Holiday homes in high demand during Covid
From the pristine beaches to the rugged hinterlands, luxury holiday home offerings were in peak demand during 2021.
From the pristine beaches to the rugged hinterlands, luxury holiday home offerings were in peak demand during 2021. High prices were paid during the briefest of listing times as coastal pandemic retreats became prized possessions.
As international travel remained mostly difficult or impossible, the local leisure property market lost its long-held discretionary classification.
The compilation of all known holiday home sales across Australia in 2021 – and a few hitherto mystery deals – criss-crossed three state borders on the east coast.
With prices ranging from $16m to $34m, the top 20 second-home sales list totalled $385m.
By comparison, Melbourne’s top 20 metropolitan sales tally was $475m, with Sydney’s top 20 at $700m.
The holiday home list was topped by the reputed and much-reported $34m mid-year sale at Sunshine Beach on the Sunshine Coast. It’s yet to settle.
Webb House, the home of property developers Murray and Margaret Charlton, has reportedly been bought by Perth-based mining tycoon Gina Rinehart, although neither party has confirmed anything. At $34m it would be Queensland’s priciest residential sale.
Designed by Peter Conley from PCA Architects and built by Damien Davidson, the fan-shaped house sits on a 2015sq m beachfront block.
The Sunshine Coast also secured the year’s highest regional coastal apartment sale when a Hastings Street, Noosa Heads auction saw $16.1m paid by Mark Suhr, the South Yarra software pioneer and his wife, Elizabeth in October.
The Hastings Park complex offering was sold by international insurance veteran Paul Steffens and wife Amanda through Tom Offermann of Tom Offermann Real Estate.
Four interstate phone bidders sought the keys to the three-level apartment, which rounded off the top 20 sales of the year, barring any eleventh-hour deals.
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Sunshine sensation
The Sunshine Coast action wasn’t all on the water’s edge. Local developer and designer Heidi Meyer sold Mulumba, her luxurious Buderim hinterland estate for $17.1m to Cairns property tycoon Alex Sekler and his wife Violetta through Melissa Schembri at Next Property Group. Meyer went on to spend $16.45m at Noosa Heads in October buying a home in original condition through Lisa Hornsby at Dowling Neylan, listed for the first time in four decades. Its street address, Picture Point Crescent, reflects its impressive views.
The Sunshine Coast secured its sixth entrant on the list at an auction held just days before Christmas. It was a waterfront house on Mossman Court, Noosa which veteran agent Mal Cox of Tom Offermann Real Estate sold for an undisclosed higher price after the home was passed in on a $17.1m bid. The Flynn family had paid $2.1m in 1999, then undertook a $1.8m extension 12 years ago on the 810sq m block, which comes with a 34m frontage. It was sold to an interstate buyer.
There were occasional southerners exiting Queensland. Sonya Evans, wife of former Essendon Football Club chairman David Evans, pocketed $21m at Sunshine Beach in March. The Belmore Terrace home was sold to the Brisbane-based SafetyCulture founder Luke Anear through Offermann. The Evans family had paid $14m in 2018.
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Palm Beach paradise
Palm Beach secured second place on the top coastal list when around $27m was paid in a record sale of a double block holding on the Pittwater side of the peninsula. It was among the five big sales at Sydney’s summer playground for millionaires.
Hospitality entrepreneur John Szangolies, who sold his Urban Purveyor Group in 2015, will be upgrading to the long-time weekender of Virginia Nelson, widow of the tobacco wholesaler tycoon, Arthur Nelson.
The Iluka Rd price, through LJ Hooker, topped the $24.5m northern beaches record paid in 2020 when Mike Cannon-Brookes bought the Newport new-build of glamour couple Jennifer Hawkins and Jake Wall.
Szangolies has subsequently offloaded his nearby beachfront for around $18m to Coco Republic’s Paul Spon-Smith who’d recently secured around $100m for a majority stake in the high-end furniture company from US private equity group Story3 Capital Partners.
The Spon-Smiths had wanted to upgrade away from their nearby Barrenjoey Rd home, given its proximity to the upcoming apartment complex redevelopment of the fish and chip shop by tech entrepreneur Robin Khuda.
Palm Beach also saw Gaelforce fetch $18.7m when New Zealand-based property developer Chris Meehan bought the Barrenjoey Rd waterfront sight unseen during lockdown. It was sold by frustrated jet-setters Francesco and Gayle Boglione, owners of England’s acclaimed Petersham Nurseries Cafe, who’d bought it from Amanda Nankervis for $5.5m in 2006.
Rockpool, a 1164sq m Rock Bath Rd holding on the south headland of Palm Beach, sold for $18m to Darren Harris, the Coolabah Capital co-founder, one of the few financial industry operatives who were big-time buyers this year. The home been held for 43 years by the Robertson family.
The reputed mid-year $20m Iluka Rd beachfront purchase by yacht broker Ian Malouf from the McNiven family has yet to settle. It was last traded in 1997 for $2.06m when bought by the late bond dealer John McNiven who’s pioneering role saw him dubbed “the Bond King”.
