26-05-2025
Aussies shocked at price of Sydney home but agent has a simple message: ‘They don't know'
'Sydney prices are a joke.'
That's the sentiment from Australians after a video went viral showing a period home in Sydney's eastern suburbs with an asking price of almost $7 million.
The five-bedroom, three-bathroom Federation-style home on almost 700sq m in one of the city's most sought-after tree-lined streets needs a bit of work. Even the agent admits that.
But many could not understand how it might fetch such a hefty price.
'$7m for this? Australia is cooked,' one person wrote on a video shared by a Sydney buyers agent.
'$7 million and the master bedroom doesn't even have an ensuite?,' another wrote.
'No understanding why anyone would price this house at $7 million,' wrote another.
But the home at 29 Milroy Avenue in Kensington is worth more than that, according to Roger Wardy, the Director at Ray White Touma Taylor.
He should know. He just broke the suburb record with a sale of a similar property — 6 Mooramie Avenue — one week ago that went for $7.5m.
'They don't know,' Mr Wardy told when asked about those questioning the price guide.
'They're uneducated about wealth or how to make money. First, they don't have that amount of money. When you know that area and the growth, you wouldn't think twice about that price.'
In fact, Mr Wardy believes the home is worth more. With a few small tweaks, he believes it could be the first home in the suburb to attract offers in the $8m range.
'I see the value here. That's why I invest here. This spot here is on the tree-lined, flat section of the most sought-after street in the suburb.
'It has a huge amount of space, lush gardens, a massive pool, very high ceilings the whole way through.
'Properties like this are rare. It's not the most renovated, but not the most unrenovated. You don't need to spend that much to make another million — just a few cosmetic changes and it could get $8m.'
Not bad for a home that sold in 1997 for just $695,000.
Kensington is just south of Moore Park and west of Randwick, 4km south-east of the Sydney CBD and less than 10 minutes from Coogee Beach. It is booming.
In the last four years, the median house price in Kensington has grown from $2.5m in 2020 to more than $4.2m in 2024.
And Milroy Avenue is 'regarded as the best street in the suburb,' Mr Wardy says.
'It's five minutes from the city, 10 minutes from the best beaches, close to transport to the west and north. It's really conveniently located.
'The people who live here have top tier jobs; surgeons, solicitors, barristers, directors of banks, they live here.
'What I've noticed is people think they want to live near the water. But in two years, they get over it, they get sick of having drunks walk past their house. So they come back from water side to park side. They raise their families here instead.'
Mr Wardy said Kensington is growing in such a way that it has passed the rate of growth for Vaucluse — one of Sydney's most affluent suburbs.
'If you had invested in Kensington 10 years ago and Vaucluse 10 years ago, the percentage growth on the dollar is more in Kensington.
'It's like a diamond in the rough.'
The sale of 6 Mooramie Avenue, which broke a suburb record at the start of May, overtook another of Mr Wardy's sales.
In September last year, he sold 7 Lenthall Street in Kensington, a corner block, for a whopping $7,250,000. The new suburb record at the time was sold after a single inspection.
It bodes well for the upcoming sale at Milroy Avenue. Even if those on social media can't wrap their head around it just yet.
