Aussie boy made good: Low-key expat cashes in on $29m Bellevue Hill house

Kim and Mike Buchanan, the Singapore-based expat who heads up the Australian investments of Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek, sold their Bellevue Hill designer digs on Thursday night after a six-month campaign and initial hopes of more than $30 million.

Alas, for locals keen to do their own valuation sums, Sotheby’s Michael Pallier has not disclosed the result, but it carried a $29 million guide this year and sold for $26.5 million according to some sources and $28.5 million according to others.

The architect Michael Robilliard-redesigned residence of Kim and Mike Buchanan has sold.Credit: Domain

The result is a jump in value of more than three times since it last traded in 2009 for $8 million, even with a complete redesign by architect Michael Robilliard and assuming the rebuild costs far exceeded what council records show was estimated at $650,000 in 2015. Hilarious.

For their money, the Buchanans sold a six-bedroom residence with a swimming pool, cellar, gymnasium and rumpus room on a battleaxe block of 1400 square metres that is a direct neighbour to businessman Ian Joye’s Barford estate and the Caerleon mansion of Macquarie senior executive Simon Wright.

Buchanan is the former Goldman Sachs chief Asia economist based in Hong Kong who left in 2012 to join Temasek, the global investment company that was founded by the Singaporean government 50 years ago, and currently manages a portfolio of $450 billion.

The house previously traded for $7 million in 2006 when sold by investment banker Bryan Davies and his former wife, fashion designer Rebecca Davies, the latter of whom recently tied the knot with property developer Steven Pongrass.

Asset trader trades

Mining services entrepreneur Kevin Maloney is selling one of Australia’s most famous thoroughbred breeding nurseries, the historic Segenhoe Stud in the Upper Hunter Valley.

The historic Segenhoe Stud is set on 567 hectares and traversed by the Hunter River.Credit:

There is no official asking price set ahead of the July 4 expressions of interest deadline, but interested parties have suggested it could sell for upwards of $50 million.

The stud dates back to 1908, and during Maloney’s 14-year ownership, it has produced 13 group one champions, including Pretty in Pink, Winter Bride, Bella Rosa, Anaheed, and Catch Me.

The 567-hectare property has been improved and expanded since it last sold in 2010 by Michael Sissian, and consolidated with neighbouring properties, which include the former vineyard Tyrrell’s Glenbawn Estate in 2012.

Kevin Maloney is selling the historic Segenhoe Stud in the Hunter Valley after 14 years.Credit: Andrew Quilty

Clint Donovan of Donovan & Co, who has listed it with Magic Millions and Sotheby’s Clint Ballard, said Maloney’s decision to sell now makes sense: “He is an asset trader, and this asset is at the peak of its powers.”

Maloney, who founded MAC Services Group, is ordinarily based in Woollahra, where in 2021, he and his wife Lesley set an apartment record of $14.85 million when they downsized to a nearby $13 million pad.

Oatley sets sail

Daniel Oatley, the boatie grandson of the late winemaker and sailor Bob Oatley, has listed his Pittwater home at Avalon Beach with a $9.5 million guide.

The Avalon Beach waterfront home of Dan Oatley comes with a boatshed on Pittwater.Credit: Domain

Oatley, who founded the speedboat-maker Castlerock Carbon and has sailed in the Sydney to Hobart four times on board the family’s super maxi Wild Oats XI, has managed a slew of updates ahead of its return to market through LJ Hooker’s Peter Robinson and Jonothan Gosselin.

The three-level house with a handsome boatshed last traded in 2017 for $4.6 million from interior designer Frances Georgeson, wife of music industry executive Tim Prescott, under whose ownership the house starred in Domain’s tongue-in-cheek series Avalon Now.

Chris and Kelly Searle (pictured with their son Max) at their former Newport home.Credit: Brook Mitchell

Still in Avalon Beach, photographer and Monster Children surf magazine producer Chris Searl and interior designer Kelly Searl have finished their latest home redesign and promptly listed it for $5 million.

The 1950s cottage has received the couple’s touch since they bought it in 2020 for $3.3 million, complete with renovated interiors, kitchen and cabana.

Andrew Blake has set a June 22 auction.

The couple have a history of solid flips locally.

The 1950s cottage in Avalon Beach has been renovated throughout by Kelly and Chris Searl.Credit: Domain

Their former home in Newport was bought in 2010 for $1.05 million and sold in 2019 for $2.71 million, and their Pittwater weekender at Coasters Retreat was bought for $1.11 million in 2015 and sold for $1.6 million in 2020.

A going rate

It seems that the going rate for glamorous designer digs on an acre in the hills behind Byron Bay is $12 million.

It was thus when coal tycoon David Knappick and his wife Ann bought their contemporary “downsizer digs” in Coopers Shoot in 2021, and again recently when film animation pioneer and rich lister Zareh Nalbandian bought the Nox house in nearby Talofa with his wife, Ping.

The Coopers Shoot retreat of Therese and Richard Norgard comes with a John Burgess Architects-designed pool house.Credit: Domain

So it is little surprise to see a $12 million guide on the Coopers Shoot getaway of venture capitalists Therese and Richard Norgard, owners of Jigsaw Capital.

The couple have listed it with Kim Jones, of her eponymous agency.