A different kind of sale for America’s Cup skipper John Bertrand
John Bertrand, the man who skippered Australia II to America’s Cup victory, and his wife Rasa have sold their South Yarra home, which had an initial price guide of $7m to $7.7m.
The South Yarra home of John Bertrand, the winning Australia II, America’s Cup skipper, and his wife Rasa has been sold.
Their three-bedroom, three-bathroom Murphy St home, set on 650sq m, had an initial $7m to $7.7m price guidance through Kay & Burton selling agents Nicole Gleeson and Ross Savas.
There’s been no sale price disclosure but interested parties had been told they needed to offer more than the $6.55m that was under consideration early last week.
Marketed as a “sanctuary in South Yarra”, the 140-year-old home on 650sq m last sold at $750,000 in 1991.
It was initially listed by the downsizing Melbourne couple in March, and like most listings, took somewhat longer to sell as the 2022 market pivoted from a sellers’ to a buyers’ market.
Across the capital cities, properties are now taking 33 days to secure a private treaty sale, up from the rapid 20-day median last November.
CoreLogic calculate that the median discount to secure the sale has risen to 4 per cent nationally – so it’s only slightly choppier selling conditions, despite the rapid rise in home mortgage rates.
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Balwyn beauty
There were 850 homes taken to weekend auction in Melbourne, up 9 per cent on the previous weekend. Of the results collected so far, 63 per cent were successful, down only slightly from the prior week’s 64 per cent, which was revised to 62 per cent at final figures, the highest clearance rate since late April.
Melbourne’s top advised sale was a five-bedroom 17 Burroughs Rd, Balwyn listing that went for $4,005,000 through William Chen and Brenton Linmeiers at Marshall White Manningham. The home, with its facade of Daniel Robertson bricks, had an open-plan living/dining area from its 2012 construction which had a $400,000 build cost, according to Cordell Building.
All five bidders were Chinese Australian families, Chen advised Competing Bids. He said it sold to a family from Templestowe whose children attend private schools in Kew.
There were anecdotal attendee reports of a higher $4.65m sale at Surrey Hills, but no official confirmation after it was listed with $3.6m to $3.9m hopes. The vendors bought the 31 Wandsworth Rd property in 2013 for $1.52m and then spent $998,000 on its Hamptons-style rebuild in 2015.
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Market shrinking
“The market is still falling,” says prestige Melbourne buyers’ agent Mal James. His Buy Sell agency attended 39 weekend auctions when 27 were passed in, reflecting a 30 per cent success rate.
James says a further 12 have since been sold post-auction.
He singles out Melbourne’s Bayside where there “were more auctions than bidders”.
Elwood had Melbourne’s priciest offering when a Californian bungalow at 90 Addison St was listed with $5.8m to $6.1m hopes through Torsten Kasper at Chisholm & Gamon. The auction opened on a $5.75m vendor bid and closed on a $5.8m vendor bid.
There had been a $500,000 extension to the 1915 home, Waldaira, by MA Architects in 2015. There are high ceilings, leadlight and fireplaces in the old wing, plus polished concrete with underfloor heating in the modern wing, on its 963sq m, park-like grounds.
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Historic opportunity
The unrenovated Del Osa, the tightly held Burwood home in Sydney’s inner west, was the nation’s top weekend auction offering, but it sold in the week prior.
Listed for sale with $7m-plus interest being shown, the Federation home on Appian Way fetched $8m. Set on 4148sq m, the home is the largest on the 19th-century residential garden showpiece estate developed by steel industrialist George Hoskins, where all enjoy the central communal tennis court.
Del Osa’s initial owner, manufacturer John Meeks, who headed the Sydney Chamber of Commerce in the late 1920s, and his wife Ruby expanded their holding, with their tennis court block added in 1921 for £200.
Meeks had moved from Melbourne when hired by tea traders Thompson, Fraser, Ramsay Proprietary Ltd, and then married the daughter of the former NSW premier Sir John See.
Del Osa, which sold through Matthew Nolan from Rich And Oliva Real Estate Agents, last traded in 1975 when bought by the late Sydney University foundation professor of community medicine Charles Bridges-Webb and his wife Anne. They bought it for $120,000 from laundry proprietor John West.
There were 702 auctions in Sydney last week, up from the previous week’s 689. Of the results collected so far by CoreLogic, a steady 60 per cent were successful, which was revised down to 55 per cent at final figures. Withdrawal rates still remain high across the city, with 23 per cent of the 571 results collected so far reported as withdrawn, compared to 7 per cent in Melbourne, where 701 results have been collected so far.
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State of play
Across the smaller capital cities, Brisbane was the busiest with 126 auctions but the weakest at 42 per cent. There was no sales advisory on the prestige riverfront auction by The Agency for 132 Virginia Ave, Hawthorne. It has had an astonishing 72,000 online views on realestate.com.au since its $15m listing in January through Garry Price and Kyle Pitman.
The last time it sold – for $6.9m in 2014 to former telco director turned property developer Ben (Liam) Moore and wife Kirstie – it had been marketed for over 900 days.
There were 125 auctions in Adelaide, 101 in Canberra, 15 in Perth and one in Tasmania.
Adelaide had the strongest preliminary clearance rate at close to 78 per cent, followed by Canberra at 62 per cent, including the sale of 48 Musgrave St, Yarralumla, a six-bedroom home sold through Mario Sanfrancesco at Blackshaw Manuka for $5.4m. The 929sq m block, last sold for $990,000 in 2011, now has a two-storey, six-bedroom home with 13-car garaging.
Its billiard room boasts three wall-mounted televisions, and there’s a powder room and a dry bar.
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Auction action
This week is set to be the busiest across the capital cities since June, with PropTrack calculating some 2574 auction listings.
“Sales activity is likely to slow in the second half of September due to the school holidays but is then expected to bounce back strongly in October,” said Anne Flaherty, an economist at PropTrack.
Melbourne will see some 1000 plus auctions this weekend, and then in the following week, Sydney hits 815, ahead of its late September start to school holidays.
The September 24 Sydney auctions include the Paddington terrace of former Fairfax Media boss Greg Hywood. His Heeley St investment terrace has $2.7m hopes through DiJones agent Mitchell Dansey. Bought for $1,575,000 in 2013, it was last advertised for rent at $1280 a week in June 2020.
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