For the weekend just gone, reported clearance rates ranged anywhere from 69% to 85% – depending on who you ask. So, which is it? And why the discrepancy? These numbers don’t all measure the same thing. Each source reports clearance rates differently, which makes direct comparisons tricky. But what does the clearance rate actually tell […]
Read more "Clearance rates can be misleading"
When selling a home, time is not your friend. The longer a property sits on the market, the more stale it becomes. Buyer urgency drops, lowball offers creep in, and the campaign can lose momentum. The first two weeks are when buyer interest is at its peak. This is when your inspection numbers are highest, […]
Read more "Days on Market – Why Time is Not Your Friend"
Disclaimer – this article is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Please don’t take it as personal advice. I help buyers, but I work for my vendors. You’ve inspected 14 houses over the last four months and you couldn’t see yourself living in any of them. Too small. Too dark. Too expensive. Wrong location. Flats […]
Read more "Should You Make a Pre-Auction Offer?"
Let’s call a spade a spade… Property in inner-city Melbourne has been a terrible investment over the last eight years. Every other week, there’s an example of a house purchased in Prahran, South Yarra, or Malvern in 2016 or 2017 selling for the same price today. There was a two-bedroom Victorian single front that sold […]
Read more "Why I’m bullish"If you’re an F1 fan like me, you’ll know that as tyres heat up, the tyre pressure increases. The heat and pressure in Melbourne’s property market last peaked around Cup Day 2021. As soon as the last lockdown ended, the pressure and temperature started to ease. It was a slow leak at first, but then […]
Read more "It’s Melbourne’s Time to Boom"
Last week the cash rate dipped below 4% for the first time since 2023. This means you can borrow more money today than any time over the last two years. With a few more rate cuts ahead, your borrowing capacity will increase significantly. Buyers tend to find out their max budget and spend the full […]
Read more "Show me the money!"
The Victorian era spanned from 1837 to 1901, but when it comes to Stonnington’s architectural charm, we’re zooming in on the “Late Victorian” period—think 1880 to 1900. This was the golden age when suburbs like Prahran, Windsor, South Yarra, Armadale, and Malvern were being shaped. Fast forward to today, and many of these beauties are […]
Read more "Why Buyers Can’t Get Enough of Victorian Homes"
Concerned about auctioning your property on Election Day? Don’t be. We held two auctions this past Saturday, and both were resounding successes. Debunking the Off-the-Plan Myth Think off-the-plan apartments always sell for less than their purchase price? Think again. We sold a modern two-bedroom apartment on High Street, Armadale, for approximately $600,000—32% more than its […]
Read more "Election Day auction success"
April hit the snooze button. Just 20 homes sold across Armadale, Toorak, Malvern, and Prahran—half the volume of April last year. If you spent Easter scrolling through real estate apps, you probably found more hot cross buns than hot listings. Stonnington’s market was sluggish —but Team Fetter/Sciola still sold seven homes, three of them off-market. […]
Read more "Snooze Button"
Carla and I have sold more properties off market in the last six weeks than we sold in all of 2024. Six to be exact. Back in the bull markets of 2017 and 2021 we would sell approximately one in six homes off market. In 2023 and 2024 it was more like one in fifteen. […]
Read more "Off markets are back on"
David Sciola 