When a million dollars doesn’t get you much

The Million dollar market.  I remember a time when $1 million dollars seemed like so much money, only the rich could buy a house at $1 million dollars or more, but now we find ourselves at a point in time where in inner Melbourne you would be stretched to find an un-renovated home for less than $1 million dollars.

We are now in a time where $1 million is not considered the upper end of the market, the upper end starts at about $2 million and then there is the ever elusive top end which is property that is often bought and sold behind closed doors, often scouted via solicitors, accountants and advocates and there is not even a whisper of this property exchanging hands unless some newspaper columnist knows someone who knows someone and months later you hear a tid bit about it in the papers.

So why is property of this caliber sold so secretly?  The main reason would be to tactfully maintain the privacy of the individual stakeholders.   Often-times these people are in the media, high up on company boards, high court judges, media moguls or simply born into families with a long history of wealth.

If above $2 million constitutes the top end then what is the million dollar market? Well I would have thought it’s the upper middle end and it’s a very, very competitive market.   This is where the double income and 1 child is moving, they want an un-renovated but liveable home in inner Melbourne, particularly along the south eastern corridor where they can rear their family, be close to an array of quality private schools but can still make it into the CBD for work within a 20 minute trip.   These families will eventually renovate but most likely move out shortly thereafter when they find out they have number 2 on the way, they will sell a renovated or partially renovated home and start looking in the $1.5-$2m mark depending on how much growth they see from their previous residence.  It’s this very scenario that has pushed the competition and moved the interest for young families into a price range that was once considered only for the super rich, if you think about this it really does change how and who we consider to be the wealthy, and it does appear to have created a gap between the wealthy and the poor.   If however the above is to be agreed with it also illustrates that regardless of the starting price these inner urban areas will always see growth, regardless of what peaks and troughs are seen in world economics, there is only so much land and so much development that will be allowed for so you either own property within the triangle or not, and if not it may come a time when you can’t, it will become financially impossible.