Toorak real estate: market bursting with multimillion-dollar homes

Forget the “three ds” of death, divorce, downsizing. A top buyer’s advocate says a new one — “Dan” — is driving the busiest Toorak market he’s seen in years, with listings priced up to $39m.

Samantha Landy

@SamLandy

3 min read

November 19, 2020 - 12:32PM

39 Irving Road, Toorak, has hit the market asking $35-$38m.

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Melbourne’s most expensive real estate market is flush with multimillion-dollar listings, ranging from spectacular mansions to a big patch of dirt.

Top-end buyer’s advocate David Morrell said he had “not seen this many choices in a long time” for Toorak buyers, noting the publicly listed properties barely scratched the surface of what was on offer.

“We haven’t had any choice for the better part of 18 months, (and now) I’ve got access to 16 properties in excess of $20m in Toorak,” the Morrell and Koren co-founder said.

“For four of the ones I’ve looked at, the reason people are selling is they’re leaving Victoria.

“It used to be the three ds that drove the top end — death, divorce or downsizing. Now, it’s Dan.”

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4-5 Myvore Court, Toorak, has a $23-$25m price guide.

Australian Finance Group co-founder Malcolm Watkins and his husband, Peter Kerr, are selling the Myvore Court property boasting a “wine wall” and one-of-a-kind helix staircase.

Australian Finance Group co-founder Malcolm Watkins and his husband, Peter Kerr, listed their trophy home at 4-5 Myvore Court for $23-$25m after escaping Melbourne’s lockdown to the Gold Coast.

The couple spent about three years building the mansion with a “wine wall” and an eight-car basement garage, but less than a month living there.

Singer-songwriter Tina Arena is aiming to offload her Toorak Avenue abode for $7m to leave Victoria, too — albeit for COVID-hit France.

MORE: Victoria’s Top 50 Homes revealed

Tina Arena has listed her Toorak home.

Arena’s Toorak Avenue property has a $7m asking price.

A pair of “once-in-a-generation” homes are also for sale for the first time in quarter of a century: a 39 Irving Road property previously owned by businessman Steve Vizard and listed for $35-$38m, and a 57 Clendon Road mansion with a $18.5-$20.35m price guide.

Marshall White’s Richard Mackinnon said the latter had attracted “buyers who aren’t actually in the market” who saw it as a rare opportunity too good to miss.

A handful of apartments are shooting for sales between $14m and $16.25m, including a Grange Road pad with a basement nicknamed “Manland” for its six-car garage, soundproofed office, and bar.

And an empty 4227sq m block at 16 St Georges Road is on the market for a whopping $39m, five years after owners Wang Hua and Xiao “Kylie” Yan Bao controversially demolished the historic house that occupied it.

39 Irving Road sprawls across 3150sq m of land.

39 Irving Road is on the market for the first time in two decades.

57 Clendon Road, Toorak, is even attracting passive buyers “who aren’t actually in the market”.

Mr Morrell said buyers were eagerly absorbing Toorak’s housing stock, as “the next generation” of cashed-up families moved in.

Many top-end buyers had deep enough pockets they didn’t need to take out mortgages, he said, while several recent sales had been subject to Foreign Investment Review Board approval, suggesting “the Chinese are back”.

JB Hi-Fi chief executive Richard Murray’s Kooyong Road home, a brand-new Nola Court residence and a Lascelles Avenue mansion all sold in the vicinity of $14m in October.

Welcome to “Manland” at 1/32 Grange Road, Toorak.

The Grange Rd apartment has a $14m asking price.

And Kay & Burton sales consultant Michael Gibson transacted landscaper Jack Merlo’s Ottawa Road residence off-market for about $25m during September’s lockdown.

Mr Gibson also has the Irving Road listing, which he said offered a position that was “as good as it gets in Toorak”, an “exceptional” 3150sq m landholding, and a “magnificent generational family residence”.

The property was mostly being eyed by upgrading families from within the Stonnington area.

He said Toorak was showing “surprising strength” as buyers and sellers who had “rethought their lifestyles” made up the time they'd lost during the lockdowns.

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samantha.landy@news.com.au

STANDOUT TOORAK LISTINGS

Mansions:

39 Irving Road: $35-$38m price guide, formerly owned by businessman Steve Vizard

4-5 Myvore Court: $23-$25m, listed by Australian Finance Group co-founder Malcolm Watkins and husband Peter Kerr

12 Lansell Road: $23-$25m