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Go for gold
On Queensland’s Gold Coast a Southport trophy home took third place when it sold in March for $23.75m. The chateau-style McMillan Court home was sold by transport tycoon Peter Smith, the SCT Logistics founder, to Adelaide businessman, Mathew Fitch and wife Magdalena through Amir Mian at Amir Prestige. It was the second-highest sale of the year in Queensland, with Brisbane’s top sale at $15m when Ord Minnett chief Karl Morris bought in Kangaroo Point.
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Palmer pad
The Gold Coast saw the expansionary presence of businessman Clive Palmer, who bought on Sovereign Islands. He paid $20m in August to buy from German super yacht builder Klaus Lilischkies through Patrick Pancur at Bespoke International. The Gold Coast Bulletin calculated Palmer’s portfolio sat at nine consecutive blocks, with one home demolished to allow for a helicopter landing pad.
The inland Sanctuary Cove precinct saw a $17.7m sale in November. Johnson Property Holdings director Terence Johnson sold to Tony Quinn, the Gold Coast business identity, through Matt Gates at Ray White. The Marine Dr East property was a five-bedroom, 11-bathroom waterfront home. Quinn, whose sale of VIP Pet Foods in 2015 secured $410m, subsequently sold his Admiralty Drive, Surfers Paradise home for $10m in an off-market deal that settled just before Christmas.
It was bought by a trustee company directed by financial adviser Felicity Cooper, and understood to be connected to Paul Scanlon.
Quinn had paid $7.95m in 2019 for the sprawling waterfront which was built for the Matsushita family who led the Panasonic Electronics empire.
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Mermaid’s mansion
Not unexpectedly Mermaid Beach’s so-called Millionaires’ Row saw some action.
A vacant, 900sq m Hedges Avenue block sold for $17.5m in August when offloaded by Nava Abedian, the wife of developer Sahba Abedian.
It was bought by Andrew Fahey, co-founder of online bookmaker PointsBet through Kollosche Prestige.
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Making his mark
Across the border, Byron Bay’s top house sale was $16.5m when Andrew Phillips, the former Carlton AFL player and co-founder of after-school care company Camp Australia, and his wife Hilda bought on the beachfont. Camp Australia was sold to private equity firm Bain Capital in 2016 for around $400m. The Black Rock couple joined other Melburnites on Wategos Beach including Rip Curl founder Brian Singer who paid $22m for the house next door last year.
The NSW north coast district saw a higher sale when Helen Sali, wife of Melbourne-based former Swisse vitamin company chief Radek Sali, bought the River Hawk Ranch at Brunswick Heads for $18.5m through Ray White agent Michael Gudgeon. The 24 hectare property had been a popular holiday rental.
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Over the horizon
Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula saw more $20m-plus sales than ever. However, the action appeared to be more acreages than the bayside cliff-top homes which are typically tightly held except during downturns.
Horizon, a flash five-bedroom Flinders mansion on a 2000sq m holding overlooking the ocean sold for $23.5m in March through Peninsula Sotheby’s agent Rob Curtain. It included a 35-seater spa. The King St home was sold to investor and novelist Chris Weyers by Brooke Starbuck who’d developed the lot after the family of VFL legend Jock McHale sold its farm.
The peninsula’s second priciest known sale was at Portsea when a clifftop sold for $22.2m at February auction. The underbidders included the Deague family who were planning to flip the property. It was the home of the Wallace-Smith share broking family. Bidders had to be willing to pay over its $16.5m published reserve as Curtain advised he didn’t like “ice cream-lickers at $20m auctions.”
It was knocked down to Sally Honan, wife of Damien Honan, the executive chairman of broker Honan Insurance, which sold a stake to US private equity firm TA Associates in 2020.
The 4400sq m Franklin Road property purchase involved an arrangement in which a tennis court block was hived off to the neighbour Polly Larke, wife of Andrew Larke, who chairs L1 Long Short Fund.
The cliff-top was priced at $16,808,000 and the tennis court block at $5,381,000.
The eight registered attendees included Mark McInnes, the now former Premier Investments chief executive, who did not get the chance to bid in the hot auction.
Elsewhere on the peninsula other Solly Lew associates spent $20m on a 10ha holding at Red Hill.
The Callanans Rd purchasing company, Callanans Nominees is directed by Daniel Allison and Henry Lanzer, with the shareholding held by the nondescript DJA Custodians and ABL Fiduciary Corporation.
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Record rumour
There are whispers the Mornington Peninsula’s longstanding $26m record has been finally toppled, and perhaps even twice.
It has stood since the sale of oil tycoon Harry Cornforth’s 1920s Spanish Mission-style home Ilyuka through Kay & Burton agent Ross Savas in 2010. No confirmation of location, price or the parties – least of all from the reputed Kay & Burton selling agentGerald Delany.
Competing Bids gleans the settlement papers will show more than $30m has been secured.
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