Why a photo of this Mount Druitt house is proof the dream of owning a home is over for most Aussies

A house that has sold for a record amount in a once less desirable suburb is proof of how out of reach owning a home is for many Aussies.

When 30 Fuller Street, Mount Druittin western Sydney, sold at auction on Saturday for a whopping $2.3 million, even the real estate agent was shocked.

Amir Jahan, owner of A-Klasse Makelaars, said the couple who beat the other four active bidders had fallen in love with the six-bedroom, four-bathroom property.

Mount Druitt is generally considered a more affordable area, with the average price of a home currently at $965,000.

The mansion’s staggering price tag has all but wiped out that prospect – even beating the average price in Sydney, which sits at $1,627,625.

Mr Jahan said when the two-storey house on a 1,020 sqm block with a swimming pool first came on the market, he was bombarded with sarcastic comments.

“The area is traditionally seen as a bit rugged,” he said.

‘Nobody believed this house was there.

‘People made comments like, “Can I still buy drugs at the train station?” and “I don’t have a dirt bike, can I still look at that?”

‘One person said, “I’m not a rapper, can I still buy it?”

Mount Druitt has developed a shady reputation with the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics, which revealed in January it was the suburb with the highest crime rate in Sydney.

The area recorded 3,021 serious offenses in one year and had the highest number of domestic violence incidents in the city with 743 offenses and the highest total number of burglary incidents with 257.

“Mount Druitt is growing,” Mr. Jahan said.

“Compared to three, four years ago, when you said Mount Druitt, people said, ‘I’m afraid to go there.’ It’s a completely different place now,” he said.

‘It is a beautiful and decent area. There are a lot of people moving there and to St Marys.”

Mr Jahan said you can still get a house in Mount Druitt for $1 million to $1.1 million.

He admitted that while this is still high for many Aussies, it is now ‘standard’ for Sydney.

“All I can say is the Sydney market is going to be incredible. And it is growing every day,” Mr Jahan said.

The agent said first-time homebuyers will be deflated by the sales, as Mount Druitt is the last hope for many to get onto the property ladder.

“A lot of buyers are now trying to get into the Mount Druitt area because they think they can get a cheaper property compared to all the other Sydney suburbs,” Mr Jahan said.

“And now this property has fetched $2.3 million, so where else can they go to buy a property?”

He said although the house is “beautiful” and spacious, people were still expecting a bargain because of the address.

“All the bids that came in were valued at $1.2 to $1.3 million,” he said.

‘I call them bargain buyers. I get them for every property I list.

‘People tried to use the suburb to negotiate.

‘But a nice couple in their thirties with three children loved it. They originally wanted to buy in another neighborhood, but they just fell for the house.”

The enormous mansion is so impressive that if it had only been in one or two suburbs, the sales price would have been $5-$6 million and $7-$8 million for a few more suburbs away.

While Sydney’s new airport has been tipped to increase prices in areas such as Mount Druitt, the agent said buyers should just get in where they can.

“You can’t lose in the real estate market,” he said.

Jahan’s record high price for the Fuller Street property comes after September’s PropTrack Housing Affordability Report showed how unaffordable home ownership is for Australians.

A household earning the average Australian income of $112,000 can only afford 14 per cent of homes for sale in Australia.

This dropped to just ten percent for homes in NSW.

Of Greater Sydney’s 658 suburbs, 448 now have an average price of more than $1 million, according to Corelogic data released in late September.