It was the auction that went viral and divided Aussies. Now the real estate guru behind the footage tells the real story of what happened on the big day
An auction that sparked controversy when an Asian woman emerged as the winning bidder – leading many to mistakenly believe she was a foreign investor – has highlighted the busy state of Australia’s housing market.
Sydney auctioneer Tom Panos posted footage from an auction for a family home at Georges Hall in Sydney’s south last week.
“Look how this Asian lady scares away all the Lebanese bidders,” he said.
Sir. Panos added: “Never mess with a determined Asian woman.”
But soon after Mr Panos shared the video on social media, the Asian woman was attacked by hundreds of online trolls.
“More foreign investors are buying Australian property to fill vacancies so they can expand their portfolios, while hard-working Australians struggle to find a rental, let alone buy a house,” one said.
An auction in Sydney sparked controversy when an Asian woman emerged as the winning bidder, leading many to mistakenly believe she was a foreign investor
Auctioneer Tom Panos (pictured) shut them down, assuming she was a foreign buyer, saying Australian foreign investment laws made this impossible
Another added: ‘Pauline Hanson warned us about this years ago.’
A third said: ‘It’s called greed and countries need to be like Bali and Dubai and stop selling to foreign investors.’
Sir. Panos shut down those who assumed the woman was a foreign buyer, telling the TheWSTNews Australia’s laws made foreign investment impossible in Australia.
“Foreign investors are not allowed to buy real estate unless it is a new development. It is illegal to buy an older property like this as a foreign investor,” he said.
“There are many people of Lebanese and Asian descent in the area. There is a high group of people of Lebanese heritage in Georges Hall and a high group of people of Asian descent in the Canterbury, Bankstown area.’
Many Australians echoed Mr Panos’ words, calling out those who mistakenly assumed the buyer was foreign.
One said: ‘My mum has lived in Australia since the 80s, can speak English but still has a strong accent.
‘She’s been an Australian citizen since 1990 and I bet a lot of people will think she’s a foreign investor. We migrated here with only suitcases of our clothes and not much money at all.
Panos said the woman had been successful because she had simply wanted the house more than her competitors and had more to spend
New-build home sales to foreign buyers hit six-year high at end-2023, according to NAB bank
‘My parents have owned dozens of properties and still do, all from hard work. Just shows how ignorant some people can be when they see successful people at auctions who don’t “look” Australian born.’
Another added: Most likely these people have been working every day since they came to this country. Good with them. Tall poppy syndrome at its best right here.’
Sir. Panos said the woman had been successful because she had simply wanted the house more than her competitors and had more to spend.
“You don’t have to be Einstein to figure that out, she had a bigger budget,” he said.
He credited the woman with putting pressure on his last competitor by taking another look at the bedrooms to slow the pace of the auction.
He said the woman and her partner were ‘over the moon’ and disputed speculation they had overpaid for the home, which sold for more than $1.3 million.
Turning to current trends, Mr Panos said there was some ‘really good’ growth in the sub-$1.5 million price range, but units were harder to shift.
“One place where the market is being affected is the oversupply of units in large pockets like Olympic Park where there is an oversupply of stock,” he said.
Sir. Panos said he “really felt bad” for first-time buyers and that high interest rates meant both renting and buying were financially challenging.
“There’s a lot of anxiety and despair right now, people getting angry and sad that they won’t be able to achieve the dream,” he said.
“This is an example of why the government needs to quickly start restructuring and improving the supply of real estate.
‘The government is doing nothing to house all the migrants they are bringing in.’
Sales of newly built homes to foreign buyers reached a six-year high at the end of 2023, according to NAB bank.
“The overall result suggests there has been an almost fivefold increase in foreign buyers’ market share in new Australian domestic markets since reaching a low of just over two per cent during the Covid pandemic in mid-2021,” the NAB report said.
‘The recovery has come against record migration and reports of China’s post-pandemic reopening sparking a wave of foreign interest in Australian housing, with international agents reporting an increase in inquiries of over 400 per cent.’