What's Actually Happening in Darwin Right Now 🤔

This week on the Moves to Momentum podcast, Jason sits down with Jad Damen, one of Darwin's leading real estate agents, to unpack what's really happening on the ground in one of Australia's most talked-about property markets.

From a dramatic drop in listings to record-breaking sales, Chad shares why Darwin has shifted from a buyer's market to a seller's market—and why he believes the next opportunity could be in the unit market.

In this episode, we cover:

• 📈 Why Darwin's market changed so quickly
• 🏡 Why units could be the next asset class to move
• 🤝 The negotiation tactics that help buyers secure deals
• 💰 Why terms can be just as important as price
• 📊 What investors need to know before buying in Darwin

If you're looking to stay ahead of the market and understand what drives long-term property growth, this episode is packed with practical insights.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

When we present the offers to the sellers, we present the terms of the offer. And the terms of the offer is more important than the sale price or the offer price. I wouldn't say it's all an emotional game, but psychology plays a role in it.

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Isn't that crazy, man? Because they're still getting the same money at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Like everyone is talking about it. Whenever there's a family gathering, they're talking about the market in Darwin. This country is sick for the property market.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

They love it. Jad Damon, welcome to the Moose to Momentum podcast, all the way over from Darwin today. Thanks, man, for coming in.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Thanks, Jason. Thanks for that intro.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Man, I wanted to get you in because the Darwin market has been very topical. Probably for the last 18 months, two years for property investors, investors. And I wanted to talk to someone about boots on the ground. Someone who's talking to buyers, someone who's working with investors, every mum and dad, everyday mum and dads in the market. Like, what's going on over in Darwin at the moment?

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Well, it all started start of 2025. Okay. The market just changed. Wow. Usually on REA, which is realestale.com, we've got around 1500, 1600 listings on the market.

SPEAKER_02 1:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

And then that dropped to 300 to 400 in a year. Man. Local buyers, investors, just gone to the market. And everything changed. So it went totally from a um buyer's market to a seller's market.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

In how many months did you see it changed like that?

SPEAKER_00 1:25

I would say 12 months.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

12 months it just shifted. How long have you been a real estate agent for? Like selling it in Down?

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Um, three and a half years now.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Three and a half years? Call it four years. Yeah. You started running.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Um 2023.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

2022, 2023.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Yeah, around that. End of 2022, start of 2023.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

And what were you doing before then?

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Um car salesman.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Car salesman. So you've always been in sales.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Yep. Went from cars to real estate.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

And man, you're a you're a you're a young lad early in his career. I've seen you on Tom Panos' Instagram page multiple times.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

You're going hard. He's a bit of a mentor of yours.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

Yep, I'm in the black belt program, so he's basically my mentor.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Unreal, man.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

Throughout the whole process.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

What have you learned from Tom? He's got tons of like experience in this industry. What have you learned from him? Just hanging around him and talking to him regularly.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

Confidence, discipline. And Tom always says hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. And I totally agree with that.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Man, Chris Raymond was on here earlier today. You know, we we film all these podcasts in one here. We had Chris Raymond, a mortgage broker. He quoted that exact same thing from Tom Pantas earlier today.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

He's known for it.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

And so you're in car sales, you've been in real estate for the last three, four years now, you've got a strong mentor, and you reckon that the Darwin market has shifted a fair bit in the last two years.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Yep. Yeah around.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

So you would have seen a very different market when you first started selling real estate. Can you describe back in 22, 23, what was the real estate market like in Darwin?

SPEAKER_00 2:59

It was a quiet market. Open houses, we were usually getting one group through, two groups through, and sometimes no one through.

unknown 3:07

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

And then after that, in around 18 months, stolen 2025, which is last year, we had like nine to ten groups through. And every open house, which is that's crazy for Darwin.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Did the population grow that much or did people just want to buy houses? Like what what changed for there to be that amount of demand? Because I think the chat out there in the internet is that it is driven by investors, right? But investors are normally buying side unseen, are normally are not going through. But you're saying that there was one, two groups through open homes, and now all of a sudden 20 groups through.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

That's right. After the supply went down to 300 listings on the market, the local bars were like, the market is shifting.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

And they started buying. And whether it's listings on the market, we weren't even putting price guides. It was more as an offers over. So if there's a listing on the market, offers over 600, you don't know we where we may end up. 670, 680, 690? Depends how many buyers we get. And almost every fortnight we were breaking suburb records.

