Over the weekend, news came through that hundreds of spectators had shown up for the auction of a trophy home on Sydney’s eastern suburbs, in one of its best beachside locations.

The 841-square-metre house in Bronte (with northerly views of the beach) was eventually sold for $23.5 million – a suburb record for an auction. The buyers were described as a “local family”, with Alexander Phillips from PPD saying it was “very unusual” to have three other parties bidding over $20 million, and that it “shows there’s still plenty of people out there willing to spend their money”.