A hopeful homebuyer has criticized Australia’s property market after a property they wanted to buy sold for $1 million above its guide price.
The four-bedroom house at 10 Murray Street Marrickville, in Sydney’s inner west, sold for $2.91 million at auction on Saturday, despite having a guide price of $1.9 million that was later was adjusted to $2 million.
Bidding opened at $2.35 million and quickly surpassed the property’s $2.4 million reserve before a Bellevue Hill father won the auction with a bid of $2.91 million, purchasing the house for his daughter.
After the auction, one of the bidders expressed disappointment, saying he was surprised by the final sale price of $2.9 million, given the original price guide.
“This seems like an example of an extremely unethical approach with unrealistic guidelines,” they explained.
‘I can understand them setting the guidance 10 to 30 percent lower than they really think it will be, but this is crazy.
‘The winning bidder was a wealthy father who was clearly making an emotional purchase for his daughter, so am I right in thinking this is a fluke?’
‘Make it make sense. Is there anyone I can make a formal complaint to about the lack of guidance?
The four-bedroom home in Marrickville, in Sydney’s inner west, sold for $2.91 million, more than $1 million above the property’s original guide price.
One active bidder criticized the price guide as “unrealistic” and questioned whether auctions across the country were being won by “emotional” buyers. In the image: Archive image of an auction.
The Australians said the winning bid was not out of the ordinary and that many auctions are won by those who have money and make an emotional purchase.
‘That’s what happens with all the complaints about insufficient quotes. “Everyone is willing to contribute ‘just a little bit more’ to win the house,” one person commented.
“We spent 18 months actively searching the interior of the country,” wrote a second.
“In our experience, what happened to him is sadly not unheard of and we almost expected it at the end of our search.”
‘Emotional purchases are what the agent wants. So, it’s more the norm than not. And also due to the general lack of ethics in the entire sector, undercutting is rife,” said a third.
A fourth advised: ‘Just ignore the pricing guides. Compare to similar sales in the area and set your expectations from there.
Others criticized the bidder for its final bid of $2.7 million ($800,000 above the guide) claiming they were part of the problem.
‘You bid $800,000 above the advertised price. EIGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND. Dude. “You are as much a part of the problem as the $2.9 million bidder,” one person wrote.
“They spent 800,000 and made it look like the problem was the other buyer,” a second person added.
The man, from Bellevue Hill, who bought the property had inspected the house just 30 minutes before the auction.
He bought the property for his daughter, who fell in love with the house and told him she wanted to return to the area.
The daughter had previously rented in the neighboring suburb of Newtown before returning to live with her parents in Bellevue Hill.
The home’s value more than quadrupled, and records show it last sold in 2007 for just $625,000.