Insights from Luke Saville, apartment specialist and founder of Savvi, on Property, Straight Up

First home buyers have never had more information at their fingertips, and they have rarely been more confused. Sold results that once took a phone call to find are now a click away, while TikTok and Instagram serve up an endless stream of property advice, much of it contradictory and some of it simply wrong. Add in well meaning parents, friends who bought five years ago and a market that rarely sits still, and it is easy to see why so many first time buyers feel overwhelmed.

In the first of a three part series on first home buyers for Property, Straight Up, host Mel Dennis of Domain & Co sat down with Luke Saville, the founder of Savvi and one of Melbourne’s best known apartment specialists. Luke works almost entirely with apartments in Melbourne’s inner east, which means he spends much of his week with first home buyers. Their conversation covered what buyers fear most, the myths worth ignoring, how to tell a good apartment from a bad one, and how to get an offer accepted or win at auction.

Becoming the Apartment Guy

Luke began specialising in apartments around thirteen or fourteen years ago, spending roughly seven years in the dedicated apartments division of a larger agency before that division was folded back into the main brand. After a stint with another agency, he recently launched Savvi, a brand built entirely around apartments.

Some in the industry think he is mad to pass over $3 million houses with far bigger commissions. Luke simply loves the apartment space, and he enjoys working with younger first home buyers. They are, in his words, easier and a lot more fun to deal with.

More Informed, But More Confused

Asked whether first home buyers today are more confident or more confused, Luke says the answer is both. Fifteen years ago, buyers had very little accessible information. Today, sold data and market commentary are everywhere. The problem is volume. With so much competing advice, much of it from newcomers to the industry posting on social media, buyers can easily assume that anyone confident on camera must know what they are talking about.

That is why Luke believes buying is harder for first home buyers now than it was a decade ago. It is not only about prices. It is about sorting good advice from noise, and knowing when a professional opinion is worth paying for.

What First Home Buyers Fear Most

In Luke’s part of the market, the biggest fear is buying an apartment that turns out to have problems. Building defects and cladding issues are front of mind, and so are owners’ corporation fees. A buyer comfortable with fees of around $4,000 a year can find them jumping to $10,000 or more if the building needs major work.

The encouraging news is that buyers are responding sensibly. Almost every first home buyer Luke meets now has the contract reviewed before making an offer or bidding at auction. Years ago, plenty of people signed without reading a word.

More buyers are also ordering building inspections on apartments, including new ones. Agents sometimes suggest a newer apartment does not need an inspection, but Luke has seen apartments only five years old with water getting in through balconies that were never properly sealed. Mel agreed that water ingress is the single biggest issue in apartments, and it is exactly the kind of problem an inspection is designed to find.

Parents Versus Lifestyle

Parents often have strong views, and many are firmly against apartments. Their instinct is to push their children toward a house further out, on a block of land. Luke understands the logic, because houses have delivered stronger growth over the past twenty to thirty years.

First home buyers, however, are usually weighing something different. They want to live close to the city, near friends and work, and within reach of a tram home after a night out rather than a $100 rideshare. Both views have merit. The right answer depends on the buyer’s budget, their plans, and how long they intend to stay.

Three Myths, True or False

Mel put three common first home buyer beliefs to Luke.

• You need a 20 per cent deposit. False. Buyers can enter the market with a 5 per cent deposit, including through the Australian Government’s 5% Deposit Scheme. Whether that is wise depends on the person, because a 95 per cent loan is a significant commitment. Luke’s view is that rent is dead money, while Mel suggested that any savings beyond the deposit can sit in an offset account as a buffer for emergencies.
• You should wait for the market to crash. True, but only if you want to rent forever. Luke recalls his father saying for a decade that he would invest in Melbourne one day. He never did, and the crash never came. Mel added that no one can time a downturn, and when the market is genuinely quiet, buyers tend to lack the confidence to bid anyway.
• Apartments do not grow in value. It depends on the building. Apartments in large Docklands towers of 100 to 200 units have largely stalled over the past decade. Apartments in smaller, well built older blocks in the inner suburbs, one of eight or one of ten, have grown. The growth has been more modest than houses, but it has been real.

