$95m ‘Edgewater’ sale in Point Piper sale defies property market doldrums

With stunning views, ‘Edgewater’ in Sydney’s Point Piper has claimed a place as one of the nation’s most expensive homes.

Edgewater at 92 Wolseley Rd in Point Piper in Sydney sold for $95m. Picture: Supplied

The $95m sale of a Point Piper mansion on the edge of Sydney Harbour has defied the market slump at the top end of the residential property market.

The sprawling estate, called Edgewater, at 92 Wolseley Rd, hugs the waterline and offers a direct view of the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, making it one of the country’s most valued locations.

The Australian-based buyer is believed to be Chinese-born businessman Changjin Li, adding to an already substantial collection of residential properties his companies and associates control.

The off-market purchase has made the property one of the country’s most expensive properties, following the 2018 sale of Lady Mary Fairfax’s nearby Point Piper estate Fairwater to Mike Cannon-Brookes for $100m and the $140m sale for the top three floors of the Tower 1 development in Barangaroo South in October 2019.

Managing director of Sydney Sotheby’s International Realty, Michael Pallier, brokered the deal but was unable to comment.

Edgewater has direct views to the Harbour Bridge.

The sale follows a fall in Sydney house prices over the past few months in light of challenging economic conditions. Last month, the top quarter of the market fell 0.9 per cent nationally which followed a trend established at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The change since March was largely led by a 7 per cent fall in Melbourne luxury market, with Sydney trailing at 3.3 per cent reductions.

Edgewater is owned by the co-founders of the Katies women’s retail clothing chain Joseph Brender and the late Sam Moss, who joint-purchased the estate in 1985 for $5m. The businessmen converted the property into two dual-storey apartments for their respective families.

The Brenders still reside in the upper apartment. The lower apartment had been rented out for $6,000 per week following the Moss’s deaths.

The showpiece home was originally built by showbiz entrepreneur Michael Edgley and his then wife, Jenny, just a few years prior.

The new buyer plans to convert the property back into one home.

Standing four storeys tall on a 1800 sqm block, the property sports one of the city’s few harbourfront tennis courts.

As it is built in to the edge of a cliff face, the garage of the property is located on the roof, with the home retreating lower towards the waterfront.

Below the two apartments is a level featuring a gym, indoor pool entering kitchen.

Mr Brender and Mr Moss launched the fashion brand in the 1950s before selling it to Coles Myer in 1985. Now owned by Mosaic Brands – alongside Noni B, Millers, Rockmans and Rivers – the pandemic has forced the retailer to warn it may close 500 stores nationally.