SPEAKER_02 4:17

Man.

SPEAKER_00 4:18

So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

And man, you work for an impressive operator, Daniel Harris. Daniel Harris recently spoke at Aric.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

The top agent in the NT.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

Yeah. What have you learned from working with him and what's he told you about the change in buyers then to the change in buyers now?

SPEAKER_00 4:36

I would say it's different. When you're doing an open house and getting one buyer through, you gotta chase that buyer with getting an offer in. And most likely that offer will be less than the asking price.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

But when you've got 10 groups through and there's competition, and every buyer wants to offer more than the previous buyer, then it's different. So if you qualify, you've got finance pre-approved, depends what your terms are. It's different how you're chasing the buyers. Yeah. And that's how it changes as in seller's market to a buyer's market to a balanced market.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

I think that's interesting what you're saying there. You you you mentioned it quickly of qualifying.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

I talk to some buyers sometimes, and it's like they say, Oh, I've been looking to buy in this market for six months. And that's like, what would you say if a property was on the market for six months? You'd be like, Oh, there's gotta be something wrong with it. It's gotta be. You don't think the agents that have spoken to you for six months are qualifying you just as you're qualifying the assets? Like that's right. They've been in the market for six months. Are these guys serious or they probably never buy something, right? And they're like, oh, how dare they do that? But that's what happens, huh?

SPEAKER_00 5:43

And some buyers they haven't got even pre-approval in place.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

And most of the time the agents won't take them seriously. Like, if you haven't got pre-approval in place, most likely you're not serious to buy a house.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

They're not. Yeah. But it I think it I think mentally they want to buy something, but they don't understand the process of there's many steps to go through before you put in an offer with someone with an agent.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

Yeah, and when we present the offers to the sellers, we present the terms of the offer.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:11

And the terms of the offer is more important than the sale price or the offer price.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Explain that to me. Unpack because I know that. And I always I've always gone into any negotiation with sometimes my price, your terms, or your terms, my price. But can you unpack that for the listeners?

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Yeah. So when you're putting an offer in and there's another buyer putting an offer in, what's the agent's job? To present the offer to the sellers and negotiate with both of you.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Yeah. When he's presenting these offers to the sellers, he got to tell them what's the offer? Settlement, finance, pre-approval, no pre-approval, 21 days finance reports. When we present an offer and saying to the seller that the buyer have got finance pre-approved, it's totally different.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

It hits different. Totally. So it's important. So we as selling agents, we gotta tell the sellers if the buyers have got pre-approval or not.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

I've I've sometimes done this, right? With a deposit, how much does a deposit change the offer when you're in the living room talking to the seller about two offers? Let's say my offer is 550, the other person's offer is 550, but I'm putting down a 10 grand deposit when we're ready to exchange, and they're putting down a $2,000 deposit. Does that change much?

SPEAKER_00 7:24

It changes. It does. Yep. And it hits the sellers differently. It's all I wouldn't say it's all an emotional game, but psychology plays a role in it. Isn't that crazy, man? Because they're still getting the same money at the end of the day. But when a when a buyer puts a $15,000 offer and another buyer puts a $2,000 offer, most likely for the seller, that buyer is more serious than a $2,000 deposit.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

But they're having to pay the same price. So they're just like, oh yep, we'll go with them.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

Although the offer is the same. And the terms may be the same. But $2,000 deposit sounds.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

What do you think hits more? The extra, the bigger deposit, like $2,000 versus $10,000 or $15,000, or a seven-day or 10-day building and pest clause and finance clause. Is shortening the building and pests and finance better than a big deposit?

SPEAKER_00 8:13

I would say it all plays a role. Even settlement-wise, um, reports-wise, deposit, it all plays a role. But if we're talking about that specifically, I would say having reports done in seven days, that also shows how they how their buyers are serious. So it is important, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

I um I might be l uh spilling the the tea of buyers' agents lands, but for me, in my career, I've always wanted to qualify with the agent what's important and what is the seller's next move. Because if I understand what's the seller's next move, I can then structure my offer in a very good way.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Which is maybe the same money, but just the terms are slightly different, whatever, that makes it so appealing because I can structure the terms, be it building a pair of finance, settlement, long settlement, short settlement. Yeah. Plays a big move. Maybe sometimes a longer settlement might be exactly what they want, or they want a rent back, or they want this, or want that.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

That's right. Sometimes these sellers are looking for a property and they need 60 to 90 days settlement.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

And most likely they won't get that from a local buyer. So it plays a big game.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

Man, what are who are the local buyers? You know what I mean? Like you you've spoken a lot about local buyers today. And I keep coming back to this point because on the internet, bro, I get slammed sometimes about Darwin being this market that is only driven by investors. What are the who are the local buyers? Like, what's your most common buyer that you meet in Darwin? And what are they doing there? Are they like, do they live there forever? Like, who are they?

