After attracting negative headlines for sacking a long-term tenant, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese again failed to sell his investment property and was forced to lower the price.
The three-bedroom semi-detached house at 29B Lewisham St in the inner Sydney suburb of Dulwich Hill was up for auction with a guide price of $1.9 million last month, but a lack of interest meant the auction was canceled at the last minute.
Albanese and his real estate agent Shad Hassan of The Agency Inner West decided to lower the price to $1.85 million.
However, this failed to spark interest and the asking price was reduced again to $1.75 million.
Hassan blamed the weakening market.
‘I think the reason is quite simple. “There has been a slight change in the market and the Prime Minister’s property is not immune to that change,” he told Sydney Morning Herald.
However, Hassan remained optimistic that the property would sell soon.
Anthony Albanese is having trouble selling an investment property in Sydney and has now dropped the price twice.
The property was purchased by Albanese for $1.175 million in 2015, but he decided to sell it before controversially purchasing a $4.3 million clifftop mansion on the New South Wales Central Coast before getting married. with Jodie Haydon.
In May, Jim Flanagan, who had rented the Dulwich Hill house for four years from Mr. Albanese, received an eviction notice giving him just 90 days to leave before the sale.
Flanagan, who runs a small business, contacted Sydney tabloid the Daily Telegraph to complain that the eviction order had “hit him like a steam train”.
‘This will kill me, it’s a crippling blow right now. “I have mixed emotions reporting this,” Mr Flanagan said.
‘I voted for Albo in the last elections and, in general, I am in favor of his policies.
“He has every right to try to sell his assets… on the one hand, he is trying to be sympathetic to the majority of Australians who, like me, find the current climate extremely challenging.”
Dulwich Hill townhouse asking price (backyard pictured) has dropped from $1.9 million to $1.75 million
Jim Flanagan, 45, (pictured) begged Albanese not to sell the house, but he was eventually thrown out.
Albanese responded by telling ABC that he was selling due to changes in his personal life.
He said that during the Covid period he only charged Mr Flanagan $680 a week, as opposed to $800-$1200 for comparable properties in Dulwich Hill, and had not increased it afterwards, meaning the small business owner enjoyed of a “mid-market rental”.
When news broke that Albanese had purchased a five-bedroom property with stunning ocean views from every room in Copacabana, New South Wales, many questioned the timing of this opulent purchase during a cost of living and housing crisis.
The struggle of many Australians to get a roof over their heads led to widespread accusations that the Prime Minister had left his famous housing commission childhood far behind him and had lost touch with ordinary Australians.
The Prime Minister’s purchase of a five-bedroom hotel in Copacabana on the New South Wales Central Coast sparked considerable backlash
“I don’t envy a person who can afford to buy a house worth that much, what I do envy is that that same person tries to tell the general population that he or she represents that he or she understands the pressures we are under,” one commented on social media. . .
“It’s good to know he’s a normal fighter,” another joked.
“Labor politicians are simply too rich and too distant to understand the everyday struggles of real Australians,” said a third.
In an awkward interview in Brisbane where he was asked about the extravagant purchase, Albanese made reference to his childhood situation.
“I also know what it’s like to fight,” he said.
‘My mother lived in the only public housing (flat) in which she was born during her 65 years.
“I know what it’s like and that’s why I want to help all Australians get into a home, whether it’s public housing, private rentals or home ownership.”