Bellevue Hill mansions sell in $130 million double deal

Sydney’s trophy home market clocked up two of the year’s biggest deals on Tuesday night when Leo Lynch, of flower wholesaler Lynch Group, bought and sold $130 million worth of home real estate.

Central to the double deal is the historic Federation estate Leura in Bellevue Hill, which was sold to Lynch for about $70 million by Chinese-Australian businessman Wilson Lee and his wife, Baoyu Wu – trading for more than double what they paid for it in 2015.

Bellevue Hill’s Federation mansion Leura sold for about $70 million on Tuesday night.Credit: Domain

The purchase coincided with Lynch’s sale of his own recently rebuilt home a few blocks away for $61.5 million.

Prestige agents were left stunned by the result for Lynch’s home on Wednesday, given it is set on about 1300 square metres. It topped the suburb high, previously held by the 5700-square-metre Rona estate that sold for $58 million in 2018 to Richard Scheinberg, of the wealthy cattle and property investment family.

Both sales are widely tipped to have been negotiated by Pillinger’s Brad Pillinger. However, Pillinger declined to comment when approached on Wednesday morning.

Leura was built in the 1890s in the Federation Queen Anne-style and previously owned by property developer Bill Shipton.Credit:

Lynch’s new home, Leura, is a grand 1890s-built mansion with eight bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a ballroom, tennis court and swimming pool, designed by government architect Walter Liberty Vernon and architect Howard Joseland in the Federation Queen Anne style.

The 4260-square-metre property was previously owned by Christine and Ken Allen of the Business Promotional Products company, who purchased it in 1986 for $7.3 million from property developer Bill Shipton.

The Allens set a former Bellevue Hill high when they sold it to Wilson and Wu in late 2015 for $30.8 million.

Lee, a keen yachtsman and head of Chinese wealth management service provider Noah Holdings, listed it two years ago with a guide of $70 million following his return to Shanghai.

While the Leura mansion has more than doubled in value in the eight years since it last traded, Lynch has done even better on his home on nearby Kambala Road.

Lynch purchased his current Bellevue Hill house in 2014 for $9.05 million, and commissioned a knock-down rebuild of the 1338-square-metre property in more recent years to make way for a grand residence designed by architect Michael Suttor with Thomas Hamel interiors.

There was no marketing material for the residence, but first-hand accounts of the house describe it as one of the most impressive locally. At $61.5 million, the result translates to almost $46,000 per square metre.

Lynch’s family founded the wholesale flower company in 1915, and family founding shareholders still hold a stake worth about $65.5 million in the company, although it is majority owned by Australian private equity firm Next Capital.

Sydney’s trophy home market has had a bull run of sales this year, with more than 20 sales already for amounts of $20 million-plus. The highest reported was the about $69 million for the Point Piper home of businessman Simon Ehrlich.