SPEAKER_00 9:46

I would say families and first home buyers.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Yeah, okay. How old?

SPEAKER_00 9:52

Families, we're talking, they're either upsizing or downsizing. So we're talking 50-60. And first home buyers, they're like the young gen. It's different. And so just something about the first home buyers. Um, the five percent the five percent deposit scheme have been increased to 750 as in price cap. That's from the new financial year. Wow. Instead of 600. And the reason is you can't get a house for 600 anymore in town.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

No way.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

So no point in it.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

And if you do, it's an absolute dump in molden.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

Yeah, yeah, that's like a three by one, a shed that's not even coded. And yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

Crazy, huh? And um, so you're saying there's the upsizers, established families who are in their 50s who are locals, and then you've got the the young families.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

First time buyers, yeah, or the couples, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

And they're looking to buy that top of just get into the market, just get into the market.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

Yeah, yeah. And when the when the supply was low on the market, all the buyers were putting massive offers in. Yeah. Higher than the asking price, always. And now I would say it went from a 10 out of 10 market to a seven out of ten. Seven out of ten. And the reason that happened, in my opinion, everything that was happening worldwide, Middle East, the oil shortage, the government in here, the confidence was a bit dropped with the buyers. Yeah, but with a new financial year, it should be a first start.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Is that both investors and local buyers?

SPEAKER_00 11:19

Um, no, I would say local buyers more.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

Local buyers more?

SPEAKER_00 11:22

Yep. Because investors with their hands in their pocket.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

Yeah. Investors are still charging.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

I would say investors focus on fundamentals more than short-term headlines. Yeah, true. It's different.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

Yeah, yeah. You you can't get away from the fundamentals in Darwin, man. No one's building that.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

No one's building any houses. Yeah, building is expensive there. Building costs is too expensive now in Darwin. Do you know any developers? Yeah. What's a I work with many builders?

SPEAKER_01 11:48

What does it cost to build something new? You know, like in like Bellamark or Zakoli, like what's it costs?

SPEAKER_00 11:54

If you're building now a three-bedroom, two-bathroom, let's say 160, 180 square meter, you're talking about 650.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

650 to build it, bro.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

Yeah, that's without the land.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Shit.

SPEAKER_00 12:09

And if you want to get a block of land of let's say 550 square meters, 600 square meters in a good suburb, you're not talking less than 300, 350.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

So let's say a million comfortable. Yeah. And then you gotta wait, what, 18 months for it to get built? Yeah. So you may as well go buy the four by two in Rosebery for 750, 800.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

Yeah, that's right. That's after the increase. That's after the 20%, 30% increase in the market.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

Wow, man. And the the amount of projects is like $35 billion worth of projects going on in Darwin over the next five years. The no one no one's built in because it's just doesn't make any sense um dollar for dollar wise. And then you've still got so much population growth.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

The population is growing.

SPEAKER_01 12:53

Yeah. What's going on up there, man? Like I hear there's a lot of good things to go up there. I know one of the our our main buyers agent, Teza, who is in Bali at the moment, because he's just kicking his feet back. He's been buying in Darwin for a long time now. Um what's going on up there?

SPEAKER_00 13:12

I would say when you go to Darwin and experience the life there, you just love it.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

And hearing about Darwin without being there, you wouldn't even think about going. But it's different when you when you experience it. The outdoor life, the weekends, the vibes, it's different.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

It feels like it's a different country. It's not like in Australia.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

My in-laws have been to Darwin multiple times for holidays, man.

SPEAKER_00 13:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

They love it.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Yeah, the dry season is perfect.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

Yeah. The wet season's hot.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

The wet season is a bit hot.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

What how is that around like Christmas time?

SPEAKER_00 13:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

That's the thing. So like Christmas time and it's too hot.

