$16.3m sets auction record for Balmoral; Mermaid Beach luxury apartment resales stay strong
The long-held home of the late AMP Society economist Dr Harold Bell, and his widow Dr Pamela Bell, with views over Balmoral Baths, topped the nation’s weekend auctions, fetching $16.3m.
A dress circle hillside Sydney offering overlooking Balmoral Baths topped the nation’s weekend auctions, fetching $16.3m. The Plunkett Rd home, called on the market at $15.75m, attracted eight registered bidders with four participating.
It was the long-held home of the late AMP Society economist Dr Harold Bell, and his widow Dr Pamela Bell, both revered for their respective endeavours in economics and the fine arts.
The house on its 851sq m holding last sold in 1963 when bought from Western Assurance Co chief Keith Bentzen for £19,250, with Bell taking a £9750 AMP mortgage.
Bell secured his doctorate in the 1950s at the London School of Economics. He retired from the AMP as its chief economist in 1984, after 46 years, interrupted only by his military service in World War II. He was made an honorary life trustee of the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia before he died in 2008. There are 24 boxes of his papers in the Mitchell Library archives.
The auction opened at $11m with a bid reportedly from David Harrison, CEO of Charter Hall, but sold to another local at the highest ever price for an under-the-hammer sale in the pricey lower north shore suburb.
Mosman has seen nine higher private treaty prices this year, topped by a record $33m paid by Florian Struengmann, the 35-year-old son of a German biotech billionaire. The family wealth soared during the pandemic because of its stake in BioNTech, which developed the Covid-19 vaccine with US drugmaker Pfizer. Struengmann bought it from the Dubai-based Trevor Conway, who stepped down mid-year from his directorship of Tradition, one of the world’s largest inter-dealer brokers.
Sales solid
There were 895 homes taken to auction across Sydney last week, slightly down as summer commenced. With 701 results collected so far by CoreLogic’s Tim Lawless, almost 65 per cent were successful, as sellers accepted the softening market conditions.
The busiest week nationally since June saw 2506 homes taken to auction, with 62 per cent finding buyers, a resilient result given buyer fatigue typically sets in as the holidays approach.
“There’s no clear sign yet of the usual end-of-year market wind-down,” economist Dr Andrew Wilson from My Housing Market noted.
Melbourne’s auction volumes held above 1000 for the third consecutive week, with 62 per cent sold. Melbourne’s top advised sale was $4.3m when Jellis Craig agent Maria Xu secured the sale of the updated 1930s Canterbury home at 104 Mont Albert Rd. It last sold in 2009 at $2,777,000, with Xu’s recent price guide being $4m to $4.4m.
Canberra recorded the strongest preliminary clearance rate at 67 per cent, with its highest priced sale $5.8m in Red Hill.
Stormin’ Norman
Brisbane’s 42 per cent was the weakest capital city result. But Brisbane’s Norman Park had the nation’s second priciest sale when $6.68m was paid for a four-bedroom, three-bathroom home, listed for the first time in four decades.
The 820sq m Wendell St offering with a 20m river frontage with a jetty and slipway attracted 36 bids from three of the four registered bidders.
Place Bulimba agent Sarah Hackett sold it to a local on behalf of the family of the veteran Brisbane estate agent Bruce Blocksidge who passed away earlier this year aged 94. He was the third of five generations to have worked at the Blocksidge real estate agency, which dates back to 1888.
Place auctioneer Paul Curtain, who took a $5.5m opening bid, announced it on the market at $6.65m, with four more bids then coming.
There had been 5600 views on realestate.com.au.
Brisbane’s next highest was $4.2m, when three of the seven registered bidders competed for the keys to a five-bedroom, three-level home at Wilston. The buyers from Sydney will be relocating to Brisbane with their four children.
The Angliss St home was built by two local doctors seven years ago to a design by Base Architecture on its elevated, 730sq m lot, capturing views of the city skyline and across to Mt Coo-tha. The buyer was represented by Real Estate Institute of Queensland 2022 buyers agent of the year Melinda Jennison of Streamline Property Buyers Agents.
Gold Coast luxury
The Gold Coast has seen strong resales in its newest luxury apartment complex, 272 Hedges Ave at Mermaid Beach.
A local price benchmark was set after the recent private treaty campaign through Kollosche Prestige agent Eddie Wardale for a three-bedroom sub-penthouse that sold for $5.5m.
With ocean and hinterland views, it reflected $17,295 per square metre for apartment 3901 after 37 days on the market.
Wardale fielded 46 inquiries, leading to four offers over $5m. The inquiries were split between local and interstate buyers seeking a permanent residence or lock-up-and-leave holiday home.
The 39th floor apartment had been sold off the plan for $3.838m in 2020 to Salesforce 360 director Steve Wooldridge and wife Ann.
The 44-storey $250m project was one of the last to be delivered by Soheil Abedian’s Sunland Group, the recently delisted ASX property development company.
It was constructed by Hutchinson Builders, who took 178 weeks to complete during which its off-the-plan sales were at around $10,000 per square metre.
There are 98 two to four-bedroom apartments, sky homes and penthouses.
There have been other resales, with a three-bedroom apartment sold to David Pharoah, the managing director at Davron Fire & Electrical for $4.52m, up from its initial $3.6m early 2021 purchase.
Byron Bay couple, Oroton heir Tom Lane and his wife Emma, will test the market, having listed the 27th-level apartment for January 15 auction. Spanning two floors and covering 513sq m, it is connected by a statement spiral staircase. They paid $7.2m.
It has been listed through Kollosche agents Michael Kollosche and Harry Kakavas, who are also set to market the whole-floor 650sq m apartment on the 42nd floor with a $13,750,000 asking price.
Abedian’s new private family development firm recently launched its first project, Peerless, slightly inland from Mermaid Beach.
Lighthouse listing
Veteran agent Barry Plant has listed his Gold Coast mansion. The Sovereign Islands offering, dubbed The Lighthouse, was built by Plant – whose name sits above the door of 70 real estate offices in Victoria and South Australia – and his wife Karen.
They had bought the Knightsbridge Parade East building block in 2014. The couple moved from Melbourne in 2011, having launched the agency in Templestowe in 1979.
The home, listed through Kollosche Prestige agent Stuart Rooke, was the 2017 Master Builders Association Gold Coast house of the year, and designed by Mi Design Studio. There’s 1394sq m of living space with a Schindler commercial-grade lift servicing all four levels.
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