Fashion mogul Simone Zimmermann buys trophy home in Bondi for $30m

Fashion mogul Simone Zimmermann has put Bondi on the trophy home map, setting a $30 million house price record with no mortgage required.

The purchase not only counts as the suburb’s first trophy home sale, but tops house price records in its high-end neighbouring suburbs of Bondi Beach and North Bondi.

Simone Zimmermann has paid $30 million for a Bondi house with views to her Ben Buckler home.Credit: Domain

What’s more, this is no one-of-a-kind residence of gargantuan proportions or oceanfront position. It is a five-bedroom house set behind a double lock-up garage, and is expected to be renovated before Zimmermann takes up residence.

To its credit is its position one house back from the famed Bondi to Bronte walk and north-facing ocean views, which with the benefit of binoculars offers a glimpse of Zimmermann’s North Bondi home that she bought in 2017 for $5.5 million.

Simone Zimmermann co-founded the fashion label Zimmermann with her sister Nicky Zimmermann.

It is also set amid some well-heeled neighbours. Next door is a 1960s house that set the previous suburb high of $15 million when purchased in 2013 by venture capitalist and teal independents-backer James Taylor. A few doors away is the house of Macquarie’s head of real estate Brett Robson.

The location’s appeal isn’t lost on McGrath director Shane Smollen and father-and-son developers Wayne and Nathan Chivas given the trio’s development company Central Element paid $51 million for a site amalgamation a few doors away that is slated for development into boutique apartments.

The Bondi house sold to Simone Zimmermann for $30 million, no mortgage required.Credit: Domain

Cashing in on the sale is former Glencore trader-turned-real estate investor Vaughan Blank and his wife Jacqueline, who paid $5.75 million for it in 2008.

Zimmermann and her sister Nicky made fashion history last year when their luxury brand became the first Aussie fashion unicorn, boosting their personal wealth in the process given a reported $1.75 billion that US firm Advent International paid to acquire a majority stake in the fashion label.

Nicky and her husband, Zimmermann’s chief executive Chris Olliver have already traded up to Sydney’s trophy home market, buying a $59.5 million house in Vaucluse in late 2022.

The Tamarama house designed by Andre Baroukh sold for $30 million.Credit: Domain

Eastern beaches summer heat

Zimmermann’s Bondi purchase was matched in Tamarama over the summer break thanks to South African businessman David Frank, who paid $30 million for the Andre Baroukh-designed residence of endodontist Alan Nerwich and his wife Regina.

Soaring values along the eastern beaches were also felt by Nine’s co-host of Today Extra Sylvia Jeffreys and her husband, Sky News presenter Peter Stefanovic, who have paid $6.35 million for a Nick Bell Architects-designed house in Bronte.

Peter Stefanovic and Sylvia Jeffreys have paid $6.35 million for a house in Bronte.Credit: Esteban La Tessa

The couple were forced to offer well above the $5.5 million guide set by PPD’s Alexander Phillips to secure the four-bedroom bungalow ahead of auction, upgrading from their recently sold Double Bay terrace.

The flurry of summer settlements - and anticipation among the finance set of at least one interest rate cut this year - isn’t lost on locals hoping to cash in on a bullish start to the year. Podcorp commercial developer boss Andrew Podgornik and wife Chloe have returned their award-winning residence to the market for $30 million through PPD’s Alexander Phillips.

Also open for inspection is the Tamarama home of events producer Antony Spanbrook and medico Chris Yeo through The Agency’s Ben Collier and Sotheby’s James Ball for $20 million.

Spanbrook’s asking price may have looked ambitious when the beachside house was launched in late 2022, but not so much since adman David Droga paid $45 million last year for the beachside house Lang Syne.

The Tamarama house of Antony Spanbrook and Chris Yeo remains for sale for $20 million.Credit: Domain

Neighbourhood watch

Mosmanites seem to take a keen interest in their neighbours, or at least their homes. Take car dealer John Newell and his wife Maria, who have purchased an $11 million, knock-down rebuild across the road.

The Newells have been based at Clifton Gardens since 2018 when they paid $13 million for the home of David and Vicki Albert, of the music publishing family.

The Georgian colonial-style Kirkoswald House has sold to near neighbours for about $17.5 million.Credit: Domain

And eight years after one of Mosman’s slowest movers, historic Kirkoswald House was listed for sale by businessman and environmentalist Robert Purves, it has also sold to the neighbours for about $17.5 million.

Purves did well to wait. He was asking $14 million when it launched in 2016, and again in 2018, but raised the guide to $19 million last year through Atlas’s Michael Coombs, who sold it.

Taking the keys is litigation lawyer Ann Donohue and her environmental planner husband David Snashall, whose house across the road is expected to hit the market soon.

Replacing it on the local trophy home shelf is Kilcreggan, a Federation mansion owned by former Macquarie Bank senior executive David Adams and his wife Elizabeth.

Built by shipping merchant and politician William Scott Fell and set on 2000 square metres with a tennis court, pool and views out the heads, it last traded for $730,000 in 1986, ending its 30 years as a Baptist children’s home.

Jonathon De Brennan and David Grant, of De Brennan Property, are yet to set a guide ahead of the March 9 auction.

Kilcreggan is the Federation mansion built by shipping merchant and politician William Scott Fell.Credit: Domain