Mal James
Buy Sell Agent
0408 107 988
mal@james.net.au
The first serious opens are rolling in, and many agents in Melbourne are reporting big numbers through. Of course, we agents tend to be optimistic about our potential earnings – it’s in our DNA! Plus, Melbourne in early February, after a six-week real estate drought, is like the Nullarbor after flooding rains: teeming with noise, life, and hope for better things to come.
Next week brings a spattering of auctions, and by the 22nd, we’ll see the first big blush of high-end auctions. This will be our first real test of whether interest rate cut discussions have indeed revived the sagging market of 2024.
It feels much better than this time last year – though to be frank, it would be hard to feel much worse. Positive interest rate talk is a great sign.
All the mainstream real estate data now confirms what a challenging year 2024 really was. At the time, these headlines simply weren’t there, which was a joke. The market was obviously poor, yet if you believed the six months behind the times data analysis of many, you may have thought the market was ok.
Some said that Marketnews.com.au was being overly dramatic. But the reality?
The real advice should have been if you price too high, then you didn’t feature statistically because rarely did you sell. If you priced to market, then you mostly sold well below the Melbourne Cup 2021 peak, similar to 2019 levels, and sometimes as low as 2015 for certain property types.
The selling advice should have been, “DON’T SELL unless you have to or you are trading up.” That was consistently our advice. If you must sell, be patient and pursue an off-market and multi-agent strategy. We didn’t get rich last year, but we didn’t lose the trust of many clients either.
Our advice for 2025……….? Let’s talk!
Was last year the worst market in living memory (for those who don’t go back to the 1990s)? It felt similar to 2008, but this down market has been 3 years; 2008 may have been more acute, but it was really not much more than 6 months, and it recovered quickly.
Last year the stock was there, but the buyers weren’t and our much-ridiculed graph above has proven very accurate.
That was the truth as I saw it, the truth the stats are now showing. Despite it all, I had a solid year – personally still clearing well over $1m in jobs, one measurement of agent solidity. Our clients who sold (and the few who bought) were happy with the outcomes – or in the case of non-sellers, happy in the advice of not going public.
Are their Truths in Real Estate?
Our world has changed, hasn’t it? The real estate market, like many aspects of life, can sometimes feel overwhelming with its mix of facts, hype, and what some might call creative marketing.
So how do you navigate this landscape in 2025, now that fact-checking is seen by some as a joke and BS is on the rise of acceptability according to some leadership?
Is it coincidence that this google graph shows a big increase since 2016.
Here are my golden rules that have stood the tests of my lifetime:
Rule 1: Control Your Destiny
People who maintain control over their property decisions tend to be happier than those who feel forced by circumstances. When you have a family, having stability in your living situation becomes even more crucial.
Rule 2: Your Truth Matters
In real estate, truth is often subjective. If you believe a lower mortgage with orange tiles on your kitchen benchtop out in Gembrook is best for your family – that’s your truth. Own it and don’t let me change you.
Rule 3: The Fundamentals Never Change
Let’s talk about the PPPs – Price, Property, and Position characteristics that truly matter:
Position:
- Proximity to amenities (shops, trains, arterials)
- Quality of the street (look for expensive neighbours to your target)
- Reasonable distance to private schools
- North-facing aspect for natural light
- Slightly elevated, level block with good frontage
Property:
- Like humans, properties come in all shapes and forms – there are beautiful ones and, let’s be honest, ugly ones. And just like people, those that are beautiful (even if only skin deep) attract more attention than those that aren’t. It’s the same with façades. Start with a great façade because if yours is poor, many potential buyers won’t make it past the drive-by.
- Then comes the floorplan – it’s all about room proportions, flow, and how spaces transition from living to working to sleeping areas and outdoors. Get this right, and your home tells a story that all want to be part of.
- And light – oh, the magic of natural light! Make those windows big, choose surfaces that reflect, and find every possible way to bring in this free gift from above. Nothing adds more value to a building’s character than abundant natural light.
