Hope you enjoyed your Easter break.

We now enter the post Easter market – M2 – the May market, the year’s second one.

And now we live in volatile times!

Bang! That means right now $millions are on the line for buyers and sellers.

It’s game back on!

Volatility doesn’t just happen on the way down – it also happens on the way up!

When a market is changing, by logic it is volatile, as it’s moving from one phase to another.

Are we moving gears back to our 2016, 2021 powerhouse markets – not sure – one thing I am sure of though, we are moving direction.

Things will begin to happen that are “unexpected” – pass-ins on good homes, huge prices on others….. with some buyers and some sellers missing out completely….. that’s what volatile means – a significant increase in the unexpected.

In 2023M1, the opening market, we did see dramatic change, albeit on low stock and mainly in one council only – Boroondara.

But that council is one that matters and from here recent history has shown that Melbourne will follow it’s lead – Boroondara is not the canary in the goldmine – Boroondara is the goldmine, and the canaries are Aussie-Asian bidding and they’re flapping their feathers.

Momentum has swung around from 5 down markets in a row to a flat market by the Bay and a rising market in the East. The market in M1 was a lot stronger.

Stock Post Easter – stock feels incredibly low for this time of the year and that will definitely add to the volatility, as some home types will have wounded underbidders and other home types no interest at all – new players will find that hard to fathom.

Off-markets will flounder – unless their 4 Duck off-market Test waddles, looks and quacks like a duck. Authority to sell, clear price, contracts and access – are your Ducks lined up and must be present or else you are losing buyers as a seller and wasting your time as a buyer –  and that is before either of you start to try and negotiate price. We discuss in detail I next weeks off-market podcast.

Buyers – are back in numbers (for the right PPP’s) – they were MINA (missing in no action) in 2022M3 and 2022M4 – but in 2023M1 they returned – the market god flicked the switch – welcome back or simply for many just welcome.

Family homes are not the same as investments (even though good ones are investments) – they are not driven by the money and stock markets all the time – granted in late 2022 they were. But in 2023 the $2m to $6m market where there are two transactions, a buy and a sell and a money juggle feels like it will be both challenging and profitable for those that get it right and the opposite for those that don’t.