PHOTO: Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar, in October. Photo: David Mariuz
Sydney’s top 10 sales list is in a state of flux in the final weeks of 2022.
Last week the sale of both a $60m and a $70m sub-penthouse at 1 Circular Quay, the new luxury Lendlease CBD development being sold by CBRE, forced a hasty rewrite of the overall sales table for the year.
If the penthouse sells for more than its rumoured $140m price guide, it will be the highest price ever paid for a residential property in the Harbour City.
And the year’s not over yet. A report in The Australian on Monday, attributed to “the Wolseley Rd whisper mill”, suggested Edgewater, the Point Piper waterfront that sold for $95m to gold mining tycoon “John” Changjin Li in 2020, could be “on-sold” to Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar, and his wife, investment banker Kim Jackson, with it emerging as “this year’s priciest sale”.
The rumour mill has gone into overdrive in the past few days, suggesting the deal was done last week, for $150m, so $50m more than the other Atlassian co-founder, Mike Cannon-Brookes, paid for Australia’s most expensive house, Point Piper’s Fairwater, in 2018.
And more than double the $71m Farquhar paid for Elaine, the mansion next door to Fairwater, in 2017.
While Atlassian had no comment about the rumours, other sources say it’s not true: the first Farquhar heard about it was in The Australian on Monday.
That doesn’t mean Li isn’t keen to on-sell it, and perhaps the Atlassian co-founder will now think about it.
Apart from Edgewater, there are a couple of other big deals pending, some in the $40m range, possibly by year’s end, that could see this list revised further.
So hold on to your seats!
What’s certain is that when it comes to houses, the eastern suburbs dominates. Here’s our top 10 list for houses, with just two “outsiders”, as of the start of this week:
This non-waterfront home in Wentworth Rd, Vaucluse, sold for $62.75m in February — the highest house price of the year, so far!
3 Lindsay Ave, on the waterfront at Darling Point, is in second spot, selling for $60m on March 29.
1. Top of the pack is 38A Wentworth Rd, Vaucluse, on a 2400sq m hillside block, which, despite not even being on the waterfront, sold for $62.75m in February via Brad Pillinger of Pillinger.
It was Australia’s sixth biggest house sale ever.
Among its attractions were seven bedrooms, three kitchens, two internal lifts and a 20-car garage; iconic views of Sydney Harbour, the Bridge and Opera House; a home cinema, gym and two swimming pools. There’s even a separate function centre with its own garage.
The vendors were the prominent corporate lawyer John Landerer and his wife, Michelle, with the buyers the husband and wife team behind Mainland China’s largest Toyota dealership, Liaoning Huang, who goes by the name of Helen Huang, and her husband Henry.
2. In second spot is the north-facing six-bedroom, six-bathroom waterfront ‘Tirrikee’ at 3 Lindsay Ave, Darling Point, which sold for exactly $60m on March 29.
Bought for $32m in 2013, the vendor was Lisa Allen, former wife of yachtie Matt Allen.
It was first listed for sale four years ago and had been with a range of agents, but Double Bay’s Alison Coopes finally nabbed the buyer: medical entrepreneur Dr Glenn Haifer.
No. 3: Nicky Zimmerman, and her hubby Chris Olliver, paid close to $60m.
They bought this Coolong Rd, Vaucluse, waterfront.
3. Just behind is a Coolong Rd, Vaucluse waterfront mansion, which sold for just under $60m on October 31.
Owned by agribusinessman and investment banker Garrick Hawkins and his wife Evelyn, the six-bedroom, nine-bathroom home on a 1700sq m block was the most viewed property on realestate.com.au when first listed in September 2019 with a $55m price guide.
Despite having unobstructed northerly harbour views and world-class boating facilities, sales agent Ken Jacobs of Forbes Global Properties had it on his books for three years before buyer’s agent Simon Cohen introduced fashion mogul Nicky Zimmermann and her husband (and Zimmermann chief executive) Chris Olliver to the property.
