Sydney’s top property sales for 2023: $76m for a home and it needs a reno

There’s one common trend with Sydney’s top 20 property sales this year — many of the houses, including the $76m mansion in top spot, require a reno.

No. 1: The property known as 'Leura', located in Bellevue Hill, sold for the top price of $76m.

There’s one common trend with Sydney’s top 20 property sales this year — many of the houses, including the $76m mansion in top spot, require a reno.

 One of the top sales — the Marana estate for $40m in Avalon Beach — was a block of land that had the original home bulldozed a decade ago and the buyer is planning two beachfront mansions with pools and tennis courts.

 And two were apartments sold off-the-plan for $37.5 and $33.5m in the One Circular Quay development.

 Brad Pillinger of Pillinger, who sold three of the top five properties (no.1, no.3 and no.5), said: “Lack of supply meant that many of the top-end houses need work — the buyers have found the location they want and they’ll create what they want there.”

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The $76m purchaser of Leura, flower wholesaler Leo Lynch, is “planning to do a big job on it”.

The Queen Anne Federation mansion has iconic views.

 It’s well known that the $76m cash buyer of Bellevue Hill’s Queen Anne Federation mansion Leura, flower wholesaler Leo Lynch, is, as one source said, “planning to do a big job on it”.

The house in No.2 spot, the Spanish Mission treasure Mainhead in Wunulla Rd, Point Piper, that sold for $68m via Ray White Double Bay’s Elliott Placks and Alan Fettes in April, had been recently renovated.

No. 2: Mainhead, in Wunulla Rd, Point Piper, sold for $68m. Source: Million Dollar Listing, Sydney.

It’s beautifully renovated, but the buyer is intending to do a makeover “to suit his taste”.

 But the purchaser. LaserClinics co-founder Alistair Champion, is still planning a makeover “to suit his taste”.

 No.3 is also beautifully renovated, and in this case, the buyer in May of the $61.5m mansion in Kambala Rd, Bellevue Hill, the freight boss Arthur Tzaneros, who bought through Pillinger and Raine and Horne Double Bay’s Alex Lyons, loved the interiors so much that he bought it with “every stick of furniture”.

The house will be staying as is, at least for now.

No. 3: Freight boss Arthur Tzaneros bought this Kambala Rd, Bellevue Hill, home for $61.5m.

He loves the reno and won’t be changing a thing. He even bought it with the furniture included.

 No.4, Akuna, on the Point Piper waterfront that Sydney FC owner Scott Barlow and his wife, Alina, sold for $60m in June through Monika Tu of BlackDiamondz was unrenovated. The price was $15m than what Barlow purchased it for a year earlier.

Prior to the sale the Barlows commissioned a stunning Blainey North reno, which the buyer, investor Hoang Trang Do, is proceeding with now that it’s been approved by council.

One of its attractions is its rare pagoda boathouse.

No. 4: Point Piper’s Akuna, which is unrenovated, sold for $60m.

One of Akuna’s attractions is its pagoda boathouse.

And the buyer of No.5, fintech entrepreneur Stephen Dash paid a total of $47.8m for a mansion and two townhouses that made up the Breuer estate in Bellevue Hill, through Pillinger and Highland’s Bill Malouf.

 He intends to demolish the lot and build a designer mansion for his young family on the 3288sqm block.

No. 5: This mansion in Victoria Rd, Bellevue Hill, with two townhouses, sold for $47.8m.

The buyer intends to knock all three homes down and build one mega mansion for his young family.

No.6 is the another reno job — an original 1920s Californian bungalow on a massive 1100 sqm block overlooking the sea at Tamarama, that sold for $45m — an oceanfront record — in May via Ken Jacobs of Forbes Global Properties.

It’s not known what the buyer, New York-based adman David Droga, has planned, but it will be no doubt a discussion point while they’re here over the Christmas break.

No. 6: Lang Seyne, 31 Gaerloch Ave, Tamarama, sold for $45m. It is an original Californian bungalow but has incredible ocean views. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Artist’s impressions of the Lendlease development One Circular Quay, where a $37.5m apartment and a $33.5m apartment sold in 2023.

The two top apartment sales in the landmark LendLease block at Circular Quay are understood to have been made by the CBRE chairman, Justin Brown, who had a general observation about Sydney apartment sales in 2023: “We have seen a continued strengthening of demand for premium and super prime apartments throughout Sydney premium suburbs,” Mr Brown said.

“The CBD high-end Circular Quay apartments such as One Circular Quay and Sirius have led the way followed by eastern suburbs and lower north shore.”