Luxury mansions defy market cooling with $30m-plus deals brewing
International buyers are forging back into the top end of the Australian residential property market, proving that joining the country’s most exclusive of homeowners is still a big attraction.
International buyers are forging back into the top end of the Australian residential property market, with a family hailing from Latvia the latest to strike a deal, as they picked up a Toorak mansion for $15m.
The sale of the Kenley Court home came after the matriarch of a Latvian family flew to Melbourne to inspect the prize property, with the sale then completed two weeks later; an Australian passport-holding family member will pick up the keys shortly.
The re-emergence of international buyers marks a dramatic shift in the market in the wake of coronavirus-related lockdowns and signals that local buyers will face more competition.
The home sits in one of Toorak’s best court locations, surrounded by the most expensive homes in Melbourne, with the Smorgon and Gandal families nearby.
RT Edgar Toorak’s Max Ruttner and Jeremy Fox handled the sale of the six-bedroom Parisian-styled Emma Tulloch-designed family residence.
“International buyers are back and I am receiving strong levels of inquiry from America, Europe and Asia,” Mr Ruttner said. “International capital is slightly ahead of local buyers at the moment.”
The mansion sale bounded ahead of its last sale price in mid-2010 for $4.5m and at about $20,000/sq m was ahead of the last sale at No 2-4 Kenley Court two years ago, for $14.12m, showing a rate of about $16,000/sq m.
The property sports a northwest facing garden, and an alfresco terrace with a swimming pool. A large entrance opens into formal sitting and dining rooms, a home office, leading to huge open plan kitchen area, an informal sitting room, with bedrooms and separate nursery quarters over two levels.
And international buyers have already made their presence felt in Sydney.
Company director Ann Sherry and her husband Michael Hogan sold their 10-bedroom property, Annandale Abbey, in November for $12.5m, through Monika Tu of Black Diamondz.
Known as Sydney’s Batman house it was listed with hopes of around $15m. The Johnston St home, adorned with gothic stonework, turrets and gargoyles, was sold to art collectors from China, who now own one of the country’s finest historical homes.
Ms Tu points to the very low Australian dollar as providing support for offshore buyers. She says that many Chinese holders of SIVs (significant investor visas) are now choosing to join their families in Australia.
After initial purchases on Sydney’s North Shore many are now spreading their wings to Mosman, the city’s eastern suburbs, and beyond. There is more to come – the Annandale mansion sold after just three groups hailing from China went through.