SPEAKER_01 13:47

So that's when you go back to Europe.

SPEAKER_00 13:49

Most of the time.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

Which is better in there. For Christmas holidays.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

Um, yeah, I mean, the the uh that's interesting you say that the fundamentals don't change, and so the investors keep plowing along.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

Yeah, whether it's we and do you know that whether it's a stocks real estate, investors focus on fundamentals, not short-term headlines.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

And when people are panicking, that's where the smart moves are.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

Yeah, and the I feel like the investors are still snatching up a fair amount of stock in Darwin. What I've noticed is that the focus has come away from the housing market per se, and it's gone more into the townhouse, villa, duplex, that's right, unit market.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

Unit marketing.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

How much has the housing market grown in the last let's say two years?

SPEAKER_00 14:38

Around 30%.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

30% in the last two years.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

Unreal, man.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

That's houses. Not units. That's the next thing. Units.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

It hasn't grown much. No.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Not much. We're talking one digit increase, so that's like four or five percent. Not more than that.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

Yeah. Man, I I always find that this is what happens. I remember when I was burnt buying in Perth back in it should have been 2020, 2021, even 2022. Well, buying well, let's say I'll just talk about myself. I bought a four by two house in Rockingham Council for $350,000. You could have bought a two by one unit on the foreshore, like which is like the kind of beach area, the um Disney the beach, and you're buying like a two by one unit, which is like similar to like a um Coconut Grove type area.

SPEAKER_02 15:27

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

And you're buying 180,000, 200, 220. It's like, oh bro, 220 for that one. What? Bro, they're all selling for over 500 now. Like they've more than doubled in the last five years. Crazy. Brisbane's experienced the same thing. Adelaide's experienced the same thing. Like a lot of these big markets have done that. And you'll say what blows me away is the rental yield you can get on some of these units in in Darwin.

SPEAKER_00 15:55

Six or seven percent. Man, like which is massive.

SPEAKER_01 15:58

Yeah. I remember that one deal that we did for that client. It was that two by two unit. Um, I think it was Smith Street.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Well, they they bought that for like in the 400s, like low to mid 400s, and then there was like seven seven percent minimum.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

Yeah. That's other than the long-term upside, as in the price value. Yeah, which is crazy.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

But then you're you're looking to buy like a three by two house and you're talking like 800.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

Right now?

SPEAKER_01 16:23

Well, yeah. That's what I mean. Like the the the price difference between a two by two hours.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

There's a big gap in between units and houses. It's like it's a big gap.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

Huge. And that needs to catch up.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

Yeah. Because like, if we're gonna explain it in the best way possible, in my opinion, it's um so the values of houses now are as in 2014 and more.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

But units, they're still cheaper than in 2014.

SPEAKER_01 16:49

2014, yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

So units, well, let's say one bedroom units in the CBD that were selling for 400, 450 in 2014, now they're selling for 300, 320. No, really, and these one bedroom units, the rent on them is like 600 a week.

unknown 17:03

Mental mess.

SPEAKER_00 17:04

That's massive.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

Who's renting these things?

SPEAKER_00 17:07

The rental market in Dowin is good. Like we're the top agency in the NT, we manage more than 3,500 properties. And whenever there's an open for as a for a rented property, there's like at least seven, eight groups going through. And sometimes these tenants they're offering more than the asking rent. Man, just to get their application approved. It's that hard.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

Yeah. The rental market.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

It's been always like that and down. It's always been like that. Most of the time, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

Wow. Yeah, real estate central is a massive, massive agency, huh?

SPEAKER_00 17:37

Yeah. It's the top agents in the NC. Last 12 months, more than 1,000 properties sold. D Harris, Daniel Harris by himself, 330. Which is massive. Incredible. Big numbers.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

Yeah, big, big numbers. Can you tell me? Um, you've worked with a fair few buyers agents. That's right. And what me and you met probably would have been like early to mid-2025. And I find that with most agents that are buying that are selling in an area, they talk to reckon maybe 30, 40, 50 buyers' agents hit them up all the time, especially for like like you, who's listing regularly.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

But they only really work with a handful. Two, three, maybe five, depending on how much stock they got. Is that what you find?

SPEAKER_00 18:28

Yeah, because it depends on the selling agent if you're thinking long-term or short term.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

Because that buyer that the buyer agent is getting is your next client.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

So there's buyer agents.