4. In fourth spot is Belhaven in Victoria Rd, Bellevue Hill, which sold recently for $52.5m.
This is the home of the recently retired ASX chief Dominic Stevens and his wife, Emma, which was sold by the Sotheby’s managing director Michael Pallier, with the buyer represented by Simon Cohen.
At no. 4: Belhaven, in Victoria Rd, Bellevue Hill, sold for $52.5m recently.
The vendor was Dominic Stevens, the recently retired ASX chief, and his wife, Emma.
The Stevenses did a renovation after buying it for $21,165,000 in 2017 from Brambles chairman Stephen Johns and his wife, Michele Bender.
5. Pallier was also the agent for No. 5, Akuna, the Wolseley Rd, Point Piper home of the big band maestro Warren Daly and his author and fitness guru wife, Karen, which sold in April for $45m after five years on and off the market.
Among its attractions were a heritage Chinese-style pagoda boathouse.
The buyers were “Mr Sydney FC” Scott Barlow and his wife, Alina, who were looking for a new trophy home after selling just down the road last year for $40m to Macquarie Bank’s head of commodities markets and finance, Nick O’Kane.
At No. 5: Akuna, in Wolseley Rd, Point Piper, which sold in April for $45m.
No. 6: Rothesay, Bellevue Hill, sold for March for $37m.
No. 7L Woodlands, in Wallaroy Rd, Woollahra, sold in March for $35m.
6. In sixth spot is Rothesay, the five-bedroom, six-bathroom circa 1896 Victorian Italianate villa on a 2000sq m block in Cranbrook Rd, Bellevue Hill, sold in March via Bill Malouf of Highland Double Bay Malouf for $37m.
The vendors were Potentia Capital managing director Andrew Gray and his wife, Emma, who have moved to Mosman, with Adani chief financial officer “Robbie” Jugeshinder Singh and his partner, hedge fund sales consultant Marijana Domazet, the buyers. The Grays had bought the landmark home for $13m in December, 2011.
7. In seventh spot is Woodlands, the Woollahra home of former casino boss Rob Rankin, which sold for $35m to Bain & Company senior partner Chris Harrop and his wife Kathryn.
The Wentworth Courier broke the news that a deal was done in March, with the paperwork delayed until the end of the financial year.
The sales agent was The Agency’s Ben Collier, with Simon Cohen the buyer’s agent.
Two outsiders: This Stanley Ave Mosman, home sold for $33m in March, breaking suburb records, is at No. 8.
This Iluka Rd, Mosman, home sold for $30.5m, and is No. 10 on our top sales list.
8. The Mosman $33m record-breaker comes in at No. 8, the non-waterfront mansion owned by Marjorie and Trevor Conway, a Dubai-based director at one of the world’s largest interdealer brokers, Tradition.
It was the first time a residential property had sold for more than $30m north of the harbour.
The buyer was Florian Struengmann, the son of a German vaccine billionaire, who was moving from Sydney’s east.
The sales agent with Richard Simeon of Simeon Partners.
9. At No. 9 is the Wentworth Rd, Vaucluse home of Lola Li Wang, which sold for $31m last month, with records showing “Tony” Tao Shi, of Mosman, is the buyer.
Li Wang is the wife of businessman Li Liang, former chairman of solar energy company China Smarter Energy Group.
The agent was Sotheby’s.
10. Another Mosman property rounds off our list – the five-bedroom, six-bathroom ultra-modern mansion in Iluka Rd owned by ANZ’s former head of global markets, Steve Bellotti, which sold for $30.5m last month via Atlas’s Michael Coombs.
Settlement records show Perpetual board member Craig Ueland and his wife, Nicole, are moving in.
They’d sold their Hunters Hill waterfront home for $11.5m to Seven news stalwart Ann Sanders and her orthopaedic surgeon husband Andrew Strokon in February.
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