We’re only a week into spring and there remains no shortage of headlines about the state of the property market.
We know Sydney and Melbourne are leading the downturn, but what is becoming increasingly obvious is just how difficult it is to apply broad market data to an individual property. There are significant variations between suburbs, different streets within those suburbs and then again across different price points and property types.
It’s why we continue to believe active agents have the best real-time read on what’s actually happening. When you’re sitting in living rooms talking to sellers, meeting buyers at inspections, receiving offers and negotiating transactions every day, you get to see the shifts in confidence and behaviour well before they eventually appear in the broader data.
Our first week of spring was a good example of just how mixed the market remains.
Strong results in a falling market
At 12 Toxteth Road, Glebe, we launched with a $4.9m guide, which we felt was fair value given the market and the property. What followed exceeded our expectations. Within a week we had issued 13 contracts, 5 parties made offers and multiple buyers became involved in aggressive pre-auction bidding, with the property eventually selling for circa $5.7m.
It was a significant result, but I don’t think the lesson is that the market has suddenly improved. It’s that when buyers recognise value and the right property hits the market, there is still plenty of money and motivation sitting on the sidelines ready to engage.
We saw that across several different parts of our market last week. 24 Pearson Street, Balmain East sold for $12.8m, making it the highest-priced non-waterfront sale on the Balmain peninsula this year. That now sits alongside our sale of 120 Louisa Road, Birchgrove for circa $18m, the highest waterfront sale on the peninsula in 2026.
We also sold 18 Llewellyn Street, Balmain off market well into the $5m range after just two weeks of private inspections, while 20 Lea Avenue, Russell Lea was another standout result, selling close to $6m.
Across very different properties and price points, we’re seeing genuine energy and engagement when the ingredients are right.
A market finding its level
What we believe is happening is fairly simple. Sellers are becoming more willing to adjust to the reality of the current market, while buyers are becoming more accustomed to this new cycle and increasingly confident about where they see value.
When those two positions meet, we have a functioning market.
That certainly doesn’t mean every property is selling well, nor does it mean the downturn is over. Far from it. There are still properties struggling for engagement, campaigns taking longer and buyers being extremely selective about where they place their money.
But we are seeing evidence that buyers will compete when they believe something represents value, and that’s an important distinction from a market where buyers simply refuse to act.
What happens next?
Interest rates remain the obvious issue sitting in the background. Financial markets are now pricing a significant chance of another RBA increase later this month, although strangely it hasn’t become a major conversation with buyers yet.
That could change quickly.
Sentiment is a strange thing in property and in a market like this it can move almost daily. Another rate rise, a run of stronger sales, weaker economic data or even another round of negative headlines can change the way buyers and sellers behave remarkably quickly.
For agents, that means we have to stay very close to what is happening. Advice that was right three months ago may not be right today, and sometimes what we thought two weeks ago needs adjusting as new evidence comes through.
One week into spring, we wouldn’t describe the market as strong, and I certainly wouldn’t suggest the downturn is behind us. But we would describe it as functioning.
There are buyers, there is money and there is competition available. The challenge is getting price, presentation, strategy and buyer expectations aligned closely enough to bring all of that together.
Our first week of spring showed that when you do, very strong results are still possible.
