Bushland paradise: living it up in the lap of luxury at Rose Lane Cattai

As the debate continues on how to best generate new housing supply, high net worth entrepreneurial families are busy with their own residential projects.

An artist’s renders of the Rose Lane, Cattai development consisting of five large contemporary homes on semirural lots of about 5000sq m.

As the debate continues on how to best generate new housing supply – there’s some 150 submissions to the federal government’s latest inquiry – high net worth entrepreneurial families are busy with their own residential projects.

There are two new housing estates in long-held Sydney bushland settings, and a Melbourne developer has commenced marketing the greenest of prestigious apartment projects.

Forget about affordability – these offerings are pitched at cashed-up downsizers seeking luxury.

One of the Hawkesbury region’s most creative residents, the family headed by Brian Sherman, have embarked on a highly innovative housing project in the heart of Cattai, a historic suburb 44km northwest of Sydney.

The project, Rose Lane Cattai, is a boutique development consisting of five large contemporary homes on semirural lots of about 5000sq m. Off-the-plan registrations of interest are being taken for five-bedroom, architect-designed homes which will be built adjacent to an eight hectare community title bushland reserve.

“These homes will set a new standard for stunning semirural properties so close to Sydney,” said project director Jeremy Bryden from Blare Management.

The homes will have around 350sq m of internal floor space plus 200sq m of outdoor living areas, with a design by architect Andrew Burns and landscaping by Place Design Group.

Rose Lane is located 30 minutes from the M2 and NorthConnex, and not too far from the Riverside Championship Golf Course.

The philanthropic couple – Brian and his wife, Gene, the academic and gallerist – began their Cattai land acquisitions in 1987, six years after he co-founded the pioneering fund management group Equitilink with Laurence Freedman.

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Marara marvel

On Sydney’s Pittwater the millionaire financier Peter Higgins has committed to proceed with construction of Marara, his gated residential estate at Avalon Beach. He has engaged Pimas Gale to build eight homes on the waterfront estate.

Architect Mark Hurcum has undertaken the design of the homes, which are priced from $6,950,000 to $12,950,000 for the dearest of the four waterfronts through the LJ Hooker agents David Watson, David Edwards, Peter Robinson and Claudio Marcolongo with an envisaged 2023 completion.

An artist’s render of the Marara estate at Avalon Beach.

The 12,685sq m private beachfront has been held by Higgins, the co-founder of Mortgage Choice, and his wife Rebecca, since 2003. The couple did think of selling for a number of years, but they have decided to develop the property themselves and retain a large waterfront.

From 1930, it was owned by gynaecologist Sir Herbert Schlink, who died in 1962, with his widow, gynaecologist Meg Mulvey, residing there until she died in 2001.

The Careel Bay holding was sold to Higgins in 2003 for $15m, with another block added costing $3.2m, on which he will reside.

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Penthouse for sale

Fadil “Butch” Sadikay, the surfwear chain retailer turned property developer, has launched the South Yarra penthouse offering in his The Botanic Collection.

The Domain precinct penthouse sits atop the 30 Anderson St portion of the vast 2655sq m estate he bought in 2016 for $33m from the executors of Marion Page, daughter of businessman Sir Clive McPherson, who sat on the board of the NAB, then the Commonwealth Bank, along with the British Phosphate Commission, the Australian Wheat Board and Younghusband.

The Penthouse at 30 Anderson Street, South Yarra.

Kay & Burton Project agents Damon Krongold and Peter Kudelka have the three-bedroom, three-bathroom listing in conjunction with Andrew Macmillan at Jellis Craig. There’s a $16.5m to $17.5m price guide for the apartment which overlooks the treetops of the Royal Botanic Gardens. Rob Mills has designed the triplex.

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Dinnigan’s digs

The former fashion designer turned entrepreneurial home renovator and holiday rental host Collette Dinnigan and her husband Bradley Cocks are building too.

And so they are selling their remaining luxury Milton farmstay on the NSW South Coast as they instead concentrate on rebuilding their clifftop property at Rosedale, which burnt down in the New Year bushfires in 2019.

The country farmhouse has operated as The White House holiday rental, with its homestead retaining original features, including fireplaces, while adding modern luxuries like airconditioning and underfloor heating.

There are four bedrooms, one of them separated from the main home in the original butter shed. The outdoor living space has a pizza oven and overlooks lawns, mature trees, an orchard and vegetable garden.

Dinnigan offloaded the adjoining popular rental, Milton Surf and Stables, for $2.1m to the publican Peter Wadsworth in 2017.

Cooper Coastal agent Craig Cooper is guiding $4m to $4.5m for the White House. “It is truly a magnificent property and as most friends who have stayed over the years say it has a magical and very peaceful feel,” Dinnigan told Competing Bids.

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Auction action

Sydney saw the nation’s top weekend auction outcome when a tightly held Greenwich home fetched $7.25m, some $1.5m above its price guide. The five-bedroom house at 9 Mitchell Street attracted eight registered buyers, with seven competing after its $5.7m opening bid. It sold to a family upsizing from Concord.

Some 1144 Sydney homes were taken to auction over the past week, up from 974 over the previous week and 854 this time last year. There was a steady 79 per cent preliminary clearance rate, with the prior week’s final revised rate dipping to 78 per cent, the first time below 80 per cent since mid-August. Tim Lawless at CoreLogic reckons it’s likely to remain below 80 per cent again this week.

Despite the Derby Day distraction, there were 1739 homes taken to auction across Melbourne, the second busiest week this year. Of the 1494 results reported so far, 77 per cent were successful. The top known result was secured midweek when $4.38m was paid for a three-bedroom, two-bathroom Toorak home. The 1930s Canberra Rd offering had last traded at $2.6m in 2008.

On Saturday an untouched three-bedroom 1920s heritage Burke Rd, Glen Iris home on 2230sq m fetched $4,112,500 against its reserve of $3.65m. The next priciest was at St Kilda West when $3.85m was paid for the four-bedroom 1905 Edwardian home. The Park St price guide had been $3.75m to $4.1m. It last sold at $1.14m in 2001.

Across the smaller auction markets, Canberra recorded the highest success rate at 90 per cent, followed by Adelaide (86 per cent), Brisbane (76 per cent) and Perth (46 per cent). Brisbane saw the highest sale among the smaller capitals when a modernised Barton Rd, Hawthorne home fetched $4,235,000.