Toorak mansion Coonac rumoured to have been sold by former Essendon Football Club boss Paul Little

One of the nation’s most illustrious postcodes is abuzz with rumours of a mansion being sold for up to $150m in what could set a new record for Australia’s priciest home sale.

The Coonac mansion owned by businessman and former Essendon Football Club president Paul Little and his wife, Melbourne University chancellor, Jane Hansen, has purportedly sold for more than $100m.

Melbourne and possibly Australia’s house price record has been smashed with Toorak’s rumour mill running wild amid claims of a deal for as much as $150m.

The long-time home of former Essendon Football Club boss, businessman Paul Little and his wife Jane Hansen, who is the chancellor of Melbourne University, is believed to have been sold with speculation of a price anywhere from $115m-$150m.

Considered among Melbourne and Victoria’s most illustrious addresses, the property known as Coonac is considered one of fewer than 10 homes in Melbourne worth $100m or more.

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However, with industry sources noting that the pair have now spent millions of dollars renovating a South Yarra home along Toorak Rd, it is understood a sale has been made that smashes Melbourne’s existing house price record.

At present the $80.88m purchase of a St Georges Rd, Toorak, home of crypto casino boss Ed Craven in 2022 holds the record.

Even at the bottom end of its speculated sale, Coonac would smash this figure by close to $35m.

The Coonac mansion in Toorak is currently owned by Paul Little and wife Jane Hansen. Picture: Andrew Henshaw.

At the upper end, the sale would break the $130m house price record set for Australia by Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar purchasing a Sydney mansion in Point Piper, and selling another in the same area for the same price.

In 2018, Sotheby’s International Realty’s Antoinette Nido sold Mr Little and Ms Hansen the impressive Simonds Hall, a Toorak Rd, South Yarra, property that records show the pair paid $19.25m for and are understood to be in the midst of an extraordinary renovation of.

Ms Nido was working for RT Edgar at the time.

While unwilling to discuss any present-day real estate moves by the pair, Ms Nido described Coonac as “without doubt Melbourne’s premier property”, with an 11,000sq m allotment on the city’s most illustrious street.

Paul Little is among Melbourne’s best known and most successful businessmen. Picture: Mark Stewart.

If it had been sold, Ms Nido said $100m-$150m would be terrific news for Melbourne’s property market — and re-establish the rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney for the nation’s best real estate.

“It would be a gamer changer,” she said.

“And Toorak houses more of the BRW Rich List than any other suburb in Australia, and it’s a great suburb with great housing.”

However, Ms Nido said such a sale would not be common.

“A buyer at $100m-$150m doesn’t come around very often, the stars need to align,” she said.

A range of Melbourne’s top real estate agents have described any sale north of $100m as a significant sign of confidence in Melbourne’s most illustrious properties.

Paul Little and his wife Jane Hansen inside their Toorak home. Picture: Aaron Francis/The Australian.

Marshall White’s John Bongiorno said the reported sale was a matter of “supply and demand”, with fewer than 10 homes in Melbourne today capable of supporting a $100m sale price — Coonac among them.

“But this is good for the property market,” Mr Bongiorno said.

“This year has started a lot more positively than I thought it would. The number of people through open homes over the past three weekends now augers well.”

His firm is currently working to sell Cranlana, the long-time home of Australia’s Myer family. The house hit the marker in September with a $96m-$105m asking price, and remains listed for sale at that price via Marcus Chiminello.

Kay & Burton managing director Ross Savas could not be reached to discuss Coonac, but in separate commentary said Melbourne’s luxury property market had “thrived” over the past year as a result of local and international buyer demand and was poised for strong results in the future.

“As Australia’s high-net-worth population continues to grow, the imbalance between supply and demand in this segment will continue,” Mr Savas said.

Australia’s Highest Priced Home Sales

Wingadal, Point Piper (NSW) — for sale: $200m

Barangaroo Tower 1 (top three floors), Barangaroo South (NSW) — $140m

Elaine, Point Piper (NSW) — $130m

Uig Lodge, Point Piper (NSW) — $130m

Fairwater, Point Piper (NSW) — $100m

Cranlana, Toorak (VIC) — for sale: $96m-$105m

‘Ghost Mansion’, Toorak (VIC) — $88.088m

“This year, a more stable interest rate environment is set to drive momentum across all major Australian markets at various price points. However, Melbourne is primed to continue to thrive as the most liveable city in Australia.”

RT Edgar’s Jeremy Fox said he was not involved in the sale, but noted any deal above $100m would be a Melbourne record, and a significant positive for the city’s property market.

“I think that would give everybody confidence that for all this negativity that has been around … for the key properties and the trophy homes, they are in demand and that’s fantastic news for the market,” Mr Fox said.

“I thought we were getting close to one, but I didn’t know when we would see it.”

Forbes Global Properties Australia director Michael Gibson said the sale underpinned the 2022 record set by Ed Craven, and reflected that the top end of Melbourne’s market had not endured the same difficult conditions as the rest of the city in 2024.

“Everyone thought he had paid a lot in St Georges Road, but a few years later you would say he has probably bought pretty well,” Mr Gibson said.

“And it’s a tick for the blue-chip suburbs of Melbourne.”

— With Sarah Petty, [e-mail]

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Originally published as Toorak mansion Coonac rumoured to have been sold by former Essendon Football Club boss Paul Little