“Everybody loves to read about the high-end sales taking place across Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane — anywhere in Australia,” John says.
“Stories of big prices and high-profile buyers always attract interest.”
But while interest in luxury property remains strong, he says the landscape has changed.
“I think a scarcity factor has probably crept in over the last few years,” he explains.
“Trophy homes in cities like Melbourne seem harder to come across, and demand has only increased — particularly with continued interest from Asian buyers and expats.”
He believes these properties are increasingly being held for the long term.
“We’re probably seeing a shift in some of these properties becoming more generational. They used to turn over more frequently.”
Sales in this category — often priced north of $20 million — don’t follow the usual script.
“When you sell a traditional house in Melbourne, it might be a four-week auction campaign or a private sale,” John says.
“But at the high end, it’s a longer process. You do a fair bit of marketing, but not necessarily condensed into a short window.”
He likens it to a pyramid: “At the bottom of the pyramid, you’ve got a lot more buyers at the lower end of the market. But as you go up, the number of buyers obviously diminishes. So it’s a question of finding the right buyer, and the right timing.”
That timing is often unpredictable. “A lot of these high-end buyers, time is precious. They may not even be in the country. You have to wait for when they’re ready to act.”
Communication with vendors is obviously key and while John hasn’t tracked average days on market for ultra-premium homes, he estimates it would be “in the order of months rather than weeks”.
“We explain that it can be a long process. Sometimes we’ve placed properties in 24 or 48 hours, but it can also take 12 months.”
As for the method of sale, it varies depending on the property and the vendor’s motivation.
And while some buyers crunch numbers, many act on feeling.
“It’s complete wantability,” he says. “For buyers at this end, it’s just a question of when they’re ready. When they fall in love with the property, they’ll act.”
John says the conditions under which these homes are sold are largely unaffected by broader economic pressures.
“It’s not as if these buyers are waiting for interest rate falls,” he says. “They’re not driven by affordability.”
One of the biggest mistakes agents make when stepping into the prestige market, John says, is promising speed when the reality is often far slower.
A quick sale is possible, but more often than not, it takes time to find the right buyer — and that process can’t be rushed.
“To maximise the sale price, there is a process,” he explains. “And if agents don’t understand that, they’re probably not the right fit.”
Unlike mainstream property campaigns, keeping a listing ‘fresh’ isn’t always the priority.
John says he only starts to worry about time on market if the feedback suggests pricing is off.
“With a lot of these sales, it is a long process,” he says.
“I’ve never worried about time on market unless we’re getting feedback that pricing is off or something’s wrong.”
Ultimately, success in this part of the market comes down to staying the course.
“You’ve got to be prepared to stay the course. The right buyer will come — the timing just has to be right.”
Finally, experience matters, especially in a space where trust is everything.
He says prestige transactions require a certain type of agent — one who understands the nuances of working with high-net-worth individuals.
“There’s a big trust factor, and that comes through long-standing relationships,” he says.
Much of the business is built on these relationships.
According to John, the social and professional circles often overlap — and that’s where many deals begin.
“There’s not a lot of difference between who you socialise with and who you do business with. They cross over,” he says.
“It might be someone you’ve known through the football club or business community for years.”
In many cases, agents are catching up socially with the same people they’re working with professionally.
“It’s all interconnected.”
