Because festive season should feel more “champagne courtyard soirée” and less “panic-cleaning before guests arrive.”

Ah, Christmas. That magical time of year when fairy lights go up, social calendars explode, and everyone suddenly becomes deeply invested in the styling potential of their living room.

If you’re a property lover (or just someone who appreciates a well-placed, hand chopped cushion), here’s your festive reminder of how to survive — and thrive — this season with a little elegance, a little humour, and absolutely no tinsel-induced chaos.

Fresh rules on comparable sales (because “vibes” are not a pricing strategy). New guidelines have landed around how agents must select comparable sales when estimating a property’s selling price. Why? Because underquoting is still ruining weekends and blowing up inboxes — and honestly, the industry can do better. The good news? Most agents want to do the right thing. Now the new rules make it crystal clear what “the right thing” actually looks like. Let’s take a closer look shall we?

If you’re in the market, have been staring bug eyed at the listings scrolling past you online you will have seen the dearth of supply. And yeah, damn online portals who keep changing the front page photos making you think for a fleeting moment, “NEW LISTING! NEW LISTING! Urgh! No, it’s that dump on High St again…”

Over the last year, capital‑city values are up about 7.5%. Realestate.com.au+1 For the quarter to September: national median house price rose by 1.1% .

“Fahey! Numbers, numbers, numbers… knock it off. I’m not a statistician or mathematician, so what does all this actually mean, for me?”

Thinking of buying a home in Melbourne? Avoid becoming a property horror story. Younger Hill Buyers Agents share real-life Melbourne property fails — and how due diligence can save your sanity (and your savings).

If you’ve tried to buy a home in Melbourne lately, congratulations — you’ve entered the Hunger Games of real estate. The prize? A 3-bedroom weatherboard with “renovator’s potential” (read: termites with heritage status) and a mortgage large enough to make your unborn grandchildren nervous.

Let’s clear something up: the median price is not what your home is worth. It is also not the average (even though half your mates at a dinner party will swear it is).

The median is simply the middle number when you line up all the sales from lowest to highest.

• Odd number of sales? It’s the one smack in the middle.

• Even number of sales? It’s the average of the two middle ones.

• More data = more meaningful. Less data = more wobbly than a newborn foal.

That’s it. No magic, no secret sauce.

The Hidden “Frenemies” Sabotaging Your Property Purchase

(AKA: Who’s Actually On Your Team When You Buy Property)

When you’re buying a home, you’ll meet a cast of characters—some helpful, some harmless, and some who accidentally make your stress levels spike like you’ve had three coffees and a bad night's sleep. Most of them mean well. But when you're already running on emotional high alert, it’s easy to question everyone’s motives. So let’s take a breath and sort out who’s a friend, who’s a foe, and who’s a “hmm… proceed with caution.”

Melbourne’s rental laws just changed — again! Here’s what they mean for rental providers (formally Landlords) and renters (formally tenants), explained by a property manager who believes harmony beats headaches every time.

Let’s be honest — when new rental laws drop, everyone gets a little twitchy. RP’s start picturing more paperwork. Renters brace for rent hikes. Property managers? We pour a big gin and start translating government-speak into something human.

The good news? Most of these changes are good — they’re designed to make renting fairer, safer, and less confusing for everyone. And as someone who genuinely cares about both sides, I can tell you: this is a step in the right direction.

Most overlays aren’t deal-breakers on their own.
They’re deal-breakers when they stop you from doing your plan.

Younger Hill rule of thumb:
👉 You’re not buying the property. You’re buying the future of that property.

So the real question is:
What do you intend to do?
And which overlay kills that dream?

Despite what you may have heard, there are several shortcuts to getting on the property ladder even in these times of sky-high home prices. A young person just starting out in the world has a range of options available to them:

• Marrying into a wealthy family

• Embezzlement, blackmail, or other so-called ‘white collar’ crime

• Moving to a less expensive region of the world (ideally one with active political unrest, which tends to depress land prices)

• And, of course, my personal favourite — winning Tatts!

Apartment living can be a more affordable first rung on the ladder for savvy first home buyers or first time investors and the returns aren't only in equity, but lifestyle and location. So here our are our Top 8 Questions to ask before you buy.

L’Agence is a Netflix reality series about the Parisian so-awesome-you-wanna-be-adopted-by-them Kretz family, who runs a real estate agence (French for agency) out of their modest home — (a 1930s Art Deco mansion in Boulogne) — selling luxury properties to high-flyer clientele (that’s fancy France-Land talk for ‘customer’). The genuine love and affection they have is evident in the constant ribbing and teasing they all fling at one another. It is intoxicating. It’ll make you look at your own family with deep disappointment.