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The Local Ormeau Property Chat with Brett Reddell
Your home is your biggest asset—make sure you’ve got the right advice.
Join Brett Reddell, Ormeau’s trusted real estate expert, as he shares short, sharp episodes packed with insights to help you make smarter property decisions. Whether you’re thinking of selling, planning ahead, or just want to stay informed—Brett breaks down what’s really happening in the local market and why it matters to you.
Real tips. Local knowledge. Straight from the guy who knows Ormeau best.
Hi, and welcome to the Local Ormeau Property Chat Podcast. I'm Brett Reddell, your trusted local real estate expert for Ormeau and Ormeau Hills. Whether you're buying, selling, or just curious about the market, this podcast is here to give you the insights and advice you need, plus a little community connection along the way.
With a passion for selling family homes to families, I'm here to share practical tips and expert knowledge to help you make confident real estate decisions. Let's get started.
Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Local Ormeau Property Chat Podcast. My name is Adam, and today we're tackling something that comes up in just about every real estate conversation at the moment, and that is where the market is currently at and what is actually really happening on the ground. If you follow the news, you'll hear plenty of headlines about interest rates, buyer confidence, and whether the market is slowing down, but how much of that actually reflects what's happening here in Ormeau and Ormeau Hills?
To help us unpack that, I'm joined by Brett and Ethan Reddell, Team Reddell, uh, Ormeau and Ormeau Hill specialists, and today we're separating the headlines from the reality and talking about what we're generally seeing, genuinely seeing happening on the ground every week. Guys, welcome to the podcast.
Thank you, mate. How you going? Appreciate it. Okey doke. Brett, let's start with the ob- obvious one.
Yep.
Do you think the headlines are giving people an accurate picture of what's actually happening in the local market at the moment?
Look, no, not quite right. Um, look, it's July, just to s- to set where we're sitting at the moment- Yeah, we've just gone past- 'cause obviously by the time the
podcast comes...
Yeah ... the, the, the budgetary changes that have come in.
Yep, yep. So we are seeing a quieter market. We are seeing lack of confidence in pricing especially. Um, I, I do think the interest rates being held's been a good thing. Is it gonna happen again? I hope so. Do we need a drop? Probably not a drop, but we just need to hold it.
We need to get some financial stability. You know, the, the promises of tax cuts, the promises of every Australian getting another $1,000 I've heard something about, does it really weigh up to the extra cost? It probably doesn't. So at the moment, I think the, the political environment is creating a slow environment.
I don't know if anyone's seen, um, but July we've come into a 20% auction clearance rate. That's low. Queensland's always low anyway, but that's really low when you look at the numbers that are normally out there. So that shows there's a lack of confidence of buying, especially an upfront property with cash.
So where is their money going? So i- are they investing money elsewhere? Are they putting it into shares? But that's down as well.
Yeah.
It's a, it's a tough, it's a tough market.
Absolutely. Ethan, what are we seeing at open homes, mate? It, are, are numbers dropping?
Yeah. Yeah. We're seeing that we're getting fewer and fewer- Mm
um, every single week, which is quite disappointing, but, um, it just shows that people don't really have confidence in the market- Yeah ... and they don't wanna spend money on certain properties that will be priced a little bit higher than- Sure ... what they are willing to spend.
Sure.
It's- I think it, I think it's that concern, you know, like when we talk to people, it's the concern of, "If I buy now, am I gonna lose money?"
Look, you never lose money on property. At the end of the day, your property price goes up and down, but it doesn't change the value of what your loan is and your interest rates. That changes obviously, the interest rates, but, but your property value shouldn't affect-
It's a number on paper until you sell.
Y-
yeah. Look, it is, 100%, and it's trying to explain that to people. But you gotta have confidence to spend the money. Like, you're not gonna go out and buy something that you're not confident in buying, and especially sellers. There's a lot of sellers at the moment. We're busy listing properties. Um- But they've got to sell and buy in the same market.
But also they could actually sell in a better market than they buy in, 'cause that market could drop again yet. We don't know. Mm-hmm. So we are seeing adjustments. So it's... I, all I can say is if you want to buy a property, buy a property. Don't be scared to buy. It's your home. Don't keep paying rent-
Mm ...
for no reason at all when you can put that in your own home.
It's still gonna reduce your loan. Your loan is your loan. Um, if you're gonna hold your property for 10, 15, 20 years, you're going to make money out of it. So don't ever, don't ever worry about that sort of scenario. That's
right.
