Forster Tuncurry entered the June quarter on the back of a strong run. For much of the past two years, demand has consistently outpaced supply, prices have risen steadily, and sellers have generally achieved results that exceeded their expectations. That picture has shifted. The three consecutive rate rises delivered by the RBA in February, March, and May have done what extended periods of rate pressure tend to do. They have changed the mood. Buyers who were moving with confidence earlier in the year are now taking more time. Open homes that were drawing strong numbers have quietened. Properties that would have attracted multiple offers six months ago are now requiring more careful campaign management to achieve the right result.
This does not mean the market has stopped. Properties are still selling, and well-priced, well-presented homes are still attracting genuine competition. What has changed is the margin for error. In a stronger market, an overpriced property would often find its level through competition. In this one, an overpriced property tends to sit. Buyers are doing their research, they know what comparable properties have sold for, and they are making deliberate decisions rather than reactive ones.
For sellers, the practical implication is straightforward. Pricing strategy and campaign management matter more now than they have at any point in the past two years. The sellersachieving strong results are those who have gone to market with accurate pricing and a clear strategy. Those who have entered with expectations formed during a more buoyant period are finding the adjustment more difficult. The underlying fundamentals of the Mid North Coast market remain sound. Population growth continues, supply remains constrained relative to demand, and the long-term outlook for the region is as strong as it has been. The current softening reflects sentiment and affordability pressures more than any structural weakness in the market itself.
For sellers considering their timing, the current environmentrewards preparation over optimism. A genuine conversation about where your property sits in today’s market, not last year’s, is the most valuable starting point.
The numbers don’t lie, and right now, the numbers are telling sellers something important. Auction clearance rates across Australia have fallen sharply
over recent weeks, dropping to levels not seen in some cases since 2020. Nationally, clearance rates have slid to around 51% in Sydney, 55% in Melbourne, and just 37% in Brisbane. To put that in context, Sydney’s average clearance rate of 50% in April was the city’s weakest since April 2020, while Melbourne’s 54% was the weakest since July 2022.
What Is Actually Happening Out There Open homes are still busy. Buyers are still attending, still enquiring, still asking questions. The interest is there. What has changed is the decision-making.
Buyers, once gripped by the fear of missing out, are now increasingly paralysed by the fear of overpaying. They are attending inspections, doing their research, and then waiting. They are moving forward only on properties they feel represent genuine value at the right price. Everything else, they watch.
The result of all this is two painful outcomes for sellers. The first is that those who are selling are often achieving less than they expected. When buyer competition thins and urgency disappears, negotiating power shifts. Sellers who entered the market with expectations formed during a stronger period are meeting a very different reality at the negotiating table.
The second is that many sellers are simply choosing not to sell at all. They withdraw. They wait. They tell themselves the market will recover and they will try again later. Some will be right. Others will find that waiting has its own costs.
In a strong market, the gap between a good agent and an average one is difficult to see. When buyers are competing freely, and properties are selling themselves, most campaigns end well regardless of who is running them.
In this market, that gap becomes visible very quickly.
A shifting market does not reward agents who advertise and hope. It rewards agents who have a genuine strategy for achieving a sale, who understand buyer psychology, who know how to create competition where competition is not automatic, and who have the negotiation skills to close a transaction when conditions are not working in the seller’s favour.
This is the moment to ask harder questions of your agent. Not “how many properties have you sold?” but “how are you selling in this market, specifically?” Not “what will you charge me?” but “what is your strategy for finding the right buyer and securing the best result when buyers are sitting on their hands?”
Many sellers have previously made surface-level decisions about their agent, choosing on familiarity, on a suburb performance chart, or simply on who knocked on the door first. That approach carries acceptable risk in a strong market. In this one, it carries real consequences.
There is a second issue that deserves attention, and it is one most sellers are not aware of until they are already committed.
When you list your property for sale, most agencies will ask you to fund the marketing campaign upfront, typically somewhere between $5,000 and $15,000, depending on the property and the program. This covers photography, online advertising, signage, and print. It is charged regardless of whether your property sells.
Read that again. You can spend $10,000 marketing your home, fail to achieve a sale, and receive no refund. The marketing cost is gone whether the outcome is achieved or not.
In a market where outcomes are less certain than they were twelve months ago, that is a risk worth understanding before you sign anything.
The question every seller should be asking is simple: Does my agent only get paid if I get a result?
At Ray White Forster Tuncurry, our answer to that question has always been yes.
No Sale, No Charge is not a response to the current market. It is a commitment we hold, because we believe it is the only arrangement that is genuinely fair to the people we work for. You should not be carrying the financial risk of an unsuccessful campaign. We should. If we don’t achieve a sale, we don’t get paid. It is that simple.
In this market, that commitment matters more than ever.
Alongside our No Sale, No Charge guarantee, we bring a genuine sales strategy to every campaign. Not a template. Not a standard advertising schedule. A specific, considered plan for your property and your circumstances, built around where buyers are coming from, what is motivating their decisions right now, and how to position your home to be one of the properties they move forward on, rather than one of the ones they watch.
We will have a direct, honest conversation with you about price. Not a conversation designed to win the listing, but one designed to give you the clearest possible picture of where the market sits today and what your property is likely to achieve in it. That conversation, even if you ultimately choose not to sell, is worth having.
If you are thinking about selling, have been considering it, or have questions about what your property might be worth in the current environment, we would welcome the conversation.
We will come to you. We will walk through your home, talk through the market as it stands, explain the strategy we would use to achieve your sale, and confirm our No Sale, No Charge commitment in writing.
No pressure. No obligation. Just an honest conversation with people who know this market and are committed to your outcome.
Contact the Ray White Forster Tuncurry team today to arrange your listing appointment.
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