We’ve come a long, long way together … so let me praise you….
As a 20+ year journalist with a decade of specialised property experience, I’ve seen and written about plenty of homes with amazing histories.
But it was particularly amazing to hear that the Melbourne home I grew up in sold under the hammer on Saturday for $1,268,500. This was only its third sale since its construction in 1962, and sales agents Jellis Craig in Eltham were asking for $1.1 to $1.2 million plus. One of my sisters, who still lives in Melbourne, was able to make it to the August 29 auction - the last weekend of winter 2026, no less - and told our family that there were about three to four bidders, and about 10 parties in total at the event.
With the latest Cotality figures showing Melbourne’s median house price is $920,432 and the city’s auction numbers in the past week almost 40% fewer than a year ago, I’m impressed by the sale - and not because of all the memories it holds for me and my family.
The interior of this property journalist’s childhood home in Melbourne is barely recognisable after undergoing a stylish renovation by its vendors. But plenty of memories remain, including that of her tradie dad constructing the entire second storey of the house in the mid-1980s. My sisters and I still remember playing in the wall and roof trusses stacked up in the backyard.
Then there’s the amazing ways the home has changed since I finally left it in 1998, although changes really began with my carpenter-builder dad constructing the entire second storey of the home in the mid-1980s, with the help of his mates. My sisters and I still remember playing among the roof and wall trusses, that were stacked in the backyard. My dad also built the separate workshop to the rear of the 702sqm block.
In another major change since leaving my childhood home 30 years ago, barely anyone in Melbourne had heard of my childhood suburb, about 25km to the north east of the CBD, when I was growing up. Now, the suburb of Montmorency (or as everyone calls it, Monty), is the place to be for excellent value growth and quiet family living.
As well as building the second storey of our house, the dad also built the separate backyard workshop, which remains to this day.
According to Smart Property Investment (SPI), Monty has experienced a 27.22% median price growth in the past five years alone. It has also undergone a 10-year average annual uptick of 5.23%, says SPI, bringing its median house price to $1.18 million. Yet my folks sold the home for just $219,000 in 1999, after buying it in 1978 for $37,000.
But as they told me a few years ago (and I later talked about this in an off-market article), they still found it incredibly hard to borrow even the $12,000 needed for their mortgage deposit.
“This figure was like $5 million to us – but it was like this for everyone,” Mum and Dad said.
In more major changes to the overall property market in the past 30 years, here’s another reason not to envy yours, or my, parents. Cash rates sky-rocketed in the late 1980s, before hitting Australia’s highest ever figure of 17.5% in 1990, while inflation was 8%. Along with these eye-watering figures came high unemployment, a global share market crash in 1987, and a national recession we "had to have" in 1990.
The bedrooms’ built-in wardrobes were built by my dad.
So, today’s 4.35% cash rate and 3.5% inflation? Just two drops in a very long and large ocean. Obviously, it’s not as simple, or black and white, as this but these figures are certainly something for today’s buyers to think about.
As I also talked about in another article, my tradie dad worked irregular hours, and my mum was basically a stay-at-home lady with four kids to boot. So decent money didn’t appear at our front door very often.
Nevertheless, Mum and Dad managed to fully repay their mortgage about 10-15 years after buying the Monty home. Along with the $219,000 sale of the property, they were able to buy their coastal NSW property in the same year for just $150,000 – with no property debts in sight. All of which was a very nice plus for Mum and Dad.
My family’s old downstairs playroom has been transformed into a chic master suite, complete with a walk-in wardrobe, that used to be our study.
Back to more recent history, and the latest vendors of my childhood house have transformed the interior into a property that no one in my family is now able to recognise (check out more photos of the home, plus a floor plan, in Jellis Craig’s ad copy). Our old playroom at the front of the home has become a very fancy master suite, with our former study now a walk-in robe. The downstairs kitchen and dining room, particularly the kitchen, have been completely updated as well.
So too have the upstairs bedrooms, although their built-in wardrobes are still the original ones constructed by my dad. The Harry Potter-type understairs storage area, complete with fantastic 1970s wallpaper, is also there.
It's safe to say this auction sale was very much a case of old memories die hard – if they die at all – for this property journalist and her family.
Happy reading!
Green thumbs, brown thumbs, all thumbs in: a new gardener’s life
How gardening became my life blood
With spring 2026 just a few days away, it’s the ideal time to talk about my late-in-life passion for gardening. Yet again, this obsession with greenery actually shouldn’t surprise me as it’s simply a literal extension of my obsession with homes. Born soon after I bought my first home in outer-west Brisbane in early 2023, gardening now takes up most of my thoughts, time, and lunch/coffee breaks.
And, while I’ve long since learnt to cut all adjectives and emotions from my professional writing, I’ve realised that as a naturally romantic and sentimental person, gardening suits me to a tea, purely because of its emotional ups and downs.
