forward articles to each other and say, “Let’s see what happens.”

Markets are driven by motivated buyers and motivated sellers. Without both, nothing happens.

Which brings me to the real reasons people move.

Death (or birth), Divorce, Debt (financial pressure), Displacement (job or school relocation), and Dissatisfaction (with your current home).

The five big Ds.

People don’t sell because they feel like it. They sell because life nudges — or shoves — them into a decision.

Interest rates don’t stop people having kids, changing schools, relocating for work, or realising their once-perfect home no longer works.

And that’s where we come in. To help navigate the big move.

Feature Property: 27 Tivoli Place, South Yarra