A Tale of Two Units - 2 Wallis Parade, North Bondi, 2026

https://www.raineandhorne.com.au/doublebaybondibeach/properties/1-2-wallis-parade-north-bondi-2026-new-south-wales

I first went to view 2 Wallis Parade at the end of October of 2021. Over the years my wife and I had been watching the developer transform a rather old and tired Bondi home into somewhat of an architectural wonder. The block is 544 meters square. They demolished the old home, did a huge excavation and proceeded to a build two semis with shared underground parking. The home features lot of levels and angles and makes extensive use of a grey metallic exterior cladding which I really like. I was anxious to see what was inside.

Let’s start at the bottom. You drive down into the shared garage which is huge. There is parking for two cars per unit, a turning circle, separate storage rooms for each unit, a utility room, lift and stairs

The stairs and lift are shared and lead to unit 1 on the ground floor and to unit 2 on the second level.

Unit 1 is the three bedders and Unit 2 is the 4 bedder. When you arrive on the ground floor (Unit 1) you enter the front door and you are led into a spacious great room with living, dining and kitchen. I was immediately impressed by the finishes and attention to detail. The kitchen had a stunning black granite bench, Gaggenau appliances and the living area featured heated floors and a lovely gas fireplace below the TV. While this unit had not been styled it didn’t matter as Unit 2 was fully styled. Off the living area was a covered terrace with an under cover BBQ and a small garden. The 3 bedrooms were at the back up a short stairway so in effect they were about 1/2 a level higher than the living area. The master had a full ensuite and bedroom 2 and 3 shared a bathroom. The bedrooms were all reasonably big and the finishes in the bathrooms were as stunning as the kitchen using the same black granite.

Before I went to see Unit 2, I asked the agent what the price guide was. I was told then that they wanted 20 million for both units together but would also sell each unit separately. I immediately thought that was a huge asking price but let’s reserve judgement till I see Unit 2.

So I walked up the stairs and learned the Unit 2 was almost identical to Unit 1. It had almost the exact same living and dining area with 3 additional bedrooms 1/2 a level above. What was the master in Unit 1 was now just another bedroom in Unit 2 but the layout and size of each bedroom, the layout and size of the bathrooms was almost exactly the same. Again the bedrooms were all generously sized and the bathrooms had lovely finishes

What Unit 2 has that the other unit does not is another higher level which contains the master bedroom, ensuite, family room and home office. This extra level makes Unit 2 much larger and much more desirable. Everywhere you looked in Unit 2 there were extra spaces and funky sight lines. In fact this unit has 4 balconies and 2 terraces. The best view of either unit was the view from the home office which has a nice but narrow view of Bondi Beach.

Now let’s look at the downsides. The location on Military Road directly across from the Bondi Gold Club is not exactly ideal. I live on Military Road myself and it is a very busy, very noisy road. It is also a major bus artery. While the view from home office is lovely it really is the only good view in either of the two units. The master bedroom as a more occluded view of the Bondi Basin and Unit 1 with its lower position has no real views. The property to the west is very close to the boundary and from many vantage points feels like  a huge looming wall. While the developer created many lovely small garden spaces around the structure, even the largest green patch in the back yard is not big enough to serve any function other than looking green. And the bottom line is that these are semis, not free standing homes. In October of 2021 the highest price for a semi or duplex in North Bondi was 6.5 million. So how exactly could the developer expect to sell both units for a cool 20 million?

The answer is that they could not. The first campaign by Raine & Horne in October / Nov of 2021 ended up without a sale. However second campaign which was in Feb/March of 2022 did end up with a sale for Unit 1 at just under 7.5 Million on March 11, 2022. This is an incredible price for a unit and most likely a record for a 3 bedroom unit in North Bondi.

I always say that a property is worth what a buyer is willing to pay at a given moment in time. The price expectations of the seller were perhaps too lofty in 2021 but when Unit 1 finally sold in March of 2022 I imagine that the seller was very happy as7.5 is a huge price for a 3 bedder. Unit 2 is certainly worth more than Unit 1 so time will tell how the market values it if and when it eventually sells.

I do believe however that sellers should be a bit more realistic when it comes to price guides. I realize that price guides are often aspirational for the seller. But when the highest price for a semi or dual occupancy in a suburb is around 7 million it is a bit presumptuous to say that your 2 units are worth 20 million, however lovely they may be....