SPEAKER_01 18:42

Explain that to me.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

So there are many buyer agents who, when they present a buyer, they don't even show them pictures of the property. So some pictures on some properties on realestate.com, they haven't got more than one main picture.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

That's like a street photo.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

And nothing else.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

Some of these bartenders are uh doing deals on those. Yeah, no video walkthrough.

unknown 19:04

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 19:05

Yeah, that's when you're just caring about your commission.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

That is hectic.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

Yeah, and that's why you know for a fact when you're dealing with buyer agents like that, that client won't be happy later on. Yeah, yeah. And most likely he won't use you either the selling agent to sell. And these are your next clients. Like usually we say, as in selling agents, the cloud whoever the buyers are right now, they're our next clients in the next two, three years. Yeah. Most of the time.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

Especially with these investors.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

Um so you're saying you only want to work with the good buyers' agents because if the if you're working with the bad ones, the their clients are gonna have a shitty experience. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

And then that's gonna have a bad reflection on you, the sales agent. That's why.

SPEAKER_00 19:49

Yeah. Because in the end, we're dealing with them, with the buyer agents. Totally. So when there is no video walkthrough and no pictures, it's also us. We didn't send it because the buyers didn't request it, and that's why we don't work with these buyer agents.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

Do you do you subscribe to that same model if you've got like a handful, or maybe just one or two or three?

SPEAKER_00 20:08

Like what would your um I would say in the last two years, more than 40 buyer agents reached out? Wow. And out of that, we worked with two. Two mainly. Wow. Yeah, some of them even they don't have a proper work email, they have a personal email.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

Oh, okay, like Jason at Hotmail.

SPEAKER_00 20:30

Yeah, which is crazy. Ah, interesting signatures just like on WhatsApp with the drawing thing, yeah, and then signature. And we can deal with them.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

Yeah, it's easy to do. Like you can.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

That's us. What if the buyers, how are they dealing with them?

SPEAKER_01 20:44

It's it's crazy. And what would what would make um someone? I feel like um my Greek friend, who's a part of the team, is one of the two. How do you become one of the two? Like what what makes him different to the other 40-50?

SPEAKER_00 21:07

Yeah, but you gotta be genuine. Genuine. And you gotta care about your buyer as if you're buying that property for yourself. That's it. Not more than that. So not just caring about getting paid, yeah, more caring about how would that buyer feel later on. That's that's all.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

Due diligence on the deal, crossing the T's, doting the I's.

SPEAKER_00 21:29

Selling agents, buyer agents, that's the only thing that lasts long in the game.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:35

Which is caring about your clients. Wow, man. That's interesting that that's the that's the thing I've learned from Tom Panis mainly. Like, even after all the courses and explanations and everything, he just summarizes everything like two, three words. So all the explanation, it's as simple as two, three words.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

Yeah. Is there anything else? Is it just someone being genuine like that? They're genuinely care. For their client, and that's who you want to work with.

SPEAKER_00 22:03

Yeah, and doing their research properly. Like knowing exactly what's happening in that suburb, what's that street, what's around that street, knowing all of that. Knowing the market. Yeah, not just uh selling agents sending you a property and then you want to get a buyer for it, and that's it.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

Yeah, done. They gotta know this is worth this because of this, that this is a good trade, this is a bad shape.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

And the thing is in Darwin, we've got suburbs that every street is different than another street.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:31

So it's not like the whole suburb is good. Now we've got suburbs like a street is really good, and then the other street is bad. Yes, absolutely. And that investor who's buying later on when he wants to sell, most likely he won't sell it to an investor. A local buyer would buy it. And local buyers, they know well that that street is bad or that street's good.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:52

And if a street is bad, then that local buyer won't buy it.

SPEAKER_01 22:56

It's so funny because that goes both ways. You know what I mean? Like, I think if you're looking at just pure comparables alone, if it's that street versus that street, and you're buying something on the good street, you'll be like, oh, these comparables sold in this street, which is maybe 500 metres away. So I don't want to like it's that's not what it's worth. It's like, oh that's true, it is 500 metres away, but it's not the same. You're not comparing apples for apples, so it's like you you want to pay more for this one because of these reasons. Or it could go the other way. Someone who's buying in the bad street could use the good the the good street somebody like, oh yeah, look, look how good this deal is, and it's like that's right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:37

And the good buyer agents, I know for a fact with his research, he could reach into details that would help with that.

