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Big bucks – 26 Plunkett Rd, Mosman.

Confidence in the lower north shore’s prestige market is well and truly blooming early, topped off by the $20 million-plus sale of a Mosman trophy home, just 72 hours after it came to market.

It’s a new claim to fame for the property, which was reportedly rented by international superstars David and Victoria Beckham when they came to Sydney in 2018 for the Invictus Games.

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Bronte ‘masterpiece’ sells for circa $8.5 amid spring optimism

The massive sale is one of the biggest for the area this year, and was negotiated by Tim Foote and Stefon Bertram, of Belle Property Mosman.

It was the second time Mr Foote has sold the four-bedroom home on 849sqm at 26 Plunkett Rd, although this time around selling it in three days trumped the 143 days it took in 2016 – a much different market then.

Dive in – 26 Plunkett Rd, Mosman.

The view.

CoreLogic records reveal the property was bought then by the founder of the Only About Children childcare company Brendan McAssey, for $17,349,691.

Mr Foote said he could not reveal how much the property had sold for, but that it was within the guide of $20 million to $22 million.

“I think it is a new record for a non-waterfront property on the Balmoral slopes,” he said.

“The owners are very happy – you don’t wrap a sale like this up in three days if you’re not.”

Contemporary style.

Indoor-outdoor flows effortlessly.

There are multiple living spaces.

The contemporary Popov Bass-designed masterpiece has a direct north aspect and spectacular Balmoral Beach and harbour views.

The main floor features include expansive living and dining areas that open out to the terrace and level lawns that wrap around the wet edge pool,

The Corian poliform kitchen is set up for entertaining on a grand scale, and the downstairs level includes a rumpus with wet bar, gym, media room, and wine cellar.

All of the bedrooms have views, and the main bedroom also as a balcony.

Other features include internal lift, underfloor heating, automated security system, and double garage.

Summer ready.

Pure trophy home.

Mr Foote said he had three serious buyers chasing the home, including two locals and the other a couple from interstate who were looking for a Mosman property.

He is predicting an early – and a big – start to spring on the lower north shore.

In the past six weeks he said he had listed about $250 million worth of properties with average guides of more than $12 million.

Among them is a waterfront Mosman trophy home on Middle Harbour, held by the same owners for decades.

This one is expected to have a guide of $35 to $40 million and is due to hit the market in the next few weeks – unless Mr Foote and Mr Bertram weave their magic in the meantime.

Mr Foote said the Plunkett Rd home had been quietly showed to some buyers before it officially came to market.

But it wasn’t until it hit the open market that the intense bidding began between the three buyers.

“It is a fantastic result,” he said.

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27 Evans St, Bronte sold last night for circa $8.5m.

With spring set to bloom, fresh listings are trickling in and buyer confidence appears high as coronavirus cases remain low. Among positive signs, a circa $8.5m sale last night in Bronte.

The award-winning Fox Johnston Architects-designed four-bedroom, five bathroom ‘contemporary masterpiece’ at 27 Evans St — owned by property power couple Stephen Auld and Charlotte Peterswald — had multiple parties fighting over it.

For sale since July 3, it sold via PPD Real Estate principal Alexander Phillips to a Yowie Bay family for close to its asking price.

Phillips reports the COVID-19 gloom is starting to lift, with both buyers and sellers who have managed to hold onto their jobs in a good mood.

He says buyer demand has “picked up”. “There’s definitely more urgency and more people wanting to buy,” Phillips said.

“Money is cheap and everyone’s saying stock levels are low, but it’s been this way for four years.”

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Open plan living areas open to deep wraparound terraces.

The gardens are by Garden Life.

He says he has some good listings available now, with more exciting options coming on.

“If you’ve got good job security, the cost of living is lower this year — it’s probably gone back 30 per cent because people aren’t going away on expensive overseas holidays and they’re going out less, so they have a bit more money.”

But this is no ordinary house.

It offers 420 sqm of internal space and is designed to take full advantage of its northerly aspect and has deep terraces. The landscaping, including a rooftop garden, was done by Garden Life.

With Tasmanian Blackwood joinery and bespoke bronze finishes within its concrete structure, other highlights are the 18m lap pool with Bisazza mosaic tiles … even a sauna and gym.

There’s lift access from triple garaging to all levels. No wonder it won the 2019 Master Builders Award For Excellence.

PAUL FEGAN SELLS FOR $5.9M

146 Paddington St, Paddington — which appeared as a Wentworth Courier House of the Week — had an overwhelming response.

It was purchased by a woman in her 30s who had moved up from Melbourne.

