Every year I speak to buyers who tell me they’re going to wait. Wait for more certainty. Wait for prices to come back. Wait until spring. Wait until after the next interest rate decision. Wait until after the election. Wait until after winter. The reasons change, but the logic is usually the same: surely there […]
Read more "Timing the Market"
After a very busy March, the market has clearly shifted gears a little over the past few weeks. There’s a lot going on. War. Inflation. Tax reform. For some people, buying and selling has understandably fallen down the priority list. And that’s ok. If you’re looking for an excuse not to move right now, there’s […]
Read more "A More Selective Market"
One of the most common things I hear from homeowners is this: “We’ll probably sell once the market improves.” Reasonable thought. The problem is that timing property markets is far harder than it sounds. Many owners spend years waiting for the perfect moment, only to find prices have moved far less than expected. And in […]
Read more "Should You Wait for Prices to Rise?"
I’ve been looking for a home for about eight months now, and I haven’t seen a single property where I thought, “this is the one.” It’s surprisingly hard to find a good home. Granted, I’m looking in half of one suburb, so I’m restricting my options. And I’m one of those annoying buyers who is […]
Read more "Why It’s So Hard to Find the Right Home"
I was speaking yesterday with one of my best mates, a real estate agent in Miami, and we got onto the topic of multiple offers. What he told me genuinely surprised me. Over there, agents aren’t even allowed to disclose competing offers. Buyers submit their “highest and best” and that’s it. No transparency. No back […]
Read more "Transparency Wins – Why Auctions Work"
Australians love to talk about real estate. This is the basic premise: “Property always goes up.” Not only is this overly simplistic, but it’s also false. Sure, if you’re a Baby Boomer with a fifty-year time horizon, property has been an unbelievable investment. You’ve ridden a tidal wave of price growth that is likely helping […]
Read more "Your home is not an Investment"
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 […]
Read more "What Actually Makes People Move (Hint: It’s Not Rates)"
2025 has been a big year. Humans returned to the moon – commercially this time. Taylor Swift got engaged. And Chat-GPT5 was released. (Chat suggested I mention that). The Stonnington real estate market has been a bumpy ride but overall, a big improvement on 2024, which was the second toughest year in real estate in […]
Read more "Team Fetter/Sciola 2025 Wrap"
In 2024, Melbourne’s property market was at its lowest ebb in a decade – only the 2018 Banking Royal Commission dip came close. Yet even in that challenging environment last year, we saw some remarkable outcomes. A competitor sold a double fronted home in Stonnington in mid 2024 for over $5 million – well above […]
Read more "Run Your Own Race: Why a Great Result in a Tough Market Can Outshine a Hot Market Sale"
A perennial question from buyers: “Will there be more stock after Cup Day? After summer? After Easter? After winter?” Short answer: probably not. We live in a market of scarcity at the best of times. Excluding new apartments, Stonnington has a finite pool of detached and semi-detached homes – around 14,000 houses in total – […]
Read more "Scarcity Isn’t Seasonal"
David Sciola 