John McGrath – The Calm Home: Serene, Smart & Safe

Clevelane Rooftop, Redfern

Photography: Felix Forest

As we head into November, sellers may be interested to hear of new PropTrack data indicating this may be the best month to sell.

According to PropTrack’s latest Market Insight, homeowners who list in November typically achieve prices that are, on average, 0.78% above the yearly national average.

That’s an interesting data point. However, I think the quality of your marketing, the presentation of your home, correct price positioning, and your agent’s expertise and hard work will ultimately influence your sale price much more than the month you sell in.

This week, I’d like to talk about a major trend identified in our newly released McGrath Report 2025.

Post-COVID, we’ve seen the shape and requirements of our homes change quite radically. The home is now also a workplace for many people, and we’re seeing more multi-generational living due to cost pressures and higher interest rates.

This has led to people taking steps to turn their homes into calming sanctuaries. There’s been a revival of soft flooring with more rugs on timber floors and luxurious carpeting. Home decoration and layout approaches are emphasising human connection and comfort, offering occupants a welcome break from the digital universe.

The sanctuary trend is also extending to health and wellbeing. Gardens are now seen as luxury spaces for relaxation and serenity. Adam Haddow, Director of SJB architecture and design studio is also the death of ‘open plan’ living, with homeowners preferring more defined rooms for occupants to enjoy quiet alone time.

Haddow also notes a move away from manufactured building products to natural and sustainably sourced materials.

This includes rammed earth construction, whereby walls are constructed by compressing raw materials such as gravel, silt, sand and clay between formwork. Although it’s labour-intensive, this produces less greenhouse gas emissions than other building methods.

Homeowners also want to take advantage of the latest technological innovations to make us more comfortable, save time or help the environment. The smart home trend is seeing more people install heat exchange appliances, which save energy by re-using generated heat. Air filtration systems and ceiling fans are replacing air conditioning and reducing household energy costs.

There has been significant progress in the data exchange between interconnected devices within the household. Advancements in home intuitive lighting control systems could soon remove the need to switch a light on or off.

As more people switch to driving an electric vehicle (EV), a private EV charger at home is becoming an essential feature. New and existing homes need to accommodate this or risk being bypassed by future potential buyers.

Many councils are developing sustainability strategies that include installing community EV chargers for residents of properties with no on-site parking. They’re also developing planning controls for new apartments, and strata guidelines for existing apartments, to encourage the installation of EV chargers in communal car parking areas.

More people are being invited to our front door than ever before. Across the nation, 9.5 million households received a parcel from online shopping in 2023, but almost one in five reported that packages were stolen from outside their front door.

All-weather secured parcel boxes, intelligent mailboxes in apartment foyers, and interactive cameras in home doorbells are some of the features owners are using to ensure safe delivery. Thermal lockers are the latest new device to cater for home food deliveries.

The Spring selling season continues this week, with auction clearance rates trending a bit lower at the moment due to the larger volume of homes for sale nationwide.