It's- If you're a short-term and you're a flipper and you're looking for the opportunity, that's different.
It's probably not your market right now.
Yeah.
You'll wanna wait for it to drop a lot more, and then you might have to sit on it a bit longer.
But that's the, the thing about Ormeau and Ormeau Hills, isn't it? It's a family area. Mm. Most are buying, um, you know, to get into a family home. We may see a difference now in the investor sentiment due to- Yep.
We do ...
the,
uh, the negative gearing changes. Mm. But, um, if you're buying to, to live in a property 10 or 15 years like most families are, you're not, you're not going to lose.
No, you
won't lose. Um, and it's like the, you know, talking about shares. When you buy shares and they go, they go up and down on a daily basis.
I know.
I look at 'em every day and
say- Um- ... "How
much have I lost today?"
And my son looks at his little portfolio, says, "I'm down 1.5% today. That's, that's, uh- Yeah ... three and a half grand." Yeah. And I say... But then he looks the next week and it's 4% up, and, um- Yeah. Yeah ... so it, it, it's just a number on paper- Mm
until you're actually gonna transact and, and actually, and actually sell, so-
Mm ...
you know, it, you know, coming into this market could actually be very well a, a great time to, to buy where, um- Yeah ... where things aren't cont- You get a chance to get in. How long have we been, you know, um, talking about first-time buyers who just do not get a look in?
Yeah.
Well, right now you can, can't you?
Well, that's interesting, because when the government changed it to a million dollars for first-time buyers, that's where the prices went up. That's when smaller blocks, smaller homes were selling for a million bucks when they weren't worth that. Now that adjustment's come into play.
You would've seen the news down south where a young couple, it was quite well-publicized, paid nearly $1.5 million for a first home- They've lost money. They're in negative equity. Now, that's unfortunate, but the house is still worth what it's worth. That's a big example of where they probably shouldn't have been.
Hopefully their affordability's still there for it, but, you know, interest rates do fluctuate. Um, and hopefully it won't go up too much more. But it's, look, buy. Just go out and buy a house. Even invest up. Buy a house. At the end of the day, a tenant is still contributing to the, the, the pay down on your loan.
Even if you are as well and you can't get negative gearing, it's still an asset for the future.
Yeah.
That's not a bad thing. Especially when you get to that bump where you go over the negative into the positive, it's all great from there on in.
Mm. Mm. What sort of conversations are you having with buyers?
How has, how has that changed now you're getting smaller groups through, through open homes? Yeah. What, what's the difference in conversation? What is the buyer sentiment out there?
They're looking. We're just looking. We're just seeing what the market's doing. We're just waiting. There's a lot more subject to sale stuff out there now, 'cause people aren't cashed up.
Yep. So they're, they're cash goes elsewhere. I used to see it a lot when I sold land. You'd have buyers coming out paying cash for it when the interest rates were low. When the interest rates are high, you put it back in the bank, because that's where your, your, your cash interest rate is based on your home loan rates.
Sure. So it's, it is an interesting conversation, and it is trying to convince people to buy, not to sit and wait, 'cause you don't know what's gonna happen. Suddenly- Well, I
guess that's another thing, isn't it, Ethan, that, um, with this, this flip in the ma- Mm ... if, if we call it this flip in the market from, you know, two months ago, where we're still riding high on the back of, what, five years of unbelievable growth, where-
Mm
things are selling first weekend ev- every- Yeah ... every weekend, and now we've got this where it's not only not growing, but al- let's call it stagnant now- Mm ... and potentially even going. People don't wanna move, do they? That l- l- let's, when it's moving so fast in a, in a, in the opposite direction-
Mm ...
they do wanna wait.
W- well, let's just see what, what happens.
Yeah, I, look, I agree. People ride the trends, unfortunately.
Yeah.
And, and we shouldn't follow the trends. It's always good to buck a trend, because the trends can put us in a position where, like shares, we're buying it based on trend, but we're actually losing money.
Yep.
And instead of actually just going with what's right, and what's right is just go buy a house, live in it, pay it off, and, you know, become a good asset for the future, an investment. Just go buy the investment, pay it off, cop the loss for a while until it comes down, pay it down, work hard. It becomes an investment for the future.
So you gotta look at your asset base instead of worrying about what the future's gonna bring. 'Cause if we sit around worrying about the future, future's gonna be here.
Yep.
And then worry about the next lot of future, you're not gonna be ahead.