I’m constantly either cheering, mourning, or worrying about the latest disaster, surprise or death in my townhouse’s 20sq m of soil.
I’ve also quickly realised that gardens follow their own rules, (almost) regardless of the information tabs and books you read, and the long discussions you enjoy with greenery experts. In short: nothing stays the same in a gardener’s life.
It doesn’t help that cottage gardening has chosen me to be its fan: yes, that glorious, messy, wildflower style of gardening continuously seen on my favourite television series, Escape to the Country, is transforming my small townhouse garden in sub-tropical Brisbane.
While cottage gardening looks deceptively easy to create – and it may be in the UK and Europe – my location’s hot weather, let alone heavy, reactive clay soil, makes this style of gardening a little hard, to say the least. My back yard also faces north-west, so it endures the worst of Brisbane’s afternoon heat and sun in summer.
It doesn’t help that I grew up in Melbourne, where daffodils, bluebells, jonquils and roses were so abundant as to almost be weeds.
This year marks only my third full year of this vintage, shabby chic style of garden, or any greenery, for that matter. But remarkably, the majority of my English country garden flowers have succeeded, even in the wildes of all of the above.
Or as I like to say it, slowly but surely, I’m bringing Escape to the Country to outer-west Brisbane.
Some of my major, and more unusual successes - especially given Brisbane’s heat and humidity - include stocks, ranunculi, cosmos, dahlias, larkspurs, freesias, sweet peas and cornflowers. My jonquils are also waist high.
Meanwhile, my new day-to-day gardener’s life now includes
· “garden rounds” twice a day (if not, three times);
· continual deadheading and weeding;
· staking an unruly flower bending over backwards – literally – as it hurries to outgrow its neighbours; and
· endless planning for the next season and the season after that, and the year after that
The majority of my conversations with friends and family are also 95% gardening dramas or thrills, while more than ever, any holidays have to be short and planned around greenery seasons, especially planting.
With spring around the corner, planning and planting for the warmer (and wetter) months, is now in full swing. It’s also harder than ever to stay put at my desk when my favourite winter-spring cottage plants are also in full swing.
And, if you’ve never breathed in the scent of stock flowers, let alone their absolutely perfect, beauty, then you should.
Happy planting - and thanks for reading!
Chinese New Year 2025 snakes into town
How the Chinese New Year can combine with property.
I’ve always loved writing articles combining my journalism speciality – real estate – with my personal interests. A great example of this are the Chinese New Year (CNY) articles that I’ve written every January or February since 2014. I’m not Chinese and have no Asian blood in my veins so why do I do this?
Simple: it allows me to work with animals, which I love and the CNY concentrates on 12 Chinese zodiac signs every year in this order: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.
Importantly for serious property people (and my editor), these articles connect CNY animal symbolism ideas to a genuine forecast of the coming year from a real estate agent. As a result, these articles give readers significant information as well as – hopefully – a good laugh.
Horses for courses
The concept for my CNY articles began in 2014: the year of the horse, which is my favourite animal. While my editor was the first of many to raise her eyebrows at the idea of a CNY-equine-property article, she allowed me to proceed with it.
Here is what she received for her pains*: a torrent of popular words and phrases connected to the animal in question (think: “Chinese property investors are expected to gallop into the Year of the Horse”) intertwined with the property forecast I mentioned earlier.
For example: “Many buyers will use the year of the horse’s meaning of immediate success as a turning point with better things still to come.” Or, “the tiger’s well-known qualities of prosperity and power ensured it was always the leader in the animal field – and in the same way, the property market (is expected) to shine in 2022.”
Unsurprisingly, the Asian real estate agents I interviewed for my CNY articles were as startled as my editors about my idea but – usually – took it in good part, even to having their photos taken with horses, goats and roosters. And, since 2014, I’ve only missed writing CNY articles for 2019 (the year of the pig); 2020 (the year of the rat); and 2021 (the year of the ox).
NB: based on this blog, I count this year – the year of the snake – as an article.
Article idea ramps up
My CNY article concept accelerated in 2018 (the year of the dog) when a colleague suggested we organise a video between a dog and a real estate agent, with the agent asking the dog significant property questions which the animal would answer. Thanks to the agent, Guide Dogs Victoria and a few bowls filled with canine treats, both pieces turned out well and again, combined humour with important property information.
Uncommon animals still fill the page (and website)
Photographing animals for my CNY articles hasn’t always been easy – but this has only added to the fun of writing them. Guide Dogs Victoria and the RSPCA were helpful with the latter helping me with my rooster and goat images.
