New trend: Eastern suburbs elite invest in numerical number plates

Well-heeled eastern suburbs drivers are buying up lucrative numerical number plates as an investment, with the seemingly mundane items selling for up to $2.45 million.

Forget the Birkin bag, Sydney’s eastern suburbs crew is buying up lucrative numerical number plates as an investment.

Well-known names are paying up to $300,000 for what’s now known as a status symbol among Sydney’s well-to-do, with some even sacrificing the number zero for the letter “O” in a bid to look the part.

While some women collect Hermes bags because their value increases by 14 per cent every year — often a better financial investment than art or the stockmarket — many are setting their sights on numerical-only number plates.

Among them, former Sydney Housewives star Nicole Gazal who has opted for 26O – swapping the zero for the letter O.

Newlyweds Jake and Lou O’Neil drive a Range Rover Sport with the rego 113.

Alex Macris (left) and Roxy Jacenko, and their exxy number plates.

Jake and Lou O’Neil (left), and John Symond with their cars.

PR guru Roxy Jacenko and her husband Oliver Curtis drive a Porsche Cayenne with the plates 1908 and a Porsche Taycan with the plates 1903, while wealthy businessman Andrew Banks drives a white Porsche Taycan with the plates 88.

Alex Macris drives a Range Rover with number plates 91, while Aussie Home Loans founder John Symond gets behind the wheel of a Rolls-Royce Cullinan with lucrative 111 plates.

Socialite Nora Gazal’s 2017 Range Rover station wagon has the rego 703, while Nicole Gazal’s mother Maud Gazal drives a 2019 Black Range Rover station wagon with the number plates 015.

“The lesser the numbers the more expensive,” one high-profile number plate collector told Sunday Confidential

“Alex’s number plates, which are 81 and 91, are $2 million-plus.

“The lesser number of numerals, the richer you are.”

The trend among Sydney’s rich and famous comes as the number plate 28 was valued at $2,000,500 earlier this year.

The original 28 registration is more than 100 years old — and the lower the number, the more prestige it holds.

The top price ever paid for a solely numerical number plate is $2.45 million, which is what the number 4 sold for in 2017.

Meanwhile, in Victoria, number plate 14 sold for $2,270,500 in May.

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