Off market sales report: Selling your home in Melbourne privately could cost you almost $30,000

Cost-cutting Melbourne homeowners have been warned taking selling property into their own hands could be costing them almost $30,000.

Cost-cutting Melbourne homeowners have been warned taking selling property into their own hands could be costing them almost $30,000.

PropTrack’s Off-Market Sales Performance latest report shows house sales off-market, relative to those listed on realestate.com.au in 2022, sold for 2.6 per cent less in Melbourne and 6.3 per cent less in regional Victoria.

It equates to almost $30,000 for Greater Melbourne homes.

RELATED: Big Bank tips Melb home prices to surge 10 per cent

What you need to earn to buy in every Vic suburb revealed

Canstar figures show agents’ commissions typically start around 1.6 per cent, with marketing costs adding from $1000-$10,000, home staging at least another $2500 and auction fees a further $400-$1000.

But PropTrack senior economist and report author Paul Ryan said “the potential earnings lost in the final sale price far outweighs the initial cost of advertising”, after analysis of sales of unadvertised sales were compared to listed results.

Morrell and Koren buyers advocate Matthew Cleverdon said off-market property was usually off-market because of the vendor’s situation, whether that was for privacy, personal matters or privacy.

He added that in the top-end of the market, sometimes a home was so rare and unique there was no reason to take it to market.

Victoria’s priciest house, an $80m Toorak mansion sold off market in August last year. But the PropTrack figures hint move could have cost the owner more than $2m.

Paul Ryan is a senior economist at PropTrack.

Kay & Burton board director Gowan Stubbings said some homeowners loved the concept of finding a buyer and selling a home quickly and quietly, thinking it was the easiest way.

“But I think history will continue to show homes that are put online, marketed correctly, and go to auction produce the best result,” Mr Stubbings said.

“People are leaving money on the table if they don’t auction.”

While many of Melbourne’s luxury homes are sold discreetly off-market, Mr Stubbings said an estate like the late Ron Walker’s Toorak mansion which sold for more than $60m in June did “exceptionally well” with a proper campaign.

“We did that (sale) discreetly in the sense it was all privately done to the general public, but it needed a proper campaign to get the results we did,” he said.

The late Ron Walker’s estate at 55 Albany Rd, Toorak sold for more than $60m in June, a price that was described as ‘exceptionally well’ with a proper campaign.

---

Sign up to the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here to get the latest Victorian property market news delivered direct to your inbox.

MORE: First look inside Andy Lee’s huge Hawthorn project

Where you can get a bargain home at 2013 prices

Where you can find ‘sleeper suburbs’ set to boom

[e-mail]