Yahoo Finance Aussies shocked as woman swoops into auction to buy home she’d never seen
The Perth home was sold for $1.7 million to the surprise bidder.
Aussies bidding on a home in Perth were left surprised after a woman who was walking by decided to register and then won the auction.
The four-bedroom house with a pool at 448 Cambridge Street, Floreat, WA, sold to the surprise bidder for $1.7 million.
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“Right at the tail end of bidding as things were starting to simmer down, someone walked in and asked if they could quickly register,” listing agent Vivien Yap from Ray White Dalkeith told the AFR.
“She’d never seen the home. She walked straight into the backyard and said ‘I like this house.’ She came in right at the last minute when I was getting my second-final bid. She just turned up and goes ‘I like it. I want to bid’.”
Despite the surprising turn of events, it’s not unheard of for a surprise bidder to enter an auction and it is a quick process to register to bid.
“You just need a drivers’ licence. And for the deposit you get a promissory note. They paid what they can on the spot and get the rest within [a number of] days,” Yap said.
It’s getting harder to buy a home
A recent research report by PEXA and Longview found over the past 40 years homeownership has declined across all generations.
“The downturn has been most pronounced within younger age groups. Those aged between 35 and 44 are 18 per cent less likely to own a home today than they were in 1981. Those aged between 25 and 34 are 20 per cent less likely to own than they were in 1981,” the research said.
“Although part of this trend can be explained by changing lifestyles, such as the increased uptake of higher education (which delays earnings and savings), these factors alone do not explain the extent of the fall in ownership rates among younger age-groups.”
The research said the decline in home ownership is not because people have less interest in owning a home, but rather there is an affordability problem.
“Mortgages are the only practical option for most Australians to purchase a home. There are two important barriers to acquiring a mortgage: paying the monthly mortgage and saving for a deposit,” it said.
The research found that home ownership is largely only available to those who have help from family - i.e. the bank of mum and dad.
“In 2022, 47 per cent of first home buyers received financial help from their families when buying,” the research said.
“Cash gifts (received by 24 per cent of buyers at an average of $99,000), or an inheritance, were the most common forms of assistance. The average loan from family members was $112,000.”
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