The price guide is one of the most misunderstood aspects of buying and selling property in Scarborough. How you interpret it as a buyer will shape the offers you make and the opportunities you miss; how you set it as a seller will determine who walks through your door and the competition you generate.
What a Price Guide Actually Is
A price guide in WA is the agent’s representation of the price range they genuinely expect the property to sell for, based on comparable sales and current buyer behaviour in that price band and area.
It’s a communication tool. Its job is to tell active buyers in that price range that this property is relevant to them and worth inspecting. Set correctly, it maximises the number of qualified buyers who come through. Set incorrectly, either too high or too low and it either excludes the right buyers or attracts the wrong ones.
How Buyers Should Use It
The price guide indicates whether the property is within your search range. That’s its primary function for buyers.
It does not tell you what the property will sell for. In a competitive Scarborough market, well-positioned properties can regularly sell above their guide, sometimes significantly. The guide is a floor, not a ceiling.
If the guide seems low relative to what you know about the suburb, it may be priced to generate competition, which means you need to be prepared to move quickly and write a strong offer. If it seems high relative to comparables you know, it may be set to anchor the seller’s expectations rather than the market’s.
How Sellers Should Think About It
Your price guide is the first piece of marketing your property has. It ultimately determines who sees it.
A property priced at the top of its genuine market band attracts fewer buyers than one priced through the middle of that band. In realestate.com.au search filters, a $50,000 difference in your guide price can mean the difference between appearing in one buyer’s search or appearing in three.
The guide is not a negotiating tool; it should be treated as a funnel. Set it to maximise the number of genuinely qualified buyers who walk through your first open home to build the maximum amount of interest and competition, not to anchor a number you’d like to achieve. If you’re looking to interpret a price guide for a Scarborough property you’re interested in, or if you’re preparing to sell and want to set your price correctly, please give us a call.