No.
I keep saying that to Ethan all the time, like it's time to invest.
Like he's got good strategies, he's got good financial advisors, um- It's go for it. Just go do it. Don't worry about the little losses in shares and stuff. They're up and down, and if you've got the right share portfolio, it reinvests anyway so you get more shares. You never lose your units. You just lose the dollar value, but it grows back.
Yep.
And you keep growing units.
Yep.
So it's just, it's mindset is just go out and do it.
What are, what are sellers saying out there? Y- y- have you got more stock now than you did through the ti- through that period where we were- Uh ... getting such major growth? Or is it- No, we're always pretty busy ... about the same?
Yeah, we're pretty bus- well, based on contract and stuff, about 15 to
17 units at the moment. Yep. So, or properties. Um-
I, I'd say we've got more coming on at the same time than we did,
yeah, before. So it hasn't scared sellers off this, this... There's people now wanting to jump in and, and, and, uh-
But they're mindful of what's happening. So they know they're selling in a market that they've got to buy in, so that's good.
But I also offer the service to them too. If I'm selling you property, I'm here to help you buy. So in the sense of, "Hey, tell me what you're buying and I'll tell you what the price looks like based on what the indicators are, what the bank looks at." So I give them a bit of a, an assistance with that. Um- But they're smart buyers now.
They're, you know, 'cause they're coming into a tough market as a seller, they're a smart buyer.
Yeah.
That's a bonus.
Yeah. Now these market forces, I heard on the radio on the way in here today, auction rates over the weekend, Sydney, Melbourne, were close to 40%, which is almost- That's like- ... unheard of.
Mm.
Um, so these market conditions are affecting the, the whole country.
Yep. Is there anything about Ormeau and Ormeau Hills in, in context of the, the, the greater market that is unique, that is different to, um, to what's happening anywhere else?
No.
No?
No, unfortunately. I'd love to sit here and say, "Hey, we're a unique area." And we are unique. We're a beautiful place. Like, it's a gorgeous family area.
We love it. Yep. Um, like we say to people, takes two hours to go buy a hot chocolate at Woolworths- ... 'cause you've gotta have about four or five meetings and conversations, but that's life. I love it. I love to see people and have a chat. It's good. Good to see what they're doing with their property and their growth.
Um, but we are no different unfortunately. It's probably harder because we are suburb, we are in the middle. Yep. And that's a good thing too if you're looking for somewhere that you're transient, we are in the middle of both airports, about a K difference to them. So it's a good spot to be. When you get close to the Gold Coast, you're picking up different types of people.
Once you get close to the water, there are specific buyers who want water, they're happy to pay, investors who want new properties, and they are channeling to new property. Are they? That's where they're heading.
Are they?
Yeah.
Well, there are still concessions on new property still available that aren't there for, for, uh, established homes now, i- isn't there?
Yeah. Well, if you look at the infrastructure needs, I suppose Gold Coast is going up in height, so they want to sell lots of units, and there's a market for those, especially in offshore market. Um, when you go to suburbia, people want land, but the problem is it's getting that land and getting it ready is near impossible.
So all the promises that are being made by the government are not now promises, they're future promises. Yeah. And they're banking on they get voted in on a, on a future promise. People need to understand and observe that a bit better.
If someone's trying to work out whether, you know, now is the right time to sell or, you know, where should they be getting their information from?
I mean, there is so much scaremongering out there at the moment. Yeah. Um, who's the right people to talk to?
Themselves, because it's their situation. So everyone sells for different reasons. If you're just selling because you just have this thing that every three years you buy and sell a house, then that's probably not the right time to do it.
Yep. But if there's a reason you're selling, then it's the right time to sell.
Sure.
So it's, it comes down to personal. So, uh, do a fors and against, sit down. What's all the fors in selling? What's all the against in selling? And what's my reasons to sell? And you've gotta make sure that the reasons to sell outweigh the fors and against, obviously, 'cause they're right reasons.
And then if the fors come into the reasons, they're fine. But it's, it's your own personal choice. Nobody can advise you, unless it's a financial advisor saying, "Hey, you're about to retire. You need to sell that house so you can get the cash and go live overseas." That's a different scenario.
Yep. So what I'm hearing, Ethan, pretty much we're at a scenario now that, um, unless you're looking at a short-term buy and sell for whatever reason, there's still no reason to, to really be scared off and, um- Mm
and not be-
Yeah ...
taking a chance to, to get into the market.
