It’s not often you think of nightclubs when you think about buying a house but one local buyers’ agent says so many people are lining up at home opens that’s exactly what they look like.
As Melbourne moves further out of its post-lockdown haze, there’s so much interest from prospective buyers in entering the rising property market, that Wakelin Property Advisory’s Jarrod McCabe says crowds look like a typical Saturday night on King Street.
In January, some properties were seeing crowds of 80-plus buyers attending the home open, and for some perspective, a crowd of 30 would be considered a strong attendance.
“Like lining up to get inside a nightclub,” he told Domain.
“There would’ve been more than 50 groups lined up. I got there early and still had to wait a good 10 minutes, and by the time I finished the line was even longer.”
January listings figures show they were at their highest level for 12 years and inspections to those listings were up 84 per cent from December.
Making things worse for punters is the requirements on agents to keep inspection numbers below COVID limits and within strict time limits, leaving some prospective buyers with that familiar Chapel Street nightclub feeling of being turned away at the door.
Real estate agent Cristine Jones from Ray White says demand is certainly very strong.
“I worked right through Christmas and even held an open on Boxing Day, and it was like Chadstone shopping centre during the sales,” she told Domain.
“Our opens have all been strong. We are getting anywhere from 70 to 250 people through each property. They’re crazy numbers.”