What Makes a Good Apartment

Luke admits his own thinking has shifted. He once steered clear of newer apartments entirely, but demand for well built modern stock has grown. Whatever the age of the building, the things that make an apartment desirable are consistent:

• Good proportions. Rooms that are a sensible size and shape, and a layout that actually works.
• Natural light. Few things lift an apartment more, and few things are harder to fix if it is missing.
• Privacy and outlook. Elevated apartments with complete privacy and a pleasant view perform strongly.
• Outdoor space. A balcony or courtyard is increasingly sought after.
• A well run owners’ corporation. Understand how the building is managed before you buy, not after.

Car stackers are becoming a real sticking point. Luke has heard of systems breaking down every two or three months, and his results selling apartments with stackers have been mixed. They also limit the size of car you can park. If you are considering one, check the height limits and the emergency release, and favour a ground level space you can drive out of if the system fails.

Luke and his team now apply a simple test before taking on a listing: would we buy this ourselves? It is a useful question for buyers to borrow.

Looking Past the Styling

One of the most common mistakes buyers make when comparing apartments is falling for a beautiful renovation on top of poor fundamentals. Styling plays a big part. Buyers are increasingly moving furniture during inspections to check where the power points are and whether the room works for how they will actually live. Mel’s favourite question is a simple one: where will the television go?

Cosmetics can always be changed. Light, layout, outlook and the building itself cannot.

Mel also asked whether the old rule of buying the worst house on the best street applies to apartments. Luke’s answer is that it depends. With a house, you control the renovation. In an apartment, the owners’ corporation controls much of what happens, and most first home buyers do not have the appetite for a major renovation in any case.

Red Flags to Look For

Luke’s first piece of advice is to read the owners’ corporation AGM minutes carefully, and to ask for the last two or three years rather than one. A single year rarely tells the full story of an ongoing dispute or a deferred repair.

The second is to understand the mix of owner occupiers and investors. A split of around 50/50 is typical, but some buildings are 70 to 80 per cent rented. Renters themselves are not the problem. The issue is hands off investors who are reluctant to spend money on maintenance. An owner occupier may find it very hard to persuade a majority of investors to fund works such as a new roof or windows that matter over a ten year horizon.

Mel added a third: look at the neighbours. If a government department owns several apartments in the building, for example, that is worth knowing, because once you buy you cannot choose who lives next door.

Hidden Gems: Land Value in Small Blocks

One of the more interesting opportunities Luke sees is the low rise older building sitting on a large parcel of land. Picture a block of four apartments on a 1,000 square metre site. Each owner effectively holds a quarter share of that land, around 250 square metres. If a developer later wants the site, the return to each owner can be substantial.

Luke says this has already started happening in parts of Hawthorn and Richmond. Mel agreed that it is land, not the building, that drives long term growth, although Luke hopes some of Melbourne’s beautiful art deco blocks survive the developers.

Understand the Title Before You Buy

Title type is one of the things first home buyers most often overlook. Apartments in Victoria can be held under strata title, stratum title or company share title, and the differences matter.

With company share title, you are not buying the apartment itself. You are buying shares in a company that owns the building. Luke notes that these properties generally require a larger deposit, and you cannot use the 5 per cent deposit scheme to buy one.

Mel added that buyers purchasing with a partner, friend or family member should also think about how they will hold title together. Joint tenants and tenants in common are treated very differently, particularly when it comes to what happens if one owner dies. It is worth getting legal advice before signing.

Making an Offer That Gets Accepted

Luke sees first home buyers obsess over things that do not matter, such as asking why the owner is selling. An agent will never reveal an urgent or desperate reason, so the question rarely helps.

What does matter is when you do your homework. The most common mistake Luke sees is leaving due diligence until the offer stage and then submitting an offer that is subject to everything. Over the past six to twelve months, he has watched buyers miss out repeatedly because the vendor chose a cleaner offer.

Mel shared a story that makes the point perfectly. One buyer had a building inspection that flagged a slow kitchen drain, a noisy shower head and a missing toilet roll holder, and he asked for every item to be fixed as a condition of sale. That same evening, another buyer offered $5,000 more with no conditions at all. The first buyer missed out.

