The small studio apartment in Bondi has set a suburb record after selling for $2.32 million. (Source: Raine and Horne Double Bay)
A Bondi studio apartment has set a record for the ritzy beach suburb after going up for sale last week. With just 34 square metres of space, 6/77 Ramsgate Avenue on the north end of the sand isn’t exactly the type of place for hosting a big party.
But the one-bedroom, one-bathroom and no parking property went to the highest bidder after a flurry of offers poured in on Friday. Raine and Horne Double Bay had a rough price guide of $1.1 million and agent Christophe Serrao told Yahoo Finance it could go as high as $1.4 million based on previous sales.
But nothing could have prepared him for what it would eventually sell for.
“It was nuts… it was a shock for everyone. It’s blown everyone’s expectations out of the water,” he said.
While it might not be a large home, it was still dubbed as a once-in-a-lifetime property because of its close proximity to the beach.
It’s one of just two addresses that has direct access to to Bondi promenade.
“It’s got the view,” Serrao told Yahoo Finance. “A lot of properties have a view, but here you’re right above the water.
“People do not understand how rare it is for these to come up for sale.”
The apartment might not be very big, but you’ll have stunning views of Sydney’s most famous beach. (Source: Raine and Horne Double Bay)
But it wasn’t without it’s faults as the property was on a company title, which is different from your regular strata title that is the far more common deal these days.
Under a company title, you technically don’t buy the home itself, but shares in the company that owns the building and land.
You have to jump through a lot of hoops under this structure, like having the board of directors approve everything from a new tenant to minor renovations.
It can also limit the property value growth as well as rental expectations.
Serrao told Yahoo Finance that some were scared off by this arrangement, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t a fierce fight for the keys.
The owner initially was keen on it going to auction but was advised that offers of interest would be a better path and would be far less stressful.
He had owned the property since it was built in the 1950s and was “very, very close” to selling it for $1.4 million before he approached Raine and Horne.
Over 15 days, there were 600 enquiries and 250 inspections. By the time the expressions of interest window closed on January 31, there had been 57 requests for contracts, but only seven were presented to the owner.
Serrao said there was interest from a range of buyers, from investors wanting to turn it into a rental “cash cow”, to owner-occupiers that wanted to soak up the beach views every day, to young Aussies using the Bank of Mum and Dad to get their first home.
The Bondi studio is only 34 square metres in size, but it still attracted a lot of attention. (Source: Raine and Horne Double Bay)
The winning bidder, which Serrao wasn’t allowed to disclose which camp they fell into, picked up the keys for a cool $2.32 million.
That last-minute decision to pivot from selling privately to doing a proper sale ended up benefitting the owner more than $900,000.
Serrao said that the sale has by far set a record for Bondi, and could be a Sydney Eastern suburbs or even an Australian record, but he hadn’t yet compared other sales in the past to be sure.
The previous record for a studio in Bondi was set at $1.4 million each back in 2022 for two 26-square metre properties across the road from where 6/77 Ramsgate sits.
When there are major sales like this, there are fears that it pushes the median price up, meaning wannabe buyers will have to fork out more in the future.
The real estate agent doesn’t believe this will happen because it was such a unique property, but he told Yahoo Finance that it certainly sets a precedent for the suburb and shows how much appetite there is for a slice of the Aussie beach dream.
It also is far above what’s considered normal for the price per square metre for Sydney.
The median price per square metre in Sydney is $2,450, according to PropTrack data.
But 6/77 Ramsgate Avenue had a price per square metre of $68,000.
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