‘Dictated by the market’: Why Isla Fisher and Anthony Albanese pulled their auctions

This month, two highly-anticipated auctions were set to take place in Sydney, but both were pulled at the last minute. Here’s why.

Nestled between the leaves of plane and Japanese zelkova trees on Wallis St sits a two-bedroom art deco apartment, its curved brick walls kissing the corner of Sydney’s eastern suburb of Woollahra.

This is the location of Isla Fisher’s first apartment, which she purchased for a cool $171,500 in 1995, a year after launching her career as Shannon Reed on Home and Away.

At only 19, Fisher was on her way to becoming one of the most recognised and successful faces in the Australian TV and film industry.

Isla Fisher is selling her apartment nearly three decades after purchase. Picture: @islafisher Instagram

The second level apartment is in Woollahra. Picture: NewsWire / Max Mason-Hubers

Over the next few decades, while working on films like Wedding Crashers and Confessions of a Shopaholic, Fisher’s Sydney apartment was used as a rental investment property.

Now, nearly 30 years after purchasing the art deco property, it’s time for the Hollywood star to hang up her keys.

Following the separation from her husband, British actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, after more than two decades together, the Australian superstar put the apartment, which was built in 1930, up for sale.

Enlisted with Sydney-based JK Agency, the newly renovated apartment was put on the market in late September with a $1.1m price guide, which was later adjusted to $1m.

Keen buyers interested in purchasing the property expected to see her NSW apartment put up for auction on Sunday, October 12.

However, before the gavel could fall, JK Agency pulled out of the scheduled auction.

The Art Deco apartment is up for sale. Picture: NewsWire / Max Mason-Hubers

Speaking to NewsWire, Maria Ciancio, one of the agents behind the sale, explained the auction was pulled because there wasn’t enough interest shown on the day.

“There were not enough people ready to go for that day,” Ms Ciancio explained. “We basically know beforehand … that no one was in the position to be ready to go.”

Instead, the property will be sold privately.

Following the auction’s revocation, the apartment shed $100,000 from its price guide before returning to a stable $990,000, and while it’s nothing to sneeze at, it still falls short of its original $1.1m listing.

The housing market in Sydney has been fluctuating recently. Picture: NewsWire / Max Mason-Hubers

Knowing they wouldn’t be able to sell the apartment at auction, the agents had to make the switch to a private sale.

Despite the interest in Fisher’s apartment, the drop in asking price doesn’t come as a surprise.

“We’re dictated by the market right now,” Ms Ciancio said, describing the current state of affairs as “funny”.

Even though they failed to host an auction on Sunday, Ms Ciancio told NewsWire the team was “close to making a deal” for the Woollahra property, which is set to be finalised this week.

As for Fisher, the news of the fluctuating valuation hasn’t wiped the smile off her face.

“Isla is happy,” Ms Ciancio said.

“We got her the best we could in this market; she knows we’ve done our best to get the highest price.”

The apartment is set to sell this weekend. Picture: NewsWire / Max Mason-Hubers

It’s not just Fisher’s no-go at auction that has got tongues wagging.

Anthony Albanese recently pulled his investment property in Sydney’s inner west from auction, which was slated to take place on Saturday, October 12.

The Prime Minister purchased the three-bedroom, two-bathroom townhouse for $1,175,000 in 2015, and is listing it for sale at $1,850,000.

While there was one potential buyer interested in purchasing the Dulwich Hill home, Shad Hassen of The Agency Inner West explained that the person showed “no firm commitment” in the lead-up to the auction, with the real estate agents ultimately deciding to pull the plug before the 11am Saturday auction.

“We had interest in the property, which didn’t get there, so we decided instead of an auction, we’d put an asking price on,” Mr Hassen told NewsWire.

The Sydney real estate agent explained that while the auction failed to actualise, this was not a fault of the property itself but due to an excess in available properties and a lack of buying power.

“We’re seeing more homes on the market, so buyers have a lot more choice … there seems to be no rush of ‘we need to get in right now’,” he said.

The Prime Minster recently pulled his investment property from auction. Picture: NewsWire / Simon Bullard

The lack of interest has nothing to do with who is selling the property, either.

“It has nothing to do with Albo’s property,” Mr Hassen laughed. “It’s something that’s happening in the area.”

What’s going on with Sydney’s property market?

PropTrack senior economist Paul Ryan said despite high interest rates and the drop in median price, the Sydney real estate market was doing “surprisingly well”, though apartments hadn’t been as successful as houses.

In Sydney’s eastern suburbs, where Fisher’s apartment is located, median prices across all properties have increased by 12.1 per cent over the past three months, with units increasing by 2.6 per cent in the same timeframe.

“(The median price) for units haven’t caught up; the balance of growth has been quite even for the past year or so, and we can expect that to continue,” Mr Ryan said.

However, the median price growth in Sydney’s eastern suburbs is “one of the stronger market segments across the whole city”.

Interestingly, this is the same case for the city’s western suburbs, which has reported a median price increase of 9.1 per cent over the last 12 months, although this growth has tapered off in recent weeks.

As for the two high-profile properties up for sale, Mr Ryan believes they aren’t being listed for less than expected due to the market.

“Every auction campaign has its own story,” he said. “I wouldn’t suggest it’s because buying conditions are particularly weak at the moment.

“The NSW market is performing surprisingly well. We’ve seen prices continue to grow; Sydney prices are up 5 per cent over the last year.”

While price growth has “slowed a little bit”, Mr Ryan said this level of growth is “above the average rate we’ve seen for the last 30 years or so”.