If you’ve had your property on the market and it hasn’t sold, or you’ve pulled it off because the offers weren’t where you expected, perhaps this could help you:

You are not a special case. The market does not owe you the number in your head.

The reason your property hasn’t sold is almost certainly because your expectation is based on a graph that doesn’t represent your market.

The Domain median graph above tells one story. The reality of our graph James Buyer Advocates, high-end Melbourne tells another.

Those two stories haven’t lined up since part way through COVID.

If you bought a $5 million property in Brighton or Toorak in 2017, it probably is not worth $10 million today. It may have been in 2021. It might only be worth the $5 million you paid. That’s not a personal failing. That’s life.

Now, at this stage, most “smart” people start thinking: Well, why should we listen to Mal? Let’s go find someone who’ll bullshit us that our property is worth double. We’ll put it on the market, see what happens. Worst case, we can always drop the price later.

Have a look at the statistics. Life does not work like that.

Remember the numbers I’ve been publishing? After 16 weeks on market, 50% of properties hadn’t sold. Fifty percent. Failed. They haven’t got anywhere near the price they’re asking. Some haven’t received a single offer. And by going through that process, they’ve done three devastating things to themselves.

First, they’ve told the entire market what their property is not worth. Every buyer, every agent, every neighbour now has a data point that says “this property couldn’t sell at $X.” And that makes life incredibly difficult for the next couple of years. When you eventually do try again, you’re negotiating from a position of public failure. You’ll end up getting less than if you’d priced it right the first time. The statistics are showing exactly that.

Secondly and this is the one that really gets people, they’ve created an ego trap. They feel like they’ve failed. They feel like they’ve done something wrong. Their next step, whatever it is, becomes shrouded in negativity and second-guessing. They’re paralysed. And the whole time, the reality was simple: their property was only ever worth what it was worth.

And finally they’ve kissed good bye to $30,000 sometimes $100,000 in advertising and presentation costs that never had a chance of helping – but somebody’s name was still splashed around – somebody got benefit. 

The Ego Problem

Here’s what I’ve learned, and I’m including myself in this: ego and bad information are the two biggest obstacles to good property decisions ands results (just in front of lack of strategy)

Ego says: “I paid $X, so it must be worth more than $X.”

Ego says: “The neighbours got $Y, so I should get more than $Y.”

Ego says: “I’ll just wait. The market will come back.”

Maybe it will. Maybe in another ten years you’ll get your number. But what are you giving up in the meantime? What opportunities are you missing? What decisions are you not making?

Growth isn’t just financial. Growth is spiritual. It’s emotional. Sometimes the most financially painful decision is the one that sets you free.

What Actually Has Worked

I’m not saying everything is doom and gloom. We’ve been involved in some very strong transactions recently. Properties with good land, in great locations, with smart renovations — they’ve performed. We’ve just completed a substantial sale that took two years of work, and it was a good result for both buyer and seller.

The market isn’t dead. It’s selective. It rewards good decisions and punishes dumb ones. And the biggest dumb decision of all is refusing to accept where prices might actually be.

If you want to genuinely test where your property sits, or if you’re chasing that extra few percent, then seriously consider an off-market, multi-agent process. Go out and see if you can get extra and get on with your life.

Because there are plenty of great things in life beyond staring at a property listing that isn’t moving. I love property, but I also love travel. I love my kids. I love doing other things. I’m not going to sit here for the next five or ten years in a flat or negative market going “woe is me, my life’s negative.” No. And neither should you.

The Point of All This

I didn’t write this to be negative. I didn’t write it to hurt my seller advocacy part of my business, although it may. I wrote it because somebody needs to say it, and the people who should be saying it – the agents listing your property at inflated prices to win your business – never will.

This I am also saying for the buyer advocacy part of my business……there are a lot of great homes out there that we could buy, if you as a seller were within cooee of the market in 2026.

If you’re sitting on a property you need to sell, sell it. At the real price, not the fantasy price.

If you’re refusing to buy because you think the market’s about to crash, it doesn’t feel like it is. The upper end is over inflated yes….. so buy smartly. The lower end is still moving, and you’re falling further behind.

If you’re holding on because your ego won’t let you take a loss, ask yourself: what’s that ego actually costing you?

Thirty-three years I’ve been in my current home. I’m basically the last original person left in the whole area. Everyone else moved on years ago. It’s taken me this long to accept that it’s my turn.

If you need to move on, move on. Don’t let a number on a spreadsheet stop you from living your life.