Sydney real estate agent loses $3.5million in one day

Sydney real estate mogul John McGrath has felt the effect of Sydney’s cooling property market hard in the pocket – losing a mammoth $3.5million in just one day.

The value of his stake in the McGrath real estate company has dropped from $78million to $19million since December 2015 and the share price slumped $3.5million on Monday, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Property experts say the Sydney property market is expected to continue declining after the boom which saw the harbour city dubbed the ‘New York of Australia’ by Mr McGrath, such was the exclusivity of home ownership.

McGrath Limited announced a 25 per cent cut in expected earnings due to lower listings, tighter lending requirements and limits on foreign ownership of property in Australia.

The company’s share price on the stock market has dropped to 54 cents on Tuesday afternoon.

CMC Markets chief market analyst Ric Spooner told the Daily Telegraph shareholders were nervous about the company’s performance.

‘I think the concerning thing is that to see such significant downturns in what has been very early stages of any downturn in the property market listings,’ he said.

‘It makes investors nervous about what might happen if the downturn becomes a bit more pronounced.’

McGrath Limited chief executive Cameron Judson said government policy, lack of foreign money, the absence of investors and more owner-occupiers were to blame for the company’s performance.

The company’s share price on the stock market has dropped to 54 cents on Tuesday afternoon (McGrath Balmain office pictured)

‘You are seeing a shift in terms of the move to managing vendor expectations on price, lower clearance rates and buyers are back in control of their destiny,’ he said.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted John McGrath for comment.