HAPPY OWNERS: The new owners of 55 Patrick St in Avalon, which was on the market for years before selling in November. Picture: Toby Zerna
Source: News Limited
SYDNEY’S home buying frenzy has swept up everything in its path as a string of expensive and supposedly unsellable properties that had been for sale for up to seven years finally sold.
Chief among them was a five-bedroom house in Bayview that had been on the market since March 2007 and an Avalon Beach house up for sale since May 2008.
No buyers had previously wanted to pay the $6 million price tag for the Bayview house, while the Avalon property’s labyrinth of cobwebs and crumbling architecture scared buyers off.
The lengthy listing periods contrasted most Sydney houses for sale last year, which were listed only a month before getting purchased, according to Core Logic RP Data.
The slow-selling properties accompanied two other sales of houses that were listed more than five years, including a 1000 hectare estate in Denham Court and a luxury home in Palm Beach.
Despite a pool and tennis court, 6 Ralston Rd, Palm Beach stayed on the market for years.
Source: Supplied
A double-story brick house in Turramurra that failed to sell in 2008 was also scooped off the market for $2 million.
Raine Horne chairman Angus Raine said it was rare for homes to be listed this long but said such properties can often attract a stigma that make them harder to sell, even if the initial reason for not selling was simply a lofty price.
“Some properties tick fewer boxes than others and take longer to sell, but if they have been on the market for a particularly long time some people assume it’s because there is something wrong with them.”
This proved the case for the vendors of 34 Minkara Road in Bayview, which took seven and a half years to sell. The extravagant home is in an affluent area overlooking Pittwater, but after being initially priced at over $6 million, five times the suburb’s median price, the stream of interested buyers dried up.
By the time the owners dropped the price five years later to $4.7 million, most would-be buyers had already lost interest. The home sold last year for $4.1 million.
30 Cubitt Dr, Denham Court took more than five years to sell.
Source: News Corp Australia
Mr Raine added that the long awaited sale of properties like the Bayview house showed the current market presents the perfect time to sell a flawed property.
“In softer markets, properties with some flies on them take longer to sell, but a bull market smooths out the detractors and gets properties moving,” he said.
Number 55 Patrick Street, a four bedroom brick house a short stroll from Avalon Beach, was not short of detractors until November last year.
The property had been on and off the market for six years and selling agent Steven Crooks of Pacific First National-Avalon said a combination of high price and poor presentation persuaded most buyers to look elsewhere.
“The property has two levels, but the top level hadn’t been lived in for years and had fallen into disrepair. The owner had also scheduled dinner parties during open house inspections, which didn’t help,” he said.
MISSED OPPORTUNITY? The view from 34 Minkara Rd, Bayview.
Source: Supplied
The property’s new owner Ian Walton said he saw the home as a diamond in the rough. “It was falling apart, full of cobwebs and looked like it was stuck in the 1980s, but it’s in a fantastic area. We did a complete renovation and now it is a beautiful home,” Mr Walton said.
Other properties such as 30 Cubitt Drive, a luxury mansion in Campbelltown’s exclusive Denham Court, likely proved difficult to sell because it was initially priced at $4 million — three times the suburb’s median price and 10 times Campbelltown’s median price.
SYDNEY’S SLOWEST SALES
55 Patrick St, Avalon Beach
•First listed: +$995,000, May 2008
•Sold: $999,000, Nov. 2014
Numerous attempts had been made to sell 55 Patrick Street, Avalon Beach since 2008.
Source: Supplied
34 Minkara Rd, Bayview
•First listed: +$6 million, March 2007
•Sold: $4.1 million, Sept 2014
34 Minkara Road, Bayview has five bedrooms, a tennis court and a pool.
Source: Supplied
30 Cubitt Dr, Denham Court
•First listed: $4 million, May 2009
•Sold: +$3 million, Dec. 2014
30 Cubitt Dr, Denham Court also includes a tennis court.
Source: News Corp Australia
2 Ku-ring-gai Ave, Turramurra
•First listed: $2 million, Jan 2008
•Sold: $2 million, Sept 2014
2 Ku-ring-gai Ave, Turramurra was first listed in 2008, but the owners failed to find a buyer willing to purchase at the price they wanted.
Source: Supplied
6 Ralston Rd, Palm Beach
•First listed: $3.25 million, Oct. 2009
•Sold: $2.1 million, July 2014
An aerial view of 6 Ralston Rd, Palm Beach.
Source: Supplied