Luke suggests a smarter approach. Arrange finance pre approval and a valuation in advance, then use the cooling off period to complete a building inspection, allowing you to make a clean, unconditional offer. Buyers relying on this should check the rules first. As Consumer Affairs Victoria explains, the three business day cooling off period applies to private sales only. It does not apply at auction or to sales made within three clear business days before or after an auction, and withdrawing costs the greater of $100 or 0.2 per cent of the price.

Finally, ignore the advice to play it cool with agents. Pretending you are not interested does not change how an agent treats you. Show genuine interest, and put in writing that you want to be told about any other offers. Luke says some buyers have found properties marked as sold without ever being given a chance to respond.

Bidding at Auction

For first home buyers, auctions can be intimidating. Most have never bid before, and the fear of getting carried away is real. Luke and Mel have both seen parents take over the bidding on their child’s behalf, and both agree that ego and the fear of losing play a much bigger role than most people expect.

The biggest mistake is turning up without a strategy. Luke’s is simple:

“Bid strong, bid fast, and look like you have the highest budget.”

Luke Saville, Savvi

Buyers who lose often say afterwards that they would have gone another $5,000. The trouble is that no one knows whether the other bidder would have stopped there.

Silent auctions have their own dynamics. When no one bids, the property is passed in and the agent negotiates with interested parties, usually starting with the highest bidder. Luke recalls an art deco apartment campaign about ten years ago where nobody opened the bidding. Once it was passed in, three buyers came forward wanting to bid, the auction was restarted, and the competition was suddenly fierce. Everyone had simply been waiting for someone else to go first.

His favourite auction story involves a nervous first home buyer in her late twenties whom he had met at several inspections in Hawthorn. On auction day she faced three investors, held her nerve, outbid them all and bought the apartment. Luke says he felt like a proud dad, and that seeing a first home buyer secure a place to live means far more to him than another sale to an investor.

Emotion Still Matters

Can you fall in love with the wrong property? Luke says yes, often. Buyers let emotion override fundamentals such as size, outdoor space for a dog, or car parking. Mel added that many buyers today are drawn to what looks good on Instagram rather than what works for daily life.

Quick Fire Round

Mel closed with a set of quick fire questions. Luke’s answers:

• Buy now or wait? Buy now.
• Renovated or original? Original, because there is less competition.
• Top floor or ground floor? Top floor.
• Courtyard or balcony?
• Bigger apartment or better location? Bigger apartment.
• Auction or private sale? Private sale.
• Parents’ advice or TikTok advice? Talk to a buyer’s advocate.

His one piece of advice for every first home buyer: research thoroughly before you commit, understand the whole process, and bring in a professional when you need one.

Key Takeaways for First Home Buyers

• Have the contract reviewed and get a building inspection, even on a newer apartment. Water ingress is the most common serious issue.
• You do not necessarily need a 20 per cent deposit, but think carefully about carrying a 95 per cent loan and keep a buffer.
• Do not wait for a crash. No one can time the market.
• Focus on proportions, light, privacy, outlook and outdoor space. Styling and finishes can be changed.
• Do your due diligence before you offer, so your offer can be as clean as possible.
• Show agents genuine interest, and ask in writing to be told about any other offers.
• Go to auction with a strategy, and bid with confidence.

Key Takeaways for Apartment Buyers and Their Families

• Read at least two or three years of owners’ corporation AGM minutes, not just the latest.
• Check the owner occupier to investor ratio. Heavily investor owned buildings may resist spending on maintenance.
• Choose a smaller block in a good inner suburb over a large tower if long term growth matters to you.
• Look for low rise older buildings on large land parcels, where land value can drive growth.
• Know the title type. Company share title typically needs a bigger deposit and is not eligible for the 5 per cent deposit scheme.
• Be cautious with car stackers. Check height limits, reliability and the emergency release.
• Parents can help most by funding independent advice rather than steering the decision.

This article is based on Episode 15 of Property, Straight Up, the first in a three part series on first home buyers, in which Mel Dennis speaks with Luke Saville of Savvi.

Property, Straight Up is brought to you by Domain & Co, Your Property People.