SPEAKER_01 23:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:44

Because if we could know, then they could know.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

Totally, man.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's all online, so I like that. Google say yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:52

I like the answer.

SPEAKER_00 23:53

Even if you ask ChatGPT now, who will tell you?

SPEAKER_01 23:56

Yeah. Simple. But it's just it like it's I love it that you characterize it like that, someone being genuine. You know, this person's genuine, and I want to work with genuine good people because who I associate with is a reflection on me. That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

Yeah, huge. And the world is a small place, and Darwin is a smaller. So that's another thing. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

Right. Before we wrap it up, tell me like right now, the the client that you're working with in Darwin, what are they what are their challenges? What's tough for them? What are they saying to you?

SPEAKER_00 24:36

These sellers are trying to maximize the sale price.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

Maximize the sale price.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:41

Like they know what's happening in the market. They know the last increase that have happened around 30%. So they're trying to maximize the sale price.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

Um Is everyone saying that to you? I know the market's good. I want to push the top down. Most of them. Most of them. Can you tell me before we wrap up, what are the challenges or the things that your clients are telling you at the moment that you're selling for?

SPEAKER_00 25:03

I would say it depends on each situation ship. Um, most of them they're trying to maximize their the sale price. Um, but in the same time, there is sellers out there who need to sell. So fast. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe it's a tenanted property and they want to sell it while it's tenanted. They don't want to get it vacant, get it cleaned, get it styled. And we explain that to them. And sometimes they're happy with that. They want to sell off market, quick, or they're buying something and they need to sell to buy that.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

What would you say the percentage is? Like the okay, there's a there's a portion of your clients who want to maximize the sale price. How much would that 50%, 60%, 80%? I would say 70 to 80% right now. 70 to 80% are maximizing the sale price. And who are they? Are they the young families? Are they the people in their 50s that you describe to us? Who are they? Um, owner-occupied. Owner occupied. Most of the time. And the ones that want to sell quick, that's the other school. You kind of go maximize sell price and people who want to sell fast.

SPEAKER_00 26:02

Yep. Who are those? Are they just all 10 are they just all landlords? Yeah, they've been owning the property for 15, 20 years now.

SPEAKER_01 26:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

And they're happy to sell after that increase.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

So for them, an extra 60, 70 grand may not make a difference.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

But we explained that to them. So finding a good deal through that is pretty hard now. It's like the the 20%. But the rest of the 80% are trying to maximize the sale price. They know what's happening in the market. Like everyone is talking about.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:31

Everyone. Whenever there's a family gathering, they're talking about the market in that one. Wow. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

It's red hot, man. Like even I I I'll go for a run with a bunch of lads in Cornella, and you go in the coffee shop, man, and bang, it's 5.30 in the morning, bro. We're just trying to run, and that's what people are talking about. Property market. Property market. This country is sick. It's crazy for the property market. They love it.

SPEAKER_00 26:52

It's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 26:53

But it's interesting. I've actually recently sold a property in Rockhampton, and I probably took a I don't know, say maybe 30, 40 grand haircut on it. Because I wanted speed. The guy could settle in 28 days. Yeah. He paid cash and he was no building pest. I was like, like, no worries. What could I maximize the sale price and get an extra 30-40 if I staged it and done this and done that? It's like, bro, I want the cash in 28 days. And if I'm gonna get this amount of cash minus 30 Rand, just do it.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

Just get it done. That's the thing, it depends on every scenario. Like if we're talking 30, 40 grand, let's say their property is tenanted. Like I've had a client who his property was tenanted, and I gave them both options. You could either keep it tenanted and sell it off market, or we could get it on market and you may get an extra 40-50 grand. That was like three months ago. But if you want to get that extra 40, 50 grand, we gotta vacate the property. So the tenants are out. There isn't any rent coming in. You gotta repaint it, you gotta style it, you gotta market it. So you're paying around 16,000, 17,000.

SPEAKER_01 27:56

There's a lot of effort, man.

