David Fitch at home in Hamptons style at Southport
David Fitch and wife Rachel have emerged as buyers of a luxury Hamptons-style Southport home.
David Fitch and wife Rachel have emerged as buyers of a luxury Hamptons-style Southport home. Fitch is the executive director at mining company QEM, and former Fitch Retail Investments boss. The couple paid $7m for the home that was custom-built with no expense spared five years ago by former travel agency owner Greg Matthew. The Yacht Street home, set under a shingle roof imported from the US, has five bedrooms, four bathrooms, a theatre room and home office. The master wing has its own sitting room, ensuite, walk-in wardrobe and balcony. Offering 20 metres of Main River frontage with its own sandy beach, the property also features a pontoon with room for a boat. Ray White Prestige Gold Coast Surfers Paradise agent Jackson Paradise secured the sale.
Sale signs align for ‘Stonehenge’
An Esperance property in Western Australia complete with a full-size replica of the Stonehenge, one of the wonders of the world in England, has been listed for sale. The 87ha, which is used as a tourist attraction, also comes with a gift shop. Paul Thomason of Landmark Harcourts WA is asking for offers over $2.1m. It was finished in 2011 by semi-retired farmers Kim and Jillian Beale. An award-winning residence is set on the farm that has carried breeder cattle, with shed and cattle yards. The monument used 1200 cubic metres of Desert Brown granite in the 137 granite standing stones. There are reportedly 66 replicas across the world of the original Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain.
Heart set on South Yarra offload
Professor Ian Meredith, one of Australia’s leading heart surgeons, and wife Joanne have listed their South Yarra sub-penthouse. They’re asking $3.5m-$3.75m for their offering at Eight Murphy, designed by Sue Carr and completed in 2016. The Merediths amalgamated two apartments after buying them off the plan in 2014. They created a three-bedroom, two-bathroom unit with two balconies with treetop vistas. Kay & Burton Armadale agents Michael Armstrong and Julia de Campo have the listing. Meredith is the global chief medical officer and executive vice-president at Boston Scientific.
A manor with royal history
Yarrowee Manor, the Lower Plenty mansion where Prince Charles and Lady Diana partied in the 1980s, has been listed for sale for $6.5m. It was the longtime home of the late Victoria Racing Club chairman Hilton Nicholas, an heir to the Aspro pharmaceutical business. Nicholas bought Yarrowee after returning from London in the 1950s. The American Colonial-style house at the end of a tree-lined driveway was designed by architecture firm HW & FB Tompkins. Yarrowee stayed in the Nicholas family before being sold by Nicholas’s widow, Marjorie Nicholas, for $1.3m in 1998. It has six bedrooms, four bathrooms, a study and a media room. It is surrounded by 8090sq m of landscaped gardens created by Edna Walling. On the property is a tennis court, pool, a pool house with spa, sauna and barbecue and a kids playground.
jonathan.chancellor@news.com.au
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.