📉 How far will Sydney fall? Depends which bank you ask

GOOD MORNING FROM ELITE AGENT 👋

TODAY'S FEATURE

The behaviour you walk past is the behaviour you accept

A difficult conversation avoided. Feedback softened to keep the peace. Different rules for different team members. Hannah Gill argues these small, unaddressed moments shape a team's culture more than any strategy document ever will, and most leaders don't notice until the damage is done. In her latest piece, she breaks down why titles mean nothing next to consistency.

What you'll learn in the full article:

• The alignment test: the gap between what you say and what you do is where standards quietly erode, and Hannah names exactly where it starts.
• The compliance trap: why teams that simply follow orders rarely deliver the growth or innovation leaders think they're getting.
• The vulnerability myth: it's not the soft skill you think it is, and skipping it might be costing you genuine buy-in from your team.

Read the full article →

TOGETHER WITH PM/ONE

Happy people do more, and they love doing it

You know the vibe: a PM team that's flat versus one that's genuinely switched on isn't about systems, it's about how the humans feel walking in the door.

That's the thinking behind PM/ONE, with Tim Duggan turning tension into trust, Chelsea Pottenger on building a happy, healthy human, and Quinn Darragh making sure it all actually leaves the notebook.

Team rates are live for offices of three or more, but fewer than 50 seats remain – register your team for 13–14 September at the Hilton Sydney before they're gone.

Learn more →

DEPT OF DATA

Regional suburbs see enquiries jump 245 per cent

Risdon Vale on Hobart's fringe just topped the national list for buyer enquiry growth, up 245 per cent in a year, with Tasmania claiming the top three spots for houses. Megan Lieu from REA Group says it's rate pressure pushing buyers toward anything under $1 million.

If that interest turns into sales, these once-overlooked suburbs could be the ones holding value while the rest of the market cools.

DEPT OF DATA

Sunbury grows 4.3% as Melbourne values slip

Melbourne dwelling values fell 2.8 per cent over the year, but Sunbury bucked that with 4.3 per cent growth, pushing its median to $729,763. Buyers are trading inner-city apartments for four-bedroom homes with backyards, with demand strongest between $600,000 and $850,000.

Matthew Makin says the value gap between entry-level and top-end homes hasn't been this close in years – good news for anyone eyeing an upgrade.

DEPT OF TAX

Banks split on how far Sydney prices will fall

ANZ is now tipping a 9.9 per cent drop for Sydney in 2026, with peak-to-trough falls reaching 14.5 per cent – but Commonwealth Bank and Westpac see a gentler landing. CBA's Trent Saunders and Ashwin Clarke say the negative gearing and capital gains tax changes sped up a slowdown already underway, not caused it. All three banks agree on one thing: a recovery from 2027.

HOW IT SOLD

Five days, one buyer, several agents chasing them

Jake Tidmarsh from Fox Real Estate knew his buyers were being courted by other agents across multiple campaigns. Daily conversations and upfront honesty about seller expectations helped him secure an unconditional offer on 10 Wattle Street, Campbelltown, in just five days – then negotiate it up before contract.

Find out the story behind how it sold →

A listing lasts weeks. The case study lasts forever. getailsa.com →

CELEBRITY HOMES

Inside film great Bruce Beresford’s $1M Blue Mountains retreat

The Driving Miss Daisy director and wife Virginia Duigan are selling their Blue Mountains cottage, filled with movie memorabilia from his 30-plus film career. Agent Sarah Burnett says Sydney buyers are increasingly trading CBD proximity for space and lifestyle, with hybrid work fuelling continued tree-change interest.

Pitches built around heritage, character and flexible living are what's landing with this buyer wave – worth remembering next time you're marketing a period home.

Read the full article →

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Why Storyhouse treats social media as a sales tool

A decade leading top sales teams within a major corporate network taught Mark Josem how buyers behave under pressure – now he's built his own agency to bet on story-led video over the usual portal cycle. Storyhouse Real Estate has launched in Hawthorn East, servicing Melbourne's Inner East from Camberwell to Toorak, with early campaigns already outperforming portal views by more than four times, according to the agency.

Matt Johnson opens McGrath office in Traralgon Gippsland now has a McGrath address – the group's new Traralgon office opens under principal Matt Johnson, 16 years into a real estate career built around his hometown. He leads a team including Matt Fava, Ben Britten and Sam Shaw, covering a patch stretching from Toongabbie to Jeeralang, in a region McGrath Research ranks second on the east coast for annual sales growth.

Andrew and Tracey Macmillan join FOUNDIT buyer's agency Melbourne's buyer-side market gains two well-known faces – Andrew Macmillan, who led Jellis Craig's Stonnington, Sorrento and Richmond offices across three decades of prestige sales, and Tracey Macmillan, a Stonnington and Boroondara buyer's advocate with a background founding a medical technology company. The husband-and-wife pair now join FOUNDIT's Melbourne operation, pairing local market knowledge with the agency's tech-enabled research and negotiation support for buyers.

Success doesn't rest on weekends!
Get top agent and agency moves every Sunday in Movers & Shakers. Subscribe now.

AGENTS ON SOCIAL

Real estate, but make it CSI: Suburbia. Seen an Agent On Social we should include? Let us know here

TRUE OR FALSE:

In England, if your windows have enjoyed daylight across a neighbour's land uninterrupted for 12 years, you acquire a legal 'right to light' – and can stop them building anything that blocks it.

And the answer is …

False – it's 20 years, not 12. 'Ancient lights' is a real easement in English law: enjoy daylight through the same window for two decades without written consent and the right is yours. It still shapes London's skyline – whole schemes have been redesigned around one well-established window. A property right you acquire by doing absolutely nothing for 20 years. Adverse possession's quieter cousin. via legislation.gov.uk – Prescription Act 1832.