GAVIN Ridley has seen property booms come and go during more than 35 years in the Sunraysia real estate industry, but he remains puzzled by the home-buying mania that has gripped Australia since the first pandemic lockdowns.
“In real estate, we thought the world was going to end,” the recently retired industry veteran told Sunraysia Daily as he looked back on the pandemic’s start in early 2020.
“We didn’t think banks would be lending any money, we didn’t think people would be buying houses, people wouldn’t have jobs and wouldn’t be able to pay rent, and we could see our income dissipating, but it turned out to be the total opposite.”
As a property expert, he was often asked why this was, but was only able to say “I haven’t got a clue”.
“All of a sudden, everybody decides we’ve got to buy a home during COVID. I still don’t understand it,” he said.
Mr Ridley, 66, has left his role as a director with Collie & Tierney First National to retire to a seaside suburb in Adelaide’s south, but he expects to keep strong links with a district where he rose to fame as a Robinvale footballer 50 years ago.
He was the youngest ever winner of Sunraysia football’s highest individual award, the McLeod Medal, as a 16-year-old.
What might have been a big future in the game was denied by injury, though, so he tried his hand at sales work, eventually becoming a real estate agent in 1985.
His first Mildura house sale was for just $25,000, which was about the mark for an average local home at the time.
“When I started, if we sold a house for more than $50,000 we were almost intimidated and started shaking,” he joked.
“But a million (dollars) is no big deal these days and you’re seeing properties for two, three and four million being sold. Unbelievable.”
Mr Ridley said it was great to see Mildura and its surrounding towns growing so strongly, with new housing estates seemingly popping up everywhere, but he has some fears for young people who have borrowed heavily before interest rate rises, which had been at historical lows for so long that the young have never seen anything different.
The cash rate in Australia at the moment is 2.6 per cent and rising, compared to 12.43 per cent back in 1985.
“It’s going to be interesting for this generation that have never seen this (interest rates rising) and have borrowed fearlessly,” he said.
“There could be a lot of pain out there.”
But if people stayed positive and learned from whatever tough times were ahead, there were always opportunities.
“I always believed that you needed to have money to do anything, but that’s not the case,” he said.
“Maybe the bank won’t lend you money, but if you’ve got the ideas and the concepts, there are people out there with money who will support you.”
Mr Ridley’s retirement will be far from idle. He intends on staying in the property game, but in a more hands-off role as an investor, and he’ll be back in town pretty often to see family.
“I’m pretty happy with my life,” he said.
“I suppose the most important thing is I’ve got four kids, all doing well … and to get your family started off right is a big, big thing, I believe.”