Price:
- Ah, the truth of price… Well, one absolute truth is that value is what the players (buyer, seller, and other buyers) think the home is worth to them – and they’ll all think differently. Price? That’s simply what the agent gets the deal to happen at.
- Growth is price in and price out… the difference. And sadly, for many who bought in 2016 and sold in 2024, that growth has been missing. But some properties performed so much better than others, and in almost all cases, it came down to exactly the same truth.
- Here’s that truth: Get a good home (meaning free of big negatives) where the percentage of land value compared to price paid is as close to 100% as humanly possible – and certainly above 80% if you want to increase your chances of good capital growth relative to others. This means your building is almost free.
- Apartments/Townhouses cannot be like this, so their growths are more stymied as a general rule.
- And unless you play this game almost every day, get a real expert to help you on the way in and the way out. That 1% fee versus your 100% investment? It’s a big difference in your favour.
How to Make Good Decisions for You
How do you know who and/or what to trust?
My truth is that these tests are the most reliable for good decision-making.
- First impressions test: Does it feel right immediately?
- Sleep test: How do you feel about it when you first wake up?
- Gut test: How do you feel the rest of the time?
Follow these 3 rules and 3 tests, and you’ll be well-positioned for whatever 2025 brings to the market. Here’s to a prosperous year ahead for all buyers and sellers!
New Buyers We Are Representing
| Where | Millions | Type |
| Glen Iris Hawthorn | 4.5 | Family Home |
| Hawthorn | 6-8 | New Home |
Glenferrie Road and Burke Road spine $8m to $10m | New Home | |
| South Yarra – Armadale | 6-10 | New Townhouse |
| Malvern East | 4 | Family home double garage |
Mal James 0408 107 988
Simone Clarke 0400 304 111
Huge January Thank You Marketnews Readers
| Danny and Zali Reynolds | $ 10,000 |
| Adam and Anna Cleeve | $ 5,000 |
| Stanley and I-Lynn Tay | $ 1,000 |
| Alec and Shirl Arnot | $ 1,000 |
| Charlotte Thaarup-Owen | $ 1,000 |
| Michael and Debi Hudson | $ 500 |
| James Family | $ 1,000 |
| Antonio and Marisa Grossi | $ 1,000 |
| Anthony Langley | $ 500 |
| Gino Roussety | $ 2,000 |
| Jason Chew and Jennifer Khong | $ 25,000 |
| Parkinson Family | $ 1,264 |
| Anonymous Marketnews reader | $ 10,000 |
| Ian and Julie Spence | $ 1,000 |
| Anne Sidebottom | $ 5,000 |
| $ 65,264 |
Marian
In 2022 Marian was found via our outreach program. She had a tumour growing inside her. Today Marian is growing into a beautiful young lady at Sanza.
We had come to see Marian and we were beautifully ambushed by the local ambassador: the 1/2 hour trip turned into an 8 hours round driving trip plus we met 5 other children we had helped and of course a number of new prospective clients.
It was so good, so emotional to see Marian. Its why you do what you do. Thank you to everyone from her Dad to Dr Eli to Letion who made this all work.
A hard earned thirst needs a big cold beer and the best cold beer is Kilimajaro. Kilimanjaro Lager. You’ve earned it!
Dr. Stanley Binagi Medical officer in charge of Maweni is a real goer and we were so happy to meet him and got a great tour through the hospital. It appears to be everything we have hoped for, so as we can stop sending children across the country except in specialist circumstances. They appear to have everything we need and prosthetics as well which is a real ongoing issue. After checks we imagine to start in February with reviews of children who we simply cannot justify a few months away from home for a check up in Arusha.
We turned out a hospital and into what had the makings of a riot and when you are the only white guy in town – it has some concerns. It was over quickly and efficiently when the police turned up. But that first BOOM from a tear gas canister that landed a few metres away makes you recalibrate for a short time. And what was Richard and Austern doing – well they were checking out the chimps at the Jane Goodall facility – some way away by boat and completely oblivious to it all. Great day!