The principal of Raine & Horne Potts Point/Elizabeth Bay, Jane Schumann, is also upbeat after the Paddington home of Paul Fegan sold for $5.9m at auction, well above its $5m price guide.

Fegan is senior adviser at funds management business Gresham Partners, but was once the St George Bank boss.

His four-bedroom, four-bathroom home with double garage at 146 Paddington St appeared as the Wentworth Courier House of the Week on August 12 and Schumann reports the response was overwhelming.

“We had 65 groups — and I mean groups, not people — through our first home and it just went on from that,” Schumann said.

3/14-16 Court Road, Double Bay was the home of the late Ken Weiss, brother of fashion guru Peter Weiss.

The terrace with a leafy outlook is just one of the highlights.

“We had 35 on the Wednesday and another 30 on the Saturday … we were absolutely inundated!”

With a dozen contracts issued, there six registrations ahead of Damien Cooley’s auction.

Bidding opened at $4.7m and ended at $5.9m with two people fighting over it near the end.

It was purchased by a woman who’d moved up from Melbourne at the start of the year.

Says Schumann: “I think the upper end is doing well, with perhaps a bit more nurturing needed at the lower end, but there’s a nice energy out there.”

Among her listings are an apartment at 3/14-16 Court Road, Double Bay, owned by Ken Weiss — brother of fashion guru Peter Weiss. Both siblings died within a month of each other.

Ken Weiss’s apartment has $3.3m price guide.

DERELICT HOME FLIES $400K OVER RESERVE

1 Dudley St, Bondi, is on an elevated 227 sqm block.

It had good bones but needed a lot of love.

‘Blank canvas’ properties are always popular and this one in Bondi was particularly hot at last Tuesday night’s auction.

Andre Frack of Richardson & Wrench Bondi Junction and Ian Wallace of Richardson & Wrench Bondi Beach had seven registered bidders with five active for the three-bedroom, one-bathroom pre-war semi on a 227 sqm block at 1 Dudley Street, Bondi.

“It went crazy,” Frack reports.

It sold for $2.4m, which was $400k over reserve. All up, there were 1000 bids.

The last $300,000 was just two of the bidders.

JOIN ‘AUSSIE’ JOHN SYMOND

2/1 Onslow Ave, Elizabeth Bay, is owned by retired publican Ken Thompson and his wife, Elizabeth.

It has harbour views.

Ray White Double Bay’s Elliott Placks also says there’s “a bit more of a flow” of properties coming onto the market, with an apartment in the ‘One Onslow” block in Elizabeth Bay among them.

This block of nine apartments is tightly held, with Aussie Home Loans founder John Symond owning three apartments there.

The three-bedroom, three-bathroom apartment at 2/1 Onslow Avenue is owned by retired publican Ken Thompson and his wife, Elizabeth.

The guide is $6.5m ahead of a September 24 auction, with Nick Thompson (Ken Thompson’s son) the lead agent, along with Placks.

Among the apartment’s attractions are the 3.1 metre ceilings, 365 sqm interiors and of course beautiful finishes and harbour views.

Placks says buyers and sellers have had time to adapt to living with COVID-19.

“This is the new norm and people are accepting where we’re up to, people are prepared to move and trade,” he said.

“We’re seeing a combination of downsizers and people optimistically trading up … they’re seeing opportunity.

“Interest rates are low so it’s never been more affordable to take that next step.”

A STRONG SPRING

122 Hopetoun Ave, Vaucluse, has finally sold after years on the market.

It sold within its most recent price range of $5.76m to $6m.

Biller Property principal Paul Biller’s advice is antipating a strong spring in the wake of some decent recent sales.

Among them: the 122 Hopetoun Ave, Vaucluse home of the award-winning architect, Professor Victor Berk, and his wife, Susie, which had been on the market for years with various other agents.

He’s now sold it for within its most recent guide of $5.75m to $6m.

Another recent sale was a five-bedroom house at 15 Giralang Avenue, Vaucluse, which sold for close to its guide of $5.5m.

“We’ve been really busy and everything has sold quite well,” Biller said.

“We’ve got a bit more coming on for spring, however the volume is certainly not what everyone predicted earlier in the year.

“The lack of stock is driving prices and we’re getting some great inquiries on what we’ve got.

“I reckon that over the next two to three months we’ll see some really strong results.

“But what happens next, when Job Keeper runs out, no-one nows, so if I was a vendor I’d be selling now rather than later.”

DAMIEN COOLEY ADVICE FOR BUYERS

Cooley has brought 180 acres in the Southern Highlands.