Being unable to find animals hasn’t stopped me from writing my CNY articles either. For my CNY article in 2016 (the year of the monkey), the property agents were still photographed with Chinese symbols and similar. For the 2022 article (the year of the tiger) I had to rely on photos of tigers – although I would have dearly liked to visit a zoo to meet a live one. In the same way – although this animal would have been easier to find – photos had to take the place of live animals for my 2023 piece (the year of the rabbit) while sadly, no dragons but those in images could be found to centre in my 2024 article. Live photographs for my un-written CNY articles for the years of the pig, rat and ox may also have been tricky to organise but not impossible.
It would have been interesting to find a snake for this year’s article but for once, I’m happy to rely on photos.
Chinese New Year of the Snake 2025
This year is the year of the snake – the wood snake, to be precise – with CNY celebrations beginning on Wednesday, January 29 and ending on Wednesday, February 12. Herewith, my thoughts for this year of the snake, as based on my CNY property articles.
Depending on who you talk to and what you read, the Chinese symbolism for snakes is all about wisdom, mysteriousness, cool observation and occasional bouts of passion. The snake is also the most tenacious of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals.
Therefore when it comes to property, snakes won’t slide under the varied emotions around real estate, especially potential cash rate hikes. Instead, they will have the cool confidence to stick out their tongue at such ups and downs.
They’ll study the market carefully and quietly and will happily yet silently curl up in seemingly dark moments away from the noise and crowds – all the while knowing when to quickly slither to the forefront of a great auction or other sale opportunity.
Happy Chinese New Year of the Snake and thanks for reading!
*Nathan Mawby did not write the year of the horse article with me but he was the colleague who instigated my year of the dog video idea
Cowboy, take me away… but if you can’t, c’est la vie….
Why the grass is greener in your own backyard.
We’re just one week out from Melbourne Cup Day 2024 so what better time to write about my favourite things and the many layers behind them?
Unusual for a city-bred Melbourne person, I have a lifelong love for country living and all this lifestyle pertains to - including paddocks of horses and every other farm animal in between. As a lifelong reader as well, I “grew up on” The Silver Brumby, which played a big part in a holiday to the Snowy Mountains in 2016 with this trip resulting in a fun article for NewsCorp’s “Escape” section. The My Friend Flicka series and Black Beauty were also prime favourites as is Escape to the Country and for years, I loved country music.
Yet I spent the majority of my 20s struggling to reconcile how to choose between living and working a rural life (and I gave an equine TAFE course a try when living in Perth in 2002) or one of writing/reading, likely still living in the city. I realise now I could easily have reconciled the two not-so-separate ideas but the latter won in the end anyway and I don’t regret this choice.
A big reason for choosing my current lifestyle was living and working in Longreach in far north-west Queensland in 2004-2006. It was a wonderful town and a great period of fun friends and fun jobs; however, Longreach was isolated and very hot and forget escaping to shopping centres or beaches in the regularly 40+ degree heat although the local river offered some relief. So, I was determined not to live in such an isolated - and hot - place again.
These days, I would still choose the Escape to the Country house but with only one paddock (or two) rather than acres of land and not located many isolated kilometres from a major town or city but within an hour or two of such a centre. I would also continue to do what I know and love most: journalism and particularly real estate journalism.
Sadly, I don’t have the choice of living wherever I want to live anymore (do any of us?) with personal reasons likely to keep me chained to suburbia - and away from equine opportunities - for life. However, I’ve learned over the years that these restrictions can’t take away my love for all things rural and my love for animals, especially horses.
In another great reconciliation between writing, horses and property - my three favourite things - I’ve written plenty of articles on this combination which has been highly satisfying and reduced the discontentment of living in a non-dream home.
For example, one of my best jobs at The Longreach Leader was working at the local racecourse on race days. Along with spending time around both horses and friends, I would drive in a ute to the starting gates so I could photograph the horses as they jumped from the stalls. Then, for the mad dash in the ute to grab more photos as the horses crossed the finish line.
These days, the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) cash rate announcement on Melbourne Cup Day is the perfect excuse for equine-based property articles including writing humorous equine phrases and headlines such as Homeowners' long faces as RBA refuses to rein in cash rate in 2023 and RBA cash rate canters to new lead - again in 2022. Who knew interest rates, especially rising ones, could be fun to write about?
By the way, I never have learned to ride horses well although the trainers at the former Royals Equestrian Centre did their best to teach me. They were also happy for me to write this property piece about their special home at the Brisbane Showgrounds for The Courier Mail in 2016. The same can be said for this article I wrote for The Herald Sun in 2018 about an historic 1890s home with a harness-racing stable complex going to auction in Melbourne.
So, yes, while the grass may be greener somewhere else, c’est la vie. I don’t have the dream Escape to the Country cottage or the farm animals but I keep close to the country by writing about my triple combination of favourite things and enjoying suburban life as best as I can with my cat, five goldfish and a lovely cottage garden (I feel another blog coming up soon on the latter so stay tuned!)
Thanks for reading!