Buyers to go wild about Taronga Zoo boss Guy Cooper’s mansion
The home of former Taronga Zoo chief Guy Cooper and wife Jeanette is on the market, and they’re seeking up to $10.4m.
Yuruga, the Mosman home of former Taronga Zoo chief executive Guy Cooper and wife Jeanette, has been listed for sale. The price guide is $9.5m to $10.4m for the four-bedroom, three-bathroom house, with Middle Harbour views.
It is scheduled for May 3 auction through Stephen Patrick at Richardson & Wrench Mosman/Neutral Bay.
The now extended 1920s Ryan Ave cul-de-sac bungalow, set on 670sq m with Peter Fudge-designed gardens, was bought for $1.35m in 1997 as they relocated from their 1890s Killara home, Weeamera.
Cooper, who ran the zoo between 1998 and 2009, had previously been managing director of S.C. Johnson Australia, having joined the household cleaning products company in 1977.
The revered Mosman historian Gavin Souter once called the nearby zoo an “exotic presence” for the locals. Cooper’s time saw the construction of the $7m Sky Safari cable car as he sought to create a bigger tourism destination for international visitors.
The listing of the home comes after Mosman had its busiest sale period in quite a while, with eight prestige sales over the past week.
Fresh Produce Group executive chairman Robert Nugan and his wife Susan have sold. There’s no price disclosure from the Ray White RWLNS office, but their guidance had been $12m. The Medusa St holding had a five-bedroom house on its 1633sq m block with tennis court and pool.
The property, with views of Middle Harbour, traded at $1,870,000 some 26 years ago. Nugan had set up his business five years earlier in 1991, having started his career as a child working on his family’s citrus farm.
There were just two price disclosures among the sales.
A four-bedroom Kahibah Rd house sold at weekend auction through the Pello agency for $5.9m.
There was also a $5.725m sale on Windward Ave through Richardson & Wrench agents Kirsty Freyer and Yianni Tsaroumis.
It sold prior to auction after only 21 days on the market, against the suburb’s current 58-day median.
Offered for the first time, it was marketed as “an architect-designed early 1970s ‘Nuts and Berries’ home complete with EV charger”.
Last month saw Mosman’s priciest year-to-date sale at around $20m for historic Urunga, with the buyer whispered to be interests associated with the founder of IT specialist recruitment firm Interpro, Sukender Jain.
Meanwhile, Mark Beretta, the Channel 7 Sunrise sports presenter, has discounted his Mosman home asking hopes from $15.5m to $13.75m, but there’s been no sale yet.
Palmed off
Sydney’s priciest weekend auction listing was pulled. The Palm Beach offering had come with $12m hopes through McGrath agent James Baker. The 1930s Palm Beach Rd home had been listed by Boffa Hairdressing’s Frank and Jan Boffa. It last traded in 1998 at $1.6m, when the Boffas became its fourth owner.
Competing Bids recalls Nickquenum, as it was then known, sold on its third marketing campaign, having been withdrawn from its first auction, because there was little buyer interest at its then desired $2.1m hopes.
Sydney’s top sale was in Dover Heights, when $11.8m was paid for a six-bedroom house with Harbour Bridge views. The price guidance had been $9.5m.
The house at 54 Gilbert St, offered for the second time since its 2010 construction, was sold through Black Diamondz. It initially fetched $4.9m in 2011.
Tim Lawless at CoreLogic calculated Sydney saw 1019 homes taken to auction, the busiest week since May last year. Of the 760 results collected so far, an improved 73 per cent were successful, compared to the week prior to Easter 2022 which saw higher volumes and a lower success rate, with its 1490 auctions having a 65 per cent preliminary success.
“The rebound in clearance rates relative to last year has tracked alongside a stabilising trend in housing values, which has now moved into a trend of rising housing values across the largest capitals,” Lawless said.
Bayside becalmed
But Melbourne’s bayside auction market weakness continued with the Brighton East home of former Carlton AFL footballer Adrian Deluca passed in.
The Marshall White Bayside agency has the four-bedroom California bungalow on Agnew St, now listed at $3.15m, having given buyers a $2.75m to $2.925m pre-auction guidance.
A mid-century Brighton home fetched only slightly more than its prior selling price when it sold at $3,205,000 post-auction, after being passed in on a bid of $3.15m.
The three-bedroom house at 7 Ballara Court had come with $3m to $3.3m price guidance. It sold to one of two bidders. It had fetched $3.15m in November 2020. It was a $1200-a-week rental offering in early 2021.
Melbourne’s top advised sale was in Kew where $5,432,000 was paid for a four-bedroom, three-bathroom house through Kay & Burton. There were two bidders.
The two level Glendene Ave cul-de-sac home had come with a $4.7m to $5m pre-auction price guide. Set on a 778sq m block, it came with a Stonehaven Homes-built abode, last sold in 2018 at $3.84m when newly built.
The Boroondara municipality auction strength continued with the $4.11m sale of a four-bedroom bungalow on Lyndhurst Cres, Hawthorn, which had come with $3m to $3.3m initial guidance from Simon Lord at Jellis Craig.
Tim Lawless at CoreLogic calculated Melbourne had 1188 homes taken to auction, the busiest auction week since last December. Of the 964 results collected so far, 71 per cent were successful. The weekend prior to Easter 2022 saw 1795 auctions with a 68 preliminary success rate.
$6.6m for Canberra
A much-traded Canberra home fetched $6.66m at weekend auction through Luton agents Sophie and Richard Luton. The four-bedroom, three-bathroom Red Hill home is set behind electric gates with a semicircular driveway on its 3400sq m holding.
Sophie Luton said three of the five registered bidders competed in what was the “highest auction sale price for a single residential home in ACT”.
More than 100 groups went through the Moresby St home during its marketing campaign.
“Four came back for four looks,” she added.
The home’s foundations were laid in 1927 and expanded to 296sq m living space through the years.
Its annual land rates are $20,737 given its $4,440,000 unimproved capital valuation.
Its recent sales included $4.7m in 2017; $3.05m in 2006; $1,750,000 and $1.7m in 2001 and $1.6m in 2000 when sold by former NRL player Bradley Clyde. He paid $975,000 in 1995, flush with a Super League salary package.
Canberra’s 55 per cent success rate from its 121 listings was the nation’s weakest outcome, followed by Brisbane at 64 per cent, according to CoreLogic.
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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.