An auction that sparked controversy when an Asian woman emerged the winner – leading many to mistakenly believe she was a foreign investor – has highlighted the tense state of Australia’s property market.
Sydney auctioneer Tom Panos last week posted images from an auction of a family home at Georges Hall in Sydney’s south.
“Look how this Asian lady scares away all the Lebanese bidders,” he said.
Panos added: “Never mess with a determined Asian woman.”
However, shortly after Panos shared the video on social media, the Asian woman was attacked by hundreds of online trolls.
“More foreign investors are buying up Australian properties and leaving them empty so they can expand their portfolios, while working Australians struggle to find a rental, let alone buy a home,” one said.
An auction in Sydney sparked controversy when an Asian woman emerged the winner, leading many to mistakenly believe she was a foreign investor.
Auctioneer Tom Panos (pictured) shut down those who assumed she was a foreign buyer, saying Australian foreign investment laws made this impossible.
A second added: “Pauline Hanson warned us about this years ago.”
A third said: “It’s called greed, and countries should be like Bali and Dubai and stop selling to foreign investors.”
Panos dismissed those who assumed the woman was a foreign buyer, telling the WhatsNew2Day that Australian laws made foreign investment in Australia impossible.
‘Foreign investors are not allowed to buy real estate unless it is a new development. “It is illegal to buy an old property like this as a foreign investor,” he said.
‘There are many people of Lebanese and Asian descent in the area. There is a large cohort of people of Lebanese descent in Georges Hall and a large cohort of people of Asian descent in the Canterbury, Bankstown area.’
Many Australians echoed Panos’ words and criticized those who incorrectly assumed the buyer was foreign.
One said: ‘My mother has lived in Australia since the 80s, she can speak English but still has a strong accent.
She has been an Australian citizen since 1990 and I bet many will think she is a foreign investor. We migrated here with only suitcases with our clothes and without much money.
Panos said the woman had been successful because she simply wanted the house more than her competitors and had more to spend.
Sales of new-build homes to foreign buyers hit a six-year high at the end of 2023, according to NAB bank
‘My parents have owned dozens of properties and still do, all thanks to hard work. It just shows how ignorant some people can be when they see successful people at auction who don’t “look” like they were born in Australia.
Another added: These people have most likely been working every day since they came to this country. Good for them. Tall poppy syndrome at its finest right here.
Panos said the woman had been successful because she simply wanted the house more than her competitors and had more to spend.
“You don’t have to be Einstein to realize, she had a bigger budget,” he said.
He credited the woman with putting pressure on his latest competitor by taking another look at the bedrooms to slow the pace of the auction.
He said the woman and her partner were “over the moon” and he disagreed with speculation that they had paid too much for the house, which sold for more than $1.3 million.
In terms of current trends, Panos said there was “really good” growth in price under $1.5 million, but units were harder to shift.
“One place where the market is being affected is the oversupply of units in large areas like the Olympic Park, where there is an oversupply of stock,” he said.
Panos said he felt “very sorry” for first-time buyers and that high interest rates meant both renting and buying were a financial challenge.
“There is a lot of anguish and despair right now, people are angry and upset because they won’t be able to achieve their dream,” he said.
‘This is an example of why the government needs to quickly start rezoning and improving property supply.
“The government is doing nothing to house all the immigrants they are bringing in.”
Sales of new-build homes to foreign buyers hit a six-year high at the end of 2023, according to NAB bank.
“The overall result suggests there has been a nearly five-fold increase in the market share of overseas buyers in new Australian local markets since hitting a low of just over two per cent during the Covid pandemic in mid-2021.” , says the NAB report.
“The recovery has come amid record migration and reports that China’s post-pandemic reopening has sparked a surge in foreign interest in Australian housing, with international agents reporting a rise in inquiries of more than 400 per cent. “.