John McGrath finds Walsh Bay prices have been watered down: Title Tattle
Estate agent John McGrath has sold his redundant Walsh Bay apartment on Sydney Harbour for $5.5 million, falling slightly short of his purchase price and $6.45 million listing hopes.
The 243-square-metre Hickson Road apartment – renovated after its 2009 purchase – comes with a 17.5-metre boat berth.
It last traded at $5.5 million for the apartment and $450,000 for the boat berth in late 2009 when bought from Michael Hagerty. It represented a mild 7.5% drop on last sale price.
McGrath recently took the opportunity of subdued pricing at the prestige end of the property market to upgrade to a pricier $6.95 million apartment, his third upgrade within the landmark complex.
The $5.5 million sale was through McGrath agent Richard Shalhoub, whose prior Walsh Bay sales efforts had warranted McGrath to post a testimonial for the agent on the company’s website.
It’s still there, saying: “I have a company with what I think are the best sales agents in the country, but I chose Richard to sell my home because he sells Walsh Bay better than any other agent in Sydney.
“He loves Walsh Bay and focuses there exclusively which are two key factors, and his success rate at attracting and selling buyers from other areas into Walsh Bay is second to none.”
The apartment, with 50-square-metre terrace, first traded for $3.7 million off the plan in 2000 and the berth initially sold at $190,000. The new owners took occupancy in 2003 after the conversion by the Mirvac-Transfield syndicate.
There had only been seven apartment sales – including two off the plan – at more than $5.5 million before the latest sale.
They included the record when mortgage industry entrepreneur John Symond secured $16 million in 2006, having knocked two three-bedroom apartments into a super-pad. His Walsh Bay apartment had 520 square metres of living space plus a 140-square-metre balcony and two boat berths.
