Australia’s ‘first $200m home’
As Aussie home prices continue to push skyward, especially at the top end of the market, we could see the country’s first $200m home. Is this it?
As Aussie home prices continue to push skyward, especially at the top end of the market, we could see the country’s first $200m home.
This year kicked off with news of a new record house sale of $130m in Australia’s most expensive suburb, Sydney’s harbourfront haven of Point Piper, when the co-founder of tech success Atlassian Scott Farquhar became the proud new owner of Uig Lodge.
The mansion, which boasts 180 degree harbour views from Point Piper’s highest spot, was constructed in the style of a Scottish baronial castle in the early 1900s.
It stole top spot for an Australian house sale from fellow Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes, who snapped up the former Fairfax estate Fairwater for $100m in 2018.
In 2019, the One Sydney Penthouse in Barangaroo South set a new record for Australia’s most expensive home when it sold for $140m.
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The nine-bedroom home consists of the premier penthouse and the accompanying sub-penthouse apartment, and spans the top three floors of the tallest of Lendlease’s three residential towers.
The home also includes more than 1600 sqm of living space as well as a private rooftop pool, spa and gym, with the main bedroom bigger than most family homes.
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Now amid huge price growth in blue chip properties – there is no reliable PropTrack price data on Point Piper due to the low number of homes sold there year on year but in nearby Vaucluse, the median house price has grown from $5.21m at the end of 2018 to $9m today – there is speculation Australia could see it’s first ever $200m home sale.
When former Aussie Home loans boss John Symond listed his glorious Point Piper home for sale in 2016, there was talk it could sell for $100m and be the first home to do so.
It was withdrawn from sale in 2017.
But it remains one of Point Piper’s and Sydney’s most talked about homes with some suggesting in the current market it might be worth $200m now if it were taken to market.
The multi-level sandstone, cement and glass pile sprawls across 2685 sqm.
Symond has lived in it since 2007 and it boasts six bedrooms, all with ensuites, two swimming pools and more than 75 metres of absolute water frontage, making it the largest harbourfront in the exclusive suburb of Point Piper.
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There’s a gymnasium, library, home movie theatre and of course that picture-perfect view of Sydney’s iconic Opera House and glittering harbour from almost every room. The roof is copper-capped and there’s a 10-car garage. and a lift to get you between floors.
It also boasts 24 toilets.
The home, is packed with artwork including that of Sidney Nolan and Brett Whiteley, courtesy of keen collector Symond. It was once a regular venue for some of Sydney’s greatest celebrations, including the 2016 nuptials of the finance guru and his wife Amber McDonald.
The “party floor” is considered by the philanthropic Symond as “a civic space” and is used primarily for fundraisers. The kitchen and bar can cater for up to 600.
That space includes a kitchen which has been manned by the likes of Matt Moran, Guillaume Brahimi, Peter Doyle and Neil Perry for charity events, and Symond says some chefs have told him it is better than their own.
Many of Australia’s mega-rich and prominent have mingled at the entertainment floor, which plays host to charity events and Liberal Party fundraisers.
‘Aussie’ John Symond retired as chairman of Aussie Home Loans in 2020 and has kept a relatively low profile since then.
Earlier this year, The Australian Financial Review estimated his net worth at $780m.
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Originally published as Australia’s ‘first $200m home’
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