He paid $1.61m — down from $2.1m which was the price a year ago.

Auctioneer Damien Cooley has some great advice for bidders at auctions: “Wear a mask”.

And he’s saying that because of the Health Department’s advice, but also because it may help them get a bargain.

“Auctioneers thrive on body language — our role is to extract the best price out of the buyer for the seller,” he said.

“One way is reading the language of the buyer to ascertain potentially how much they are going to pay by the signals they give us.”

For example, he says he always looks for the buyer’s reaction to when he asks what they may be prepared to pay at the beginning — but with a face mask, he can’t really read them.

Cooley says the coronavirus dilemma has also made him and his wife, Peppi, think about “what’s important” — and one of those things had always been to buy a rural retreat.

With that in mind, they’ve snapped up a 180 acre property in the Southern Highlands for $1.61m (not the $1.8m the ad indicates) — down from $2.1m.

”We’d always had the dream to buy a place and when we went into the lockdown period, both of us were aking ourselves the question, “Far out, what are we doing this for.”

“It’s in the middle of a state forest but quite remote,” he said.

But that was one of the attractions.

His busy schedule will mean he only gets there one day a week. “But one day can feel like a week,” he said.

Ducks, pigs and some cattle are all part of the plan to market to high-end restaurants in Sydney.

The post Sydney property spring preview: Bronte ‘masterpiece’ sells for circa $8.5m amid buyer optimism appeared first on realestate.com.au.

The former Oddfellows Hall pictured in the mid-20th century.

A Newtown hall once used by a secret society of druids before becoming a legendary boxing gym and a nut factory could be starting a new chapter as a unique residence after it sells at auction.

The Wilson St property originally known as Oddfellows Hall was built in the late 1800s and will go under the hammer tomorrow with a price guide close to $2m.

The property was used as the meeting point for The Ancient Order of Druids from 1903 and was sold to boxing trainer Ernest McQuillan decades later.

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Historic worker’s terrace a unique offering

Mr McQuillan trained and managed 38 national boxing champions, including Tony Mundine, father of Anthony “The Man” Mundine.

The gym went up in flames in the 1960s and the property was later split in two, with part turned into a nut factory.

The property is now a home.

That half is currently set up as a rental home but selling agent Kate Webster said there was a strong interest from architects to transform the property into a more significant home.

“It’s an architect’s dream,” she said. “A lot of the interest we are getting is from architects wanting a Grand Design-type project … It will be interesting to see what the next chapter will be.”

The druids group were understood to be a secretive society similar to the freemasons – they were deeply involved in charitable work.

They were reported to have had 130 members when they first began using the Newtown hall and later grew to nearly 400 members.

Ernest McQuillan (right) used the property as a training gym.

Little has been recorded about their activities but a resident of a town in the Hunter Region later recounted an experience with local druids in her area during the 1880s as “weird”.

Mary Anne Davis of Minmi near Newcastle described a night time procession of druids as walking “two abreast, all with long white beards, faces turned green with some sort of powder, and carrying flaring scrub torches.”

The Newtown site was one of many friendly society lodges established in Sydney during the 19th century.

In its heyday as a boxing gym, the hall was adorned with photographs of all the successful boxers who had trained there.

Modern day Druids still practice old Celtic customs. Picture: Getty Images

Apart from Tony Mundine, who fought for a world title in Argentina in 1974 but was beaten by Carlos Monzón, some of McQuillan’s other boxers were Bobby Dunlop, Jack Hassen and Clive Stewart.

The current owner – who purchased the property in 1988 for $155,000, according to property records – said there were still signs of the gym in the property today.

“You can see the old rings where they would hang up the boxing bags,” she said.

The owner added that she had purchased the property in strange circumstances in the 1980s.

She had driven past the property and, noting “for sale” signs, called the agent to say she wanted to buy it thinking it was a different property.

Tony Mundine, with son Anthony, trained at the Newtown gym. Picture: Peter Wallis

“I thought it was the burnt out property next door,” she said, adding she only discovered it was a different property after the purchase.

She established Chip-n-dale Nut Shop at the property until it closed in 2005.

Ms Webster said the rich history of the property was on full display across the two levels.

“It really is an eclectic mix of styles,” she said. “There are original doors from the Commonwealth Bank Building in Martin Place, a granite benchtop from the original Star City Casino bar.”

The property as it looks today.

The property will go to auction at 3pm on Saturday. Close to 100 groups of buyers inspected it in the lead up to the auction.

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Multi-million dollar mansions are being snapped up at a surprising rate, as Perth’s premium property market stands strong in the face of a national recession.

