And while foreign buyers are currently in a surge to snap them up, prices are about to drop — possibly giving an advantage to cashed-up locals looking for a dream mansion.

Stamp duty for overseas buyers will double from four per cent to eight per cent from July 1, meaning prices will inevitably fall.

That’s why we’ve bringing you the Top Ten Trophy homes of East Sydney — showing them off as never seen before, with 360-vision tool MainStreet, below.

We gave you Part One last week, and now we’re adding even more palaces to the pile.

Check them out here then read on below.

Currently non-residents have a “window of opportunity” to buy, one of the east’s top agents said.

Sotheby’s principal Michael Pallier said he’d already had inquiry from someone keen to buy one of Sydney’s trophies before the extra tax kicked in.

“I’ve had an inquiry from a Chinese buyer overnight saying exactly that,” he said.

“If foreign buyers sign a contract before July 1, they won’t have to pay the extra stamp duty.”

Mr Pallier, who deals with a lot of Chinese buyers, estimated the total government charges to be $3 million on a $20 million home.

The real tax was nine per cent, as an extra one per cent of the purchase price is charged to apply to the Foreign Investment Review Board for approval.

He said the State Government’s move would definitely reduce prices.

“I’ve already had an instance where a buyer said they wanted to reduce their offering because they will have to pay more stamp duty,” Mr Pallier said.

“The vendor said ‘it’s not my problem’ but I said unfortunately it is our problem. I feel it will have some effect on the price of these upper-end homes because a lot of these houses sell to foreign people.

“There won’t be a collapse — but I think it will pull the prices back a bit.”

Double Bay agent Brad Pillinger agreed some prices could drop.

“All it does is it is narrow the market for owners of these properties and occasionally reduce their return,” he said.

But he said the move wouldn’t help Australian purchasers. “Populist decisions such as increasing foreign investment stamp duty does nothing to assist local buyers,” Mr Pillinger said.

Monika Tu, director of Black Diamondz Property Concierge, said the move would be counter-productive for those buying lower-priced family homes.

“Australian family home owners hoping to capitalise on the current bubble may be the worst affected by this tax increase, not a foreign-born buyer,” she said.

“Just as eliminating stamp duty of properties priced under $650,000 carries the risk of increasing demand and therefore incorrectly inflating the price of those properties, adding additional taxes can have the reverse effect and push the price of your family home down for a savvy negotiator.”

And she believed the top end of the market would remain “greatly untouched” by the higher taxes.

“Buyers with that amount of spending power and with homes all around the world do not walk away from a deal over a few per cent here and a few per cent there,” Ms Tu said.

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