After receiving negative headlines for evicting a long-term tenant, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has once again failed to sell his investment property and was forced to reduce the price.
The three-bedroom townhouse at 29B Lewisham St in the western Sydney suburb of Dulwich Hill was due to go under the hammer last month with a price quote of $1.9 million, but lack of interest saw the auction canceled at the last minute.
Mr Albanese and his agent Shad Hassan, of The Agency Inner West, decided to lower the price to $1.85 million.
However, that still didn’t generate any interest and the asking price was lowered again to $1.75 million.
Mr Hassan blamed the weakening market.
‘I think the reason for that is very simple. “There has been a small change in the market and the Prime Minister’s properties are not immune to that change,” he told the newspaper. Sydney Morning Herald.
However, Mr Hassan remained optimistic that the property would be sold soon.
Anthony Albanese is having trouble selling an investment property in Sydney and has now reduced the price twice
The property was bought by Mr Albanese in 2015 for $1.175 million, but he decided to sell it before controversially purchasing a clifftop mansion on the NSW Central Coast for $4.3 million ahead of his wedding to Jodie Haydon.
In May, Jim Flanagan, who had rented the Dulwich Hill townhouse from Mr Albanese for four years, was served with an eviction notice, giving him just 90 days to vacate before the sale.
Mr Flanagan, who runs a small business, contacted Sydney tabloid the Daily Telegraph to complain that the deportation order had “hit him like a steam train”.
‘This will kill me, it’s a crippling blow at this point. I have mixed feelings about raising this,” Mr Flanagan said.
‘I voted for Albo in the last elections and am broadly 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.”
The asking price of the Dulwich Hill mansion (backyard pictured) has dropped from $1.9 million to $1.75 million
Jim Flanagan, 45, (pictured) begged Mr Albanese not to sell the house but was eventually kicked out
Mr Albanese responded by telling the ABC he was selling due to changes in her personal life.
He said that during the Covid period he charged Mr Flanagan just $680 a week, as opposed to the $800-$1,200 for similar properties in Dulwich Hill, and had not subsequently collected this, meaning the property’s owner small business enjoyed ‘half market rent’.
When the news broke, Mr Albanese had purchased a five-bedroom property with stunning ocean views from every room in Copacabana NSW. Many questioned the timing of this lavish purchase during a cost-of-living and housing crisis.
As many Australians tried to put a roof over their heads, this led to numerous accusations that the Prime Minister had left his famous youth on the Housing Commission far behind him and had lost touch with ordinary Australians.
The Prime Minister’s purchase of five beds in Copacabana, on the NSW central coast, sparked significant backlash
“I don’t begrudge anyone who can afford to buy a house worth that much. What I do begrudge is that same person trying to tell the general population he represents that he understands the pressure we are under,” one person commented on social media. .
“Nice to know he’s just a regular fighter,” another joked.
“Labor politicians are simply too rich and distant to understand the daily struggles of real Australians,” said a third.
In an awkward interview in Brisbane, where he was asked about the extravagant purchase, Mr Albanese referred to his childhood.
“I also know what it’s like to struggle,” he said.
‘My mother lived all her 65 years in the only public housing (apartment) in which she was born.
“I know what it’s like and that’s why I want to help all Australians into a home, whether it’s public housing, private rental housing, or homeownership.”