Real estate agents in the elite western suburbs and coastal stretches say they are seeing an influx of enquiries from expatriates desperate to escape heavily infected COVID-19 cities and return to Western Australia.

The past month has seen several significant sales, including the purchase of Alan Bond’s former mansion in Watkins Road, Dalkeith for $27.5 million – a likely record for 2020 – a property in the renowned Jutland Parade, Dalkeith for more than $10 million and 6 Riverview Place in Mosman Park for $8 million.

It comes as new data compiled by realestate.com.au shows Perth’s blue-ribbon western suburbs have retained the mantle as the city’s most expensive property belt.

Disgraced businessman Alan Bond’s former mansion set a price record. Picture: realestate.com.au

Peppermint Grove took out top spot on the list of 10 most expensive suburbs, with Dalkeith, Cottesloe and Nedlands also pegging spots.

“The top end of the Perth market is doing really well,” said Nerida Conisbee, chief economist at realestate.com.au.

“What is happening across Australia is a really strong shift to premium properties and Western Australia is no exception. We are seeing some decent price growth in premium suburbs.

“What’s different in WA is that there’s a lot of action with new homes as well, which hasn’t happened for a while, and primarily because of the first home buyer stimulus, which has been particularly positive for Perth.”

Ms Conisbee said it was likely these suburbs would continue to go from strength to strength, given the current economic conditions in the west.

Perth has seen a number of expats return in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. Picture: realestate.com.au

“Everything is so uncertain at the moment but if you have a look at what is happening in the WA economy, it’s doing pretty well. It’s moving quite differently to the rest of Australia,” she said.

“People who are losing jobs are typically younger and more exposed to the rental market. You can get home loans under 2% now. There’s a lot going for property, which is quite unusual given we’re in a pandemic and a recession, and in these quite dire circumstances, but the high-end property market does seem to be holding up fairly well.”

Jody Fewster, from Ray White Cottesloe-Mosman Park, said Peppermint Grove had consistently ranked as Perth’s most expensive suburb and was sought-after because it was a small pocket of 500 tightly-held homes.

The Perth market’s top end is still very popular with buyers. Picture: realestate.com.au

She said the recent sale of her childhood home at 89 Watkins Road, Dalkeith for $27.5 million threatened to topple Peppermint Grove from the top spot.

“Peppermint Grove is always under high demand because it has only got 500 homes, so it is tightly-held, highly sought-after.”

Ms Fewster said interest in Perth’s premium properties was surprising given the widespread talk about the negative economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and recession.

“We are seeing a huge amount of interest at the top end of the market. The high net worth buyers are less impacted by the employment situation,” she said.

“Perth is shining in the current dire circumstances. We are seeing a huge number of ex-West Australians looking to return home and purchase.”

The brain drain has reversed as many Aussies who have lived overseas are looking to return home. Picture: realestate.com.au

Ms Fewster said high-end buyers were turning out in high numbers, willing to spend big. In recent weeks she made the sale of her childhood home at 89 Watkins Road, Dalkeith for $27.5 million and 6 Riverview Place, Mosman Park for $8 million.

Scott Swingler, from Space Real Estate – Cottesloe, said COVID-19 appeared to have hastened plans by expatriate West Australians to return home.

“We’ve had people who have grown up in Western Australia and become ex-pats around the world, got good jobs and lived in global cities and may have come back in the next 20 years, but have decided they wanted to come back now,” Mr Swingler said.

“I’m talking to people from Hong Kong, Singapore, Cape Town, Sydney, Melbourne and even Cairns who are looking to return.

“At the moment there’s record low rental stock available and really low stocks of properties for sale.

“I’m running around behind the scenes with 10 buyers with budgets of $4 million or more. All of these people have had good jobs, they’ve lived in global cities. It’s almost like the brain drain left and now the brain drain is coming back with their incomes for top-end housing. It’s a really exciting time.”

In three days last week, Mr Swingler sold two City Beach properties, including 11 Aruma Way and another home in south City Beach for $10 million combined.

Perth’s most expensive suburbs

Want to know where the most expensive neighbourhoods are in the west? Here’s our list:

1. Peppermint Grove*
2. Dalkeith
3. Cottesloe
4. Nedlands
5. City Beach
6. Applecross
7. Swanbourne
8. Mosman Park
9. Floreat
10. Claremont

Source: realestate.com.au

*Despite just nine sales in the past 12 months, Peppermint Grove remains in the top spot with the disclaimer that this tightly-held suburb has a smaller sample size in which to obtain a median sales price.

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