A slice of history up for grabs in lovely Lorne
A dress-circle Lorne home has been listed for the first time in seven decades by descendants of the Peardon grazier family.
A dress-circle Lorne home has been listed for the first time in seven decades by descendants of the Peardon grazier family.
Sitting beneath blue gums, the mid-century beach house comprises two pavilions, with extensive decking overlooking the ocean on Victoria’s popular Surf Coast. It was built for Jean and Albie Peardon, who did not have far to holiday since their farm was Killuran, at Birregurra, just 40km inland.
Jean, who loved surfing and skiing, was from the Reid family of Miller’s Creek Station, Willow Tree in NSW and the Bickford family from South Australia.
The Lorne offering last traded at £4500 in 1956 when it was bought from Beatrice Manifold, a descendant of the acclaimed brothers who arrived from Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) to settle the Western District of Victoria in 1844. Beatrice was the wife of grazier Edward Manifold, whose estate on his 1931 death was valued at £500,000.
The owner of the Lorne offering at the turn of the 20th century was Frank Armytage, whose grazing holdings included nearby Spray Farm, which last traded when bought by former ANZ boss Mike Smith and his wife Maria in 2014.
Ian Stewart of Great Ocean Road Real Estate is marketing the unrenovated abode on its 1278sq m Smith St block, with $3.9m to $4.3m price guidance. Offers close January 29, allowing potential buyers to inspect after their skiing trips abroad.
There was also the weekend distraction of the 44th Lorne Pier to Pub swim. Entrants included Goldman Sachs Australia chairman Josh Frydenberg who completed for the 10th time, clocking the 1.2 km in 27 minutes and 35 seconds. His wife, Amie, did it in 25 minutes and 52 seconds, against her prior best time of 22 minutes.
Frydenberg’s best time was 22 minutes 6 seconds in 2016. His mate and now local hotelier Justin Hemmes did it on Saturday in 20 minutes 24 seconds in his first race.
It was while holidaying in January 2019 at the beach house of his parents, Harry and EricaFrydenberg, that the then federal treasurer crafted his stage three tax cuts legislation, which will likely have a big impact on the property market when it takes effect from July 1.
Historic Waverley sold
Waverley, an 1880 freestone two-storey mansion on Lorne’s front row, was snapped up just two days before the new year and well ahead of its scheduled January 20 auction, with no price disclosure.
The renovated five-bedroom house on its 1930sq m Deans Marsh Rd holding, opposite the Erskine River, had come with $4.2m to $4.5m price guide through Abercrombys agent Jock Langley. Its new owners will use it as their principal residence.
The property dates back to pastoralist Simon Staughton, who was a relative of the Armytages. It was then was owned by the wool-broking Lascelles family for eight decades until 1987. Jock’s late grandfather John Langley had been the CEO at the Dennys, Lascelles Ltd firm which was acquired by Elders in the late 1970s.
Listed initially at $5,250,000 in late 2022, Waverley last sold at $2m in 2010.
Changing demographic
Lorne, like many coastal towns across Australia in the past, saw buyers from the bush feature as a sizeable demographic. They would hit the beach each summer, especially when the profits flowed on the farm. Sometimes Lorne was even reported in the Melbourne social pages with equal billing to Portsea’s swish soirees.
These days 60 per cent of Lorne sales are buyers two hours away in Melbourne, with Geelong at 15 per cent a distant second, and then the western Victorian postcodes occupying third place, according to Stewart. He won’t be surprised if local owners trade up to the blue chip Smith St location.
Lorne has been the coast’s strongest market, with PropTrack senior economist Paul Ryan saying its house median rose 3.48 per cent in the past quarter. But Lorne’s $1,913,000 median was down 1 per cent annually.
Barwon Heads was next priciest with a $1,612,000 median, followed by Anglesea at $1,559,000 and Queenscliff at $1,459,000.
Southern comfort
Retired NSW farmers Max and Roz Graham from Galong on NSW’s southwest Slopes, were the $12m buyers of the record-setting Narrawallee beachfront on the NSW South Coast, which had been listed with a $14m to $15m guide through Atlas.
The $12m beat the previous record $10m beachfront at nearby Mollymook in 2021.
The Grahams had just sold Argyle, their 1800ha Galong aggregation for $34m. It specialised in beef and lamb, carbon and regenerative agriculture.
Roz Graham nee Sylvester first came to bush fame when she won the Sydney Royal Easter Showgirl title in 1965, starring in the six bars jump competition on her horse, Hedgehopper.
Borambil beauty
The imposing seven-storey Borambil apartment complex set directly above the surf club at Manly owes its origin to the Matchett grazing family. The 34-apartment Bower St block was built in 1930 to a design in the florentine style by architects Peddle Thorp & Walker after the landmark Bowercliff residence was demolished.
Taking its name from W. G. Matchett’s central-western Condobolin property, Borambil was built for £44,000, said to be the proceeds of one wool cheque from the farm on the Lachlan River. There had been a £60,000 total cost, inclusive of the land.
The apartments were let by the family with the company title block converted to strata in 1972. They retained the largest for their beachside holidays until the 1980s.
The four-bedroom apartment fetched $8.02m last month when sold to interior decorator Rachel Rutherfurd, having previously sold for $3,475,000 in 2021.
Eisens expand
It was the sale by retired graziers John and Ilone Small that saw Afterpay co-founder Anthony Eisen and his interior designer wife Samantha increase their beachfront holding on Wategos Beach in Byron Bay last year.
The Eisens spent $23m to buy from the Smalls, who were in the recruitment business but considered themselves graziers from Triangle Flat, Bathurst.
The fintech entrepreneur had bought three doors away in 2018 for $7.6m from farmer Charlie Arnott, the eighth-generation sheep and cattle farmer from Boorowa in NSW.
There are just 12 houses on the Wategos strip with the flag still flown by the Crothers dairy farming family from Victoria.
Fresh Eyre
Ealing, West London-based Australian businessman Mark Scherrer, who co-founded aerospace company Ferra Engineering, has acquired an Eyre Peninsula, South Australia farm complete with Tyringa Beach title last year for $1.65m through CBRE Agribusiness agent Phil Schell.
The 1117ha holding on the Great Australian Bight about seven hours from Adelaide was bought from the Cash family.
The acquisition follows the 2022 sale of the Ferra business to the US supplier Accurus Aerospace for around $350m.
$9.45m in Kingscliff
Prestige beachfront sales have kicked off the year with a landmark Kingscliff mansion fetching $9.45m last week, ranking it as the NSW Tweed coast’s most expensive beachfront.
North Point Residence, a resort-style offering spanning three blocks, had been on and off the market since late 2019.
Designed by Paul Uhlmann, the 2009 house was sold by Sarah and Andrew Johnson.
Nick Witheriff of LJ Hooker Kingscliff sold it to a holiday home buyer from Melbourne.
It bettered the previous nearby $8.97m record which was bought by Gail Kellow, wife of Glenn Kellow, the former chief executive of Peabody Energy, the world’s biggest coal miner.
The sale highlighted the role of mining industry buyers as a very strong beachfront demographic.
It could be your own Downton Abbey
Built in the 1870s, this massive pile on 2.83ha in NSW’s Hunter Valley is one of Australia’s finest heritage estates. Asking price: $10 million.
‘Relief needed to lure buyers back’
Interest rates would need to be cut five or six times to motivate buyers back into the property market, with younger Australians likely to purchase sooner.