11 years for sale, still no buyer: the NSW homes on the market the longest without selling

It was the year 2011 when the five-bedroom house on Billa St in the regional hamlet of Yarraman in northwest NSW was put on the market, but after multiple agents and numerous market changes, a buyer has yet to pay the $800,000 price tag.

PropTrack data provided exclusively to The Sunday Telegraph showed it’s not the only home that’s been up for sale for years without attracting a buyer – despite two housing booms over the last eight years.

Numerous properties have been up for sale since 2015 and 2016 without changing hands, including Sydney’s oldest property listing – a Maroubra home on Wise St that’s been on the market since 2015.

A property with mixed commercial and residential zoning in Gladesville has been up for sale since 2016.

And back in regional NSW, it’s been more than six years without a sale for properties in Narrabri in the state’s northwest, Ulladulla on the South Coast and Inverell in northern NSW.

Many of these listings were up for sale without agents, with the homeowners choosing to conduct the sales themselves using grainy or poorly lit images taken with their phones.

The homes also tended to be in lightly populated regions with a smaller buyer pool.

Over the last decade, the average NSW property has taken 30-60 days to sell.

Auctioneer Tom Panos, who coaches estate agents, said long-listings were usually a sign the properties were priced too high.

They then developed a stigma among buyers after languishing unsold on the market, he said.

“Every property, no matter what the condition or the location, will sell if it is priced right,” he said.

“Once properties stay on the market for an extended time they get stale and people start to think there must be something wrong with the house.”

Some of these themes appear evident at the Yarraman property listed since 2011. At $800,000, it is priced high for the region.

When contacted by The Sunday Telegraph, the agent admitted that the listing had gone stale and, after consulting with the owner, removed the property from sales portal realestate.com.au earlier this week.

The Maroubra house on Wise St has been up for sale in a campaign managed directly by the owners, who were not available for comment.

Property records showed they have continued to increase the price, originally wanting $2.2 million, increasing to $2.85 million, then $3-$3.3 million before listing as “price on application”.

“It’s really difficult to price a property correctly if you’re selling it yourself,” Mr Panos said. “We have an emotional connection with our houses. It’s hard not to be influenced by that.”