SPEAKER_00 27:58

And it's not guaranteed. The the effort turns me off the most, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 28:02

Like just hearing all these, but I've got enough stuff to do when I leave this place in the nighttime, other than worrying about organizing people, painting it, doing this, doing that. Just to make, let's say you spend the 17, you make an extra 40, so everything, and you end up making an extra 20, and then I've got to pay tax on an extra 20.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

And it's not guaranteed, even that's the thing.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

So it depends on every scenario. So it's interesting to hear that, right? Even in a hot market, right? Um, that there's always different types. There's people who are owner ox that want to maximize the sale price, and we love them, man, because they're the ones that maximizing the sale price, they're taking it to market, they're staging it, they're pushing up the record sales bang, bang, bang, bang. Beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 28:40

We had a sale in grey. That was a record sale for a three-bedroom. It was owner occupied. The sellers were not in a rush and they want to sell. It was repainted, presented well. That went for 740 for a three-bedroom in gray. And the three-bedroom uh suburb record was around 620 at that time. Yeah, so that was massive, but that increased all the other recent sales. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 29:04

Then other people like, oh, I'll put I'll paint mine a bit, and then bank just lifts the standard the whole the whole area. And we need those in a market, especially a market that has performed really strong the last, let's call it 18 months, 24 months at the most, you know, that's performed well. You need it to have a bit of a breather. I found this in Perth. I started when I was buying there myself and I I saw that market moving, it kind of took a bit of a breather in 2024. In 2025, the Perth market did 22% growth. What?

SPEAKER_00 29:38

Just in a year.

SPEAKER_01 29:39

But if you look back in 2024, it was maybe like eight to ten percent. Like it took a bit of a breather. And it kind of just like the fundamentals didn't change.

SPEAKER_00 29:49

But that's even better. Like if a stock is just going up, there is something wrong. If it goes up 40 to 50% without any break, yeah. There is something wrong. Something would happen.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:00

So that's that's good.

SPEAKER_01 30:01

Man, I I've always loved markets that just chug along at like 10% growth. 10% growth, bang, predictable because the fundamentals are driving it. But do you think that buyers agents or what this type of stuff have like manipulate the market, change the market?

SPEAKER_00 30:18

I wouldn't say change the market. They may push the market, yeah. But that's good for everyone.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

And how do they push it? Because I feel like they're normally trying to get some deals.

SPEAKER_00 30:30

Yeah, but like let's say when when the buyer agents came into Darwin, what was the median house values there? 450, 500. Yeah. It was one of the cheapest capital cities. It was their rental yield is like 6%, even on houses. Mental. So it's crazy. So we needed that in Darwin. Whether it's buyer agents, investors, whatever it is, we needed that.

SPEAKER_01 30:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:53

So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

How good, man.

SPEAKER_00 30:55

And the government helped with the first home buyer thing. So it's not like the first home buyers missed out. Nah, they've helped they've helped them out. It was up to 600,000. You get a 50 grand off from the government, and now it's increased to 750 from the new financial year. Which is good. So it's good for everyone.

SPEAKER_01 31:11

I think that'll fan the flame again a little bit, you know? I think that'll fan the flame. But I'm most interested to see in the next 12 months how the uh unit market performs. Right? I think that'll definitely drive a lot of things. I think increasing it from 600 to 750, I think that's good of the government to do that. But I think there's still some people that can't afford it, you know. Yeah, that's right. Like they just genuinely can't afford the 750. So they gotta buy the townhouse, they gotta buy the unit, they gotta buy that.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 31:39

And once that starts to get all the attention, boss prices go there too.

SPEAKER_00 31:43

And the returns are good.

SPEAKER_01 31:45

Is there anything that you want to leave us with? Is there any other insights that you want to give us about the property market before we wrap?

SPEAKER_00 31:50

I reckon that's all.

SPEAKER_01 31:51

That's it.

SPEAKER_00 31:51

And the unis is the next thing in Darwin.

SPEAKER_01 31:54

So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:54

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 31:55

Unreal, man. Well, thank you so much for jumping on. I'm so excited to see what you do with your real estate career. You're early on, you've only been doing it for four years, and you've experienced already a quiet market and a booming market.

SPEAKER_00 32:08

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

But man, keep ripping in, and I'm looking forward to see what you do.

SPEAKER_00 32:11

Thanks, Jason. Thanks for that.

SPEAKER_01 32:13

Thanks so much for listening to the Moves to Momentum podcast. If you got any value out of this episode, please give us a like or subscribe. Or if you think this is relevant to any one of your friends or family, please flick it to them so they can have a listen.