Yeah. Well, it's n- like, you know, it's not a rush at the end of the day. Like, if you, if you wanna buy and sell a home, there's more aspects than just making money. You know? It's, it's about finding the home that's right for you. So, you know, if you- Exactly
if you're gonna sell your house or you're gonna buy a house, it's something that you gotta take time to do. It's not like a- Yep ... "Oh, spur of the moment, I wanna do it." You know, especially in the situation we've got right now, like-
Mm ...
we've got plenty of people who still wanna sell their house, and we're trying our hardest- Mm
but, you know, buyers don't wanna buy, so.
Right at the minute. Mm. But look, that gives an opportunity to buyers, doesn't it? In that, you know, before you had to jump in, you had to jump in fast. You may not get exactly- Mm ... what you want because you're just desperate to- Yeah ... to get one.
Yeah.
Um, and people were missing out.
Now you, you might have choice. Um, you may get... You've, you've got a lot more to look at. There's a lot less competition. Um-
It's a great time to buy because you, you do have more properties on the market sitting there. Your negotiation ability's just gone through the roof.
Mm.
Where before it wasn't. You, you didn't have the opportunity to negotiate.
So- You were just literally having to put down more money- Yeah ...
because you wanted- That's it. If... I, I mean, we've been complaining so long about how- Yeah ... tough it is for buyers.
Yeah.
You know, if there's any message from this particular episode is if you're a buyer, now is the time. You don't get markets like...
You haven't had a chance with markets like this very often- Mm ... um, over the last 20 years, where you, you can negotiate, you do have- Yeah ... a bit of choice, and you don't have a huge amount of competition.
It's actually true. And do you know, the funny thing is when you look at industry leaders who get on TV and they talk about this on, on the news, and these are industry leaders who are national groups- You don't hear them say that, do you?
No. Or
you hear them say, "Oh, price is going down. Price is going down. Drop the price. Drop the price." Like, that's all they talk about, because they need all their agents to go drop the price. What they should be saying as the positive side of it is, "Hey, if you're out there to buy a property, it's a great time to buy and these are the reasons why."
Because you are now going to be able to negotiate across a range of properties knowing that they're not moving as quick, and not have to throw a lot more money at it, and probably get a better price.
Mm.
So great time to buy. Get out there and buy a property. That's it. Why wouldn't you? You know, we, we had to do two price reductions last night.
Yeah.
Did I want to do them? No, I don't. I don't like doing them. I'm there for the client to get the money they need and they deserve for the house. But these guys are like, "Yeah, you know what? We're gonna buy it the same so it doesn't matter."
Yeah.
So we did it.
Yeah.
And one of them will s- definitely sell out of that, we guarantee it.
Yeah.
But, you know, get out there and buy, don't be scared. Stop listening to all that negative national press out there of them saying that we're the brand. Well, they're, they're not. They're, they're not the brand that you wanna do. The, the brand is you, and brand is going out there and actually doing what- Yeah
you need to do to get your own property and get in- Yeah ... the market.
And as always, i- you know, if you are looking to buy or sell in Ormeau or Ormeau Hills, Brett and Ethan are the guys to, to talk to. They live and breathe the market and see the, the changes that are happening daily there, and can talk you through the pros and cons of where things are actually at, no matter what your, your circumstances.
And look beyond these headlines that just tell you it's, um, you know, it's a weakening market and that, um, that everything's doom and gloom. There are absolutely some opportunities out there right now and, um, and these are the guys to, to speak to. So look, if you are, you are listening, you're, you're watching, please, um, share this with anyone you know in, in Ormeau, Ormeau Hills and the, and the surrounding region, um, to keep them up to date.
And, um, Brett and Ethan are always open to, um, to taking a call just to- Mm ... just to have a chat about, um, about where things are at, and, um, taking it further if that's what, uh, you'd like to do. So guys- Yeah ... thanks, um, thanks again for joining me- Appreciate it. Thank you ... and look forward to catching you on the, uh, the next episode.
Cheers, mate. Thanks for listening to the Local Ormeau Property Chat Podcast. I hope you found today's episode helpful, and feel more empowered on your real estate journey. My goal is to provide you with valuable advice, while staying connected to our amazing community here in Ormeau and Ormeau Hills.
Remember, selling family homes to families is what I do best, and I'm here to support you every step of the way. Stay tuned for more tips, insights, and local area knowledge in the next episode. I'll see you then