■ FROM THE HARBOUR
Late July has a particular feeling on the harbour. The calls get a little more purposeful. Open home conversations shift in tone. Buyers who have been circling for months start asking different questions. It happens quietly, without announcement, and it has happened reliably at this time of year for more than a decade. I don’t think this year will be any different.
The past few months have been genuinely quiet. The federal budget landed and the questions it raised about capital gains and negative gearing sent a lot of people to their accountants and financial advisers rather than to open homes. That was rational. People needed answers before they could act. What I am seeing now is that most of those conversations have been had. The uncertainty that froze buyer confidence earlier in the year is starting to lift, and the people who were waiting to understand how the changes affected them are beginning to find their feet again.
Historically, August and September on the harbourfront are strong months for both stock levels and transaction volumes. Vendors who held back through winter tend to move in this window, and buyers who have spent months researching and waiting tend to transact in it. The two things arrive together, and when they do the market moves with real momentum. I expect this year to follow that pattern.
The buyers I am most encouraged by right now are those who are trading in the same market. Selling a house to buy an apartment. Moving from a two bedroom to a three.
Downsizing from a family home into something more manageable without leaving the suburb they love. When you are buying and selling in the same conditions, the market level becomes almost irrelevant. You are not trying to time a peak or a trough. You are simply making a move that makes sense for your life, at a moment when there is less competition than there will be in three months time. In my experience those people consistently make the best decisions and achieve the best outcomes.
If you have been sitting on a decision and waiting for the right moment to feel obvious, I’d gently suggest that the obvious moment rarely announces itself. The window before the spring rush tends to reward the people who move first.
■ INSIDE THE DEAL
Let me break down how it actually works, because off market is not one thing. It is at least three quite different things depending on the situation.
The first is what I would call true off market, and it is the version that works best when it works at all. This is where I have a strong read on a specific buyer who wants a specific type of property, and I make a quiet approach to a vendor whose home fits that profile. No advertising, no open homes, no campaign. Just a direct conversation between two parties who both have good reason to deal. The buyer is motivated enough to pay a fair price to avoid competition, and the vendor gets a clean, controlled transaction on their terms. Think of it as matchmaking. When the match is right, everyone wins.
The second is what I prefer to call pre-market, and it is the process I use most often. A vendor is ready to sell, the home is prepared, and before we launch publicly I invite a carefully selected group of known buyers through. These are people I have been speaking to for months, sometimes longer. They know what they want, they know this market, and they understand that seeing a property before the rest of the world does have real value. In this window I can often achieve a strong result, save the vendor thousands of dollars or more in marketing costs, and spare them the emotional and physical toll of a full campaign. If we land the right buyer at the right price, we sell. If we identify strong interest but not quite enough to close, we go to market with genuine intelligence about price and buyer depth that most vendors never have at the start of a campaign.
“I can sell your home quietly and quickly right now. But quiet and quick are not always the same thing as the best.”
The third is a full on market campaign, and this is where I want to be transparent about something most agents will not say out loud. Right now, on this specific stretch of harbour, I have more ready and motivated buyers than I have properties to show them. I could sell a number of homes off market this week if vendors came to me. And there is genuine appeal in that for a seller who values privacy, simplicity and speed.
But here is my honest position. Off market may generate an outcome. It will not always generate the best outcome. The moment you take your property to one buyer or a
The question worth asking
Before agreeing to any off market or pre-market approach, ask your agent one simple question: is this process in my interest, or is it the most convenient path to a sale? They are not always the same thing. A good agent will give you an honest answer. An exceptional result almost always requires competition, preparation and exposure. The question is how much of each your situation actually needs.
That is a conversation I am always happy to have. And unlike a lot of conversations in this industry, I will give you the answer that is right for your property rather than the one that is easiest for me.
■ FROM THE ARCHIVES
The Kirribilli Octopus, 1895· An Octopus Boards a Ferry Boat · A Lady Passenger Embraced
“The ferry-boat Lotus was making its way across the harbor to Sydney, and when near Kirribilli Point a lady and gentleman, who were quietly conversing on the lower deck of the vessel, were horrified at feeling something cold and clammy suddenly grasp them in its embrace…”
THE SUNDAY TIMES, APRIL 1895
On a Friday evening in April 1895, the ferry Lotus was making its regular crossing from Neutral Bay to Circular Quay. It was just before nine o’clock. As the boat rounded
Kirribilli Point, heading for the city lights, a lady and gentleman seated quietly on the lower deck felt something cold and clammy wind itself around them.
The lady screamed. The gentleman freed himself. And there, clinging to the side of the vessel with tentacles measuring five feet from tip to tip and a head described as thick as a man’s thigh, was an enormous octopus that had apparently decided the Lotus was going exactly where it wanted to go.
Fireman Henry Restall was dispatched to deal with the situation. Armed with a broom, he spent ten minutes using the handle as a lever to prise the creature from the railings. Every time one tentacle was freed, another wound itself around a pillar. The passengers watched on. The lady had not fully recovered her composure by the time the steamer reached the wharf.
Eventually the octopus was flung back into the harbour, presumably annoyed. The best theory as to how it came to be aboard was that it had attached itself to the hull while the Lotus was moored at Neutral Bay Wharf, and when the ferry departed the wash disturbed it and it simply climbed on deck. As the Sunday Times noted with some relief, such adventures were rare.
What makes this story particularly delightful is what happened next. Within days, the incident had been picked up and reprinted by newspapers across the colony, from the Evening News in Sydney to the Zeehan and Dundas Herald in Tasmania. This was Kirribilli’s moment of national fame in 1895. The Sunday Times, clearly delighted with its material, opened its account with a reference to Mark Twain and closed with a nod to Victor Hugo’s novel about the ferocity of giant octopuses, which tells you something about the tone of the coverage. A lady passenger had been embraced by a sea monster off Kirribilli Point. The colony could not get enough of it.
The stretch of water where it happened is the same view you have from your window right now. Make of that what you will.
DO YOU KNOW MORE?
Each month I include a piece of local history that most people have never come across. If you have old photographs, family stories or curiosities connected to Kirribilli or McMahons Point, I would genuinely love to hear about them. And if you’d like a copy of this month’s A5 history card posted to you, just reply to this email.
Reach out to David to discuss the harbourside market:
David Gillan, Director
Ray White Lower North Shore Group
0411 255 914
david.gillan@raywhite.com
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