Art dealer Denis Savill’s downsizer snapped up for $7.55m

Denis Savill, the energetic art dealer who is edging slightly closer to retirement, has found his downsizer apartment after a $7.55m sale.

19A Rosemont Avenue in Sydney’s Woollahra.

Denis Savill, the energetic art dealer who is edging slightly closer to retirement, has found his downsizer apartment, with his long-time partner Anne Clarke.

But there was a very long phone auction before the Bellevue Hill couple secured the Woollahra penthouse offering last Friday afternoon.

The auction stretched over several hours into early evening, concluding with a $7.55m sale.

The triplex Rosemont Ave apartment, with a 214sq m northeasterly aspect floorplan, had been scheduled for Saturday onsite auction.

But there was a decent $5.8m offer that lobbed auction eve for the three-bedroom apartment with its listing agent Ben Collier at The Agency.

The three-way auction was brought forward with Collier taking the phone bids while sitting in the Double Bay office of the vendor solicitor, David Lasky at Kosmin & Associates.

The Hong Kong-based Young family had paid $3.3m in 2014 for the top-floor apartment that sits under a striking mansard-style roof.

The triplex had been developed by the nomadic Michael Hannan, chairman at Ovato.

An interior at 19A Rosemont Avenue, Woollahra.

Meanwhile, Savill has recently listed his art gallery terrace, on Hargrave Street, Paddington, through Collier with $4.5m to $5m expectations.

He paid $275,000 in 1985 after moving from the Gordon Marsh Gallery in Double Bay.

Fortuitously, it was bought on September 4, 1985, just 16 days before the introduction of the Hawke/Keating government’s surprise capital gains tax regime announcement.

Competing Bids therefore assumes his lawyer Nicholas Eddy doesn’t need to dive into the current regulations relating to the CGT exemption on the sale of active business assets, which allow up to a lifetime limit of $500,000.

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Freshwater find

Sydney’s top sale was $8.8m pre-auction for 55 Ocean View Road, Freshwater. It was a four-bedroom, three-bathroom abode, one of the 559 Sydney results of the past week when realestate.com.au calculated an 88 per cent success rate.

There was also a $6.175m sale by Ray White agent Chris Wilkins at 112 Henley Marine Drive, Drummoyne, as two of the five registered bidders went head to head against a bay view backdrop. It sold to a local family who had been searching for two years, with bidding from several expats in Singapore. There were 80 groups through the home in its four weeks of marketing.

Mansion in the Middle

312 Danks Street, Middle Park.

There were three bidders when Melbourne’s top sale was secured at Middle Park.

The pre-auction price guide had been revised upwards to $7m to $7.4m for the bespoke Edwardian residence that fetched $7.9m.

Oliver Bruce and Ben Manolitsas at Marshall White had an initial $6.8m to $7.3m guide.

Set just one block from the beach and on 604sq m, it was offered with a refined home office or sixth bedroom flexibility.

There was double garaging in the two-storey rear studio with gym. There was buyer interest from three from the City of Port Phillip with two others with contracts coming from Stonnington.

Melbourne’s next priciest went undisclosed when 36 Mercer Road, Armadale, sold post-auction after being passed in on a $5.1m vendor bid.

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A sporting chance

44 Perth Street, Prahran.

Dynamo sports news journalist Tom Browne has seen a reduction in the price guide for his renovated Prahran terrace. The Channel 7 journalist had initial $2.6m-$2.8m price hopes.

But last week RT Edgar listing agent Sarah Case adjusted the price to $2.5m to $2.7m for the Perth Street home that goes to auction this Saturday.

The adjustment came ahead of an unhelpful weekend result when a nearby unrenovated Victoria Street offering was passed in on a $2m vendor bid at its Biggin & Scott auction, having had a $2.55m to $2.8m price guide.

Browne and wife Tara bought their three-bedroom Victorian terrace for $1,352,500 in 2015 and then added a second storey with hotel-like master bedroom. Stonnington Council records suggest the 435sq m works cost $370,000.

Brown was spotted popping into his local cafe, Tall Timber, during the weekend open for inspection. The couple, who recently welcomed their first child, Henry, intend to move bayside to be closer to family including his father, the former Nine managing director Jeff Browne, who is reportedly set to chase the AFL Collingwood presidency.

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Brighton brilliance

Melbourne’s latest prestige listing comes from Brighton with $27.5m hopes through the JP Dixon agency. It’s the longtime five-bedroom home of the Zagame hotel group family.

The Kent Avenue beachfront home last sold at $2.3m in 1990.

There is another Kent Avenue current offering a few doors along listed with Akshay Chawla and Milad Javadieh at Eview Group Bayside. The five-bedroom 1926-built home, set on a 2135sq m holding, has period features including soaring coffered ceilings. While offered as the perfect long-term family home, the marketing added it was a development opportunity with no heritage overlay. It last sold in 1991 at $975,000. It has $14m-plus hopes.

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Cheap as chips

There was just $1000 difference between the nation’s cheapest sales amid slightly lower auction volume, with the 2892 homes listings seeing a 79 per cent preliminary success rate, according to CoreLogic.

Adelaide took honours when $311,000 was paid for a three-bedroom house at Salisbury North.

There had been a $279,000 guide for the 1964 home at 109 Whites Road from Matt Sergeant at Harcourts Sergeant Salisbury.

The 89sq m home is tenanted until October, having been leased with a $260 a week asking rent. The 820sq m holding, which has subdivision potential, sold at $205,000 in 2013.

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Melbourne bolthole

Melbourne saw a $312,000 pre-auction sale of a West Footscray apartment.

There had been $310,000 to $340,000 guidance for the updated two-bedroom, second-floor apartment at 8/3 Hampton Parade in the complex of eight. It was available for $290 a week rental in 2019. Selling agent Craig Stephens, the executive chairman of the Jas Stephens Real Estate agency, noted it was purchased as a bolthole as the regional buyer wanted a Melbourne base.

“We are getting a lot of that ... people moving to regional Victoria but still want a place to stay in the Melbourne metro,” Stephens says.

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Swimmer laps it up

25 Kalimna Drive, Broadbeach Waters in Queensland

Olympic swimmer-turned-TV presenter Giaan Rooney sold her Broadbeach Waters home as the family prepares to relocate to regional northern NSW.

The four-bedroom, two-storey waterfront home on a 660sq m block sold through Ronnie Jackson, of Ray White Broadbeach, at $2,206,000.

Rooney paid $860,000 when she moved to the Gold Coast from Melbourne six years ago with her husband Sam Levett.

The couple bought a 22ha macadamia farm for $1.85m at Corndale last December.

Rooney is the third Olympian to sell on the Gold Coast in recent weeks, with swimmer Grant Hacket securing $2.625m at Mermaid Beach and hurdler Sally Pearson selling at Southport for $950,000.

Rooney will be on the Seven Network Tokyo Olympics commentary team.

Queensland shines

Queensland’s top sale came in at $7m after Ray White Runaway Bay agent Edin Kara sold the six-bedroom, seven-bathroom mansion at 47-49 Knightsbridge Parade West, Sovereign Islands. There were three registered bidders. It last sold at $5.5m in 2019.