‘It was supposed to be funny,’ says the agent behind the Padstow property listing, which was trending in Australia on Wednesday

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A Sydney real estate listing has drawn equal parts praise and ridicule for a custom-made two-minute video described as “so breathtakingly horrific that it borders on art”.

The lavish cinematic offering, for a four-bedroom house in Padstow, shows a couple dancing through the property, prowling across their kitchen benchtop, awkwardly swimming, and then settling into bed – all to a pounding dance music soundtrack.

The video, which was produced by a third party company, was removed and re-uploaded with a new backing song this morning, after it went viral.

On Twitter, it was described as unnecessarily sexual, incredibly funny and “the most real estate agent video I have ever seen”.

Jason Di Rosso (@jdrrr) Screen Australia need to fund a feature length version of this crazy suburban romantic spy thriller musical immediately. https://t.co/ZZw1rcDlRe

John McDuling (@jmcduling) Oh my: this is the perfect video for the late cycle phase of the Australian housing bubble https://t.co/1Wk9P0R7Xr

Benjamin Law (@mrbenjaminlaw) Siri show me something so breathtakingly horrific that it borders on art https://t.co/Xmd1po6qRl

Alex McKinnon (@mckinnon_a) probably the best bit is where he refuses to put his head under the water while he's swimming

Rick Morton (@SquigglyRick) Can't work out if my favourite part is him dancing on the kitchen bench or seeing the cameraman tracking the shot through the bedroom glass. https://t.co/FvS7b0g1Tb



On Wednesday afternoon, the real estate firm, LJ Hooker Bankstown, apologised for the video and removed it from its social media.

“LJ Hooker Bankstown is always looking for new ways to market our listings; however, this time we missed the mark,” it said in a statement.

A spokeswoman said: “We live and we learn.”

Earlier, the real estate agent who commissioned the video, Sam Nader, told Guardian Australia he had prepared multiple videos for his properties, and was happy with the attention.

“I just wanted to do something different in the industry, and it really, really worked,” he said. “I did one for a house in Illawong and it broke the record for the area. $3,205,000, sold before auction.

“Video gets attraction to the property, and the whole point of real estate is to get as many eyes as possible on the property. It was supposed to be funny. Whether it’s funny, it’s rude or its sexy, every video I do is different.”

Nader, who has been a real estate agent for 12 years, said he always used a different cast of hired dancers and actors for each video.

Analysis of the video discovered that the woman, and potentially the man, shown dancing were in fact different people to the couple shown in the house’s wedding photos.

AtticusThomas (@AtticusThomas) it absolutely owns that the woman in the wedding photo isn't the same one in the clip.

aimee (@aimeeclarke) saw the photos of the property and thought “a porno has definitely been shot here” but did not think I would be watching the porno!!!

Floorplan analysis also found that anybody using the toilet would have been visible from the kitchen, and vice versa.

Nick Evershed (@NickEvershed) also for those in this thread asking if the toilet has full line of sight to the kitchen/dining room, the answer is unequivocally yes pic.twitter.com/401KvhPqZO

Nathan Anderson (@Starsmore117ex) I've never wanted to punch a house before...

Nader said he had another video planned for his next property, but wanted to “keep it a secret”.

“It’s always different people, it’s just creative marketing,” he said.