Picking the market is a game as old as time… Selling at the peak and buying at the bottom, the holy grail of transacting real estate! It's something we’ve seen buyers and sellers aim to do since we started in the industry close to 15 years ago.. And we’re sorry to tell you, but it's next to impossible to get it right everytime! Unfortunately, both buyer and seller confidence is still largely guided by the media and whatever story they’re spinning that week. Record low stock levels. Influx of distressed sales on the horizon. Interest rates set to rise again and again. Interest rates set to stabilise then level out. Recession. No recession. Mortgage cliff. No mortgage cliff….

How are you supposed to know when to make the big leap, and how much is it costing you while you wait for the right time?

As always, we’ll start by saying this… The right time to buy real estate is when it's the right time for you! The problem is it’s very easy to get side tracked waiting for your next bonus to help increase your budget.

The cost of sitting on the sidelines for another 6-12 months or more could have a bigger impact than you’d think. As quickly as we saw the rise of Melbourne housing prices in 2020 & 2021, we saw values fall over half of that increase in the following 6 months. However, it is now clear that the Melbourne housing market has turned the corner:

Corelogic's daily home value index suggests Melbourne house prices rose 0.3% in July after rising 0.7% in June 2023.

Proptrack reports Melbourne dwelling prices have risen by 0.01% in July, after having increased by 0.2% in June, having risen 15.6% since March 2020 when the Covid pandemic hit.
Dr. Andrew WIlson's My Housing Market showed Melbourne house prices up 0.2% in July (after rising 0.7% in June) and Melbourne unit prices rose 0.4% over the month.
According to the May Federal Budget’s projections, Victoria’s population will grow by 694,000 over the next five years.
And believe it or not, Melbournians are still getting married, divorced, having babies and moving on to their afterlife! Which have always been the cornerstones of all property transactions.

We have clearly passed the bottom of the downturn, following 6 month-on-month increases in median property prices. As we know, the bottom of the market is not a specific day of any given week, there are many sub-markets in Melbourne that all move at their own pace and are affected in different ways, but most experts now predict that prices will continue to recover.

Though prices seemingly go up and down over short periods of time, the Melbourne property market has been one of the strongest and most consistent performers over the last four decades. So rather than trying to pick the top or the bottom of the market for your next sale or purchase, think longer term. Borrow within your means and if the time is right for you, don’t hesitate. Let your competitors be the ones wishing they’d made the move back when….

Prop Culture

What's The Cost Of Sitting On The Sidelines?