Author; David

Buying or selling a home is a big deal, literally. Usually it’s the biggest financial transaction of one’s lifetime. There’s a lot of stress involved, a lot of money at stake. There is lot of friction to the transaction. Stamp duty for the average house in Armadale is around $150,000 and selling costs around $50,000… […]

In an often repeated survey around the world, over 90 percent of people believe they are “above average” drivers. Clearly there’s a disconnect from reality here as, by definition, 50 percent of people are below average drivers. Call it delusion, call it bias, call it cognitive dissonance. Call it what you will, we are fickle […]

Melbourne, and particularly Stonnington, is blessed with stunning architecture – thanks in part to the fabulous wealth created from the gold rush of the Victorian era. During the 1880s land boom, Melbourne purportedly held the crown as the richest city in the world. Some of Melbourne’s finest homes were built during this period, including the […]

Looking back on our February report card I would say the Stonnington market received a solid B+ for the first selling month of the year. Clearance rates held up nicely (79% for the month according to the REIV) as did prices, with some highly competitive Auctions and knock out results, particularly in Armadale, where we […]

I’ve written before about how clearance rates can be misleading, but ostensibly Team Fetter/Sciola are at 100% clearance from our first 10 auctions of 2022. A clean sweep! That is to say, we have sold 10 out of 10 properties at or before Auction. The market must be flying, right? Well, yes, 10 out of […]

If I had a bitcoin for every time I’ve heard this from a local home owner I’d be flying private and definitely not working Saturdays. “But, David, prices never really go down in Armadale”, they say. Wrong. Unless you take a 10 year time period, then maybe, yes, in 10 year blocks prices have never […]

Saturday was abuzz with buyers. Two new listings from our office saw over 40 groups inspect the first open. That’s a lot. Like the weekend before, the median number at opens was 15-20 groups, which is higher than our long term average of around 10. Our first auction for the year was highly competitive, with […]

This weekend sees the last of Team Fetter/Sciola’s Auctions for 2021, leaving us with two weeks until Christmas to tie up loose ends… sell our remaining stock and continue listing for next year. The Stonnington market will pause, as usual, from Christmas until Australia Day, aside from a very small number of transactions. February should […]

You often hear famous comedians lamenting over their early days of stand up when they had to follow one of the all time greats on stage – Eddie Murphy or Chris Rock or Robin Williams – and absolutely bombed. I’m sure they still did a great set but it’s near on impossible as a mere […]

When lockdown finally ended and our first round of open inspections were eerily quiet I was a bit concerned. Could the market have turned that quickly? Where did all the buyers go? Turns out they were all hungover and/or shopping. Phew! There’s no doubt the dynamic has changed since our freedoms returned. During lockdown 6.0 […]