Streetwhispers 10.07.2025 - Melbourne property market update
- sven6287
- Jul 10
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 22
No StreetWhispers in two weeks??? What happened?
Helped a lovely couple secure their next home, turned their current one around for sale in record time and got a sharp reminder of just how far reputation travels in this game.
Let me backtrack.
The assignment for my clients was straightforward, not easy, given the razor-thin location brief and stubbornly low stock. To rub salt in the wound, we missed a great opportunity too early in the journey. Backup finance approval was in place, but we couldn’t go in unconditionally, contract had to be subject to finance.
Left with little to look at and even less to consider, I flicked the switch back to my selling-agent days and did what I’d spent over a decade doing: finding people ready to sell.
Within weeks, managed to connect with almost a dozen locals prepping to sell. None were the right fit, but knowing the market from the inside set me apart from ‘just another advocate’ and let me in on the chinwag.
Fast forward a month and a bit - we were locked and loaded and getting ready for an auction.
When our hand was forced to move, we knew who the owners were, where they worked, how many kids, which school, where they bought, what they paid, and when they were settling.
This wasn’t guesswork - it was groundwork.
Confronting the agent with this granular knowledge - we weren't even asked to increase our one and only offer.
Were we the only ones? Off course we were.
Did we pay what we were prepared to pay? They'll never know :)
If you're a buyer and your representative thinks your brief sitting in an agent’s inbox and weekly coffee catchups with the same are enough, think again. That’s not how the best homes are bought.
How's the market?
I'm glad you asked.
Attended a boardroom auction and received a bit of a wake-up call.
The home told the last-decade story in one sentence: just 33% land value growth from the peak of early 2015 to now. That’s a compound annual growth rate of under 3% -> not the often-quoted 8%.
For this one to hit 8%, it needed to go at $10.8 million.
This isn’t an outlier. It’s the new Melbourne norm, save for a handful of outliers, and it explains why still homes aren’t selling. Too many sellers are still scribbling 8%+ projections on the back of a serviette and wondering why buyers aren’t biting.
Here’s the stack that works:
If land makes up the majority of your purchase price and the house is effectively “free” -> tick.
If you don’t blow that balance with an overcooked reno -> tick.
If land goes up, and you sell during a good part of the cycle -> there’s your win.
And while you’re holding it?You live well.You grow vegies and teenagers and memories in a space that works.
First question, always: Can you live in a B-grade home — and if you’re sharp — turn it into an A, while keeping your total outlay (buy + reno) tight enough that land still makes up 80%+ of the end value?
That’s the lens.
That’s the edge.
Most miss it.
The grass isn't greener on the other side,
it's greener where you water it!
The Watchlist
182 Rose Street, Fitzroy, Vic 3065
Now that's one clever use of space and very interesting interior design. Even the agent writing the ad-copy thought it might be best to let the pictures speak for themselves...although it would be nice to know what features Fieldworks Architects have put into this extension.
158 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, Vic 3065
Not many in Fitzroy come close.
This one’s a true landmark - three levels, mixed-use, and dressed in Queen Anne Revival detailing. Built around 1888 by Tappin, Gilbert & Dennehy - serious names from Melbourne’s boom era - it still holds court on the street today.
43 Miller Street, Fitzroy North
No longer a whisper in the fine print...sadly still only a footnote. Efficiency should open the brochure. Tesla battery, hydronic heat, EnergyTech glass - Miller House by Architecture Architecture...actually not a bad layout either.
