[NB – There was a 5.8 magnitude earthquake near Melbourne on the day of writing] One of my colleagues had a final inspection this morning for a top floor apartment. The buyer was very concerned when the whole building started shaking. “Is this normal?” …Normal for an earthquake I guess. It certainly wasn’t his fault. […]
Read more "Good Vibrations"
In some positive news last week we found out that private inspections will be allowed at vacant properties once Victoria gets to the 70% vaccination threshold, which they initially forecast for the 23rd September but it might even happen a few days earlier. We still don’t have clarity around occupied properties but a reasonable assumption […]
Read more "What Will the Spring Market Hold?"
It turns out not even six lockdowns (now over 200 days) can hinder the roaring real estate market of Melbourne. In fact, it feels like these lockdowns are spurring things on by creating bottlenecks in an already tight supply environment and thereby compounding the demand pressure and buyer urgency that has been the undercurrent since […]
Read more "Seven Sales in the first Six Days of Lockdown 6.0"
Real estate is like any other market for goods or commodities – when demand outstrips supply prices go up. When Cyclone Yasi devastated 75% of the north Queensland banana crop in 2011 banana prices rocketed to $15 a kilo. Bananarama smoothies were struck from café menus Australia wide and carrot cake sales eclipsed banana bread […]
Read more "It All Comes Back to Price"
In the middle of last year CBA wrote a report suggesting house prices in Australia could fall by 32 percent in a worst case scenario due to COVID and the economic fallout thereafter. The media had an absolute field day, taking the report out of context and splashing headlines such as “Property prices to plummet […]
Read more "A 50 Percent Backflip on House Price Predictions"This week, while still mid-winter, marks the end of a calm and slow period of real estate with only a handful of auctions and sales taking place over the quiet winter school holiday period and even the weeks preceding. August, always a great month for above average clearance rates and competitive auction results, will be […]
Read more "Spring is Coming Early…"
Ascertaining value, or should I say, estimating value, is one of the hardest parts of our job. Valuing a property is an art, not a science. It would be far easier if it were more of a science. Zillow, the American online real estate marketplace, has based their business model on being able to accurately […]
Read more "How Do You Value a Property?"
The Victorian era ran from 1837 to 1901. The most relevant years when it comes to Stonnington’s architecture was the latter part of the ‘late Victorian’ period from roughly 1880 to 1900, when suburbs such as Prahran, Windsor, South Yarra, Armadale and Malvern were largely established. Fortunately, a great many of these beautiful homes still […]
Read more "Why Buyers Love Victorian Homes"
When you’re spending one, two, three, four million dollars for a roof over your head, is it worth investing $600 on a building inspection to make sure said roof doesn’t fall on said head? It’s a question we get asked frequently and like all good questions the answer is long and nuanced. It’s not unusual […]
Read more "Should You Get a Building Inspection?"
How did Victoria manage a 92% clearance rate on Saturday and a 97% clearance rate the weekend before, in the midst of a lockdown? Sure the market is strong at the moment, but 97% seems to good to be true… And it is. Clearance rates can be misleading at the best of times, let alone […]
Read more "Why Clearance Rates are Misleading"
David Sciola 