Tech entrepreneur buys one of Melbourne’s most valuable homes for close to $75m

The buyer of a grand Toorak mansion that sold for just shy of $75 million has been revealed as entrepreneur Grant Rule, in Melbourne’s second most expensive residential sale.

Rule founded SMS marketing technology company MessageMedia in 2000 when it was originally known as Message4U, and the business was sold to Swedish rival Sinch for $US1.3 billion last year.

A Toorak mansion went under offer for just short of $75 million.Credit: Marshall White

The deal was described at the time as one of the largest for an Australian technology company, and provided an exit to Australian private equity group Mercury Capital, which reportedly owned about half the company before its sale.

Rule later co-founded the Susan McKinnon Foundation and is also a director of the e61 Institute.

His new home on grand boulevard St Georges Road is the second most expensive sale in Melbourne, and a caveat slapped on the title this week ends the search for a buyer by the Nanut family, selling a deceased estate.

Known as Blair House, the Georgian Revival home is set on an oversized block of 7800 square metres and comes with a tennis court, kitchen with a butler’s pantry and AGA oven, separate guest accommodation, expansive lawns and north-facing gardens.

Rule’s new neighbour further along the same street is Ed Craven, co-founder of cryptocurrency casino Stake.com, who paid $80 million for a knockdown rebuild from David Yu.

Selling agent on the deal, Marshall White’s Marcus Chiminello, declined to comment when contacted.

Victoria’s previous house price record was $52.5 million for the mansion known as Stonington, in Malvern, sold by art dealer Rod Menzies in 2018.

The previous highest price paid in Toorak was by Chemist Warehouse owner Sam Gance, who spent $43.1 million to buy a Lansell Road pile from British businessman Mark Healey, who has now purchased the grand home Chasse Gardée for $32 million.

It’s the second-most expensive residential property sale in Melbourne.Credit: Marshall White

Recent deals in the exclusive neighbourhood include Little Milton, which sold within its price guide of $27 million to $29 million. Elsewhere, a fixer-upper next door to the family of retail billionaire Solomon Lew passed in at auction for $10.6 million, then sold afterwards.

A string of luxury homes in Toorak and surrounding suburbs are still available for buyers looking for that perfect Christmas present.