Noosa is the new rich playground, but Sydney still where the billionaires hunt for luxury mansions
Sydney harborside mansions still set records, but billionaires and other cashed-up buyers are loving luxury houses outside of Australia’s biggest and richest city. Queensland appears to be the place to buy.
It’s not quite a case of forget Sydney harbourside mansions, but billionaires and other cashed-up buyers are loving luxury houses outside of Australia’s biggest and richest city.
Increasingly, it seems Queensland is the place to be – and buy.
Take Clive Palmer, the mining billionaire who rakes in hundreds of billions of dollars each year in royalties, which he usually spends on a handful of things: political campaigns, litigation, yachts, planes and vintage cars and especially luxury property.
Much of the latter seems to be concentrated along the Queensland coast.
This year alone saw Palmer shell out almost $17m for an Albatross Avenue house in Mermaid Beach on the Gold Coast, only to then pay $28m for a mansion on opulent Hedges Avenue just up the road.
In July, Palmer agreed to pay $26m for another beachfront property on the same street.
But all of those haven’t even been the biggest deal so far this year on the Queensland coast.
That was the $30m sale of Riverstone on Witta Circle at Noosa Heads in June.
The November issue of Mansion Magazine is out on Friday November 29, inside The Australian.
The home was bought by mining technology entrepreneur Wayne Romer and his partner Rachel Ulhmann. It sits on a 616sq m block and has three levels with its own beach and jetty.
Riverstone is the most expensive house in Noosa Heads yet, and includes four large bedrooms, three with water views, in a house described in sale documents as “amalgamating elements of Brazilian modernism and mid-century architecture”.
It also features a heated pool with spa, a covered alfresco terrace with outdoor kitchen and a music studio and full gym in the basement.
But Riverstone may not even be the most expensive home in the Noosa area by the end of the year.
The Desilets family is selling a five-bedroom mansion in Cooran Court, Noosa Heads that could fetch $35m through Tom Offermann Real Estate.
It has 48m of waterfront space, including a white-sand tidal beach, boat ramp and purpose-built boat house with storeroom and workshop. The house has 1035sq m of space (the local council has imposed a 500sq m limit on new houses) and includes five bedrooms all with terrace access, walk-in robes and individually styled super-sized ensuite bathrooms. An upper-level glass bridge connects the east and west wings.
Yet as big as those Queensland prices have been, they are still dwarfed by what happens in Sydney’s eastern suburbs – where billionaires rule the day at the very top end of the market.
Take Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar, who sold his half demolished Point Piper mansion Elaine for a staggering $130m in October.
Farquhar had paid $71m for Elaine in 2017, buying it from John B. Fairfax. The 1863 estate has 7000sq m of beachfront space on what is prime land in Sydney. The tech boss had bid plans to build on what has been a seven-bedroom and bathroom mansion with a tennis court and sweeping harbour views.
Another big deal was Boomerang at Elizabeth Bay, which the family of trucking magnate Lindsay Fox had clinched a $80m deal to sell just before Christmas last year.
The landmark Spanish mission residence was reportedly bought by Hoang Trang Do, with settlement taking place next year.
The $80m mark was equalled for another Spanish mission residence, Alcooringa in Bellevue Hill. Stephanie Conley-Buhre and venture capitalist husband Oskar Buhre had bought the house for $28.5m in 2021 and embarked on a huge overhaul that included a gymnasium, three kitchens and internal swimming pool.
That deal was just eclipsed by the $85m sale of Rockleigh, which sits on sits on a steep 1284sq m harbourside block on upscale Wolseley Road, Point Piper, in May.
There have also been some big apartment deals, including Packer family heiress Francesca Packer Barham offloading a $28m property in the landmark Horizon building in Darlinghurst, and former Wallaby and now Goodman executive Jason Little agreeing to pay $23m for a yet-to-be-built penthouse atop the Hall & Campbell development in Bondi.
An unnamed buyer paid about $10m more than those deals put together for a sub-penthouse apartment at One Circular Quay.
But despite all the action in Sydney and elsewhere, there are still big deals out there to be done.
Melbourne’s Myer family is selling the huge Cranala estate on Clendon Road in Toorak. It has been in the family’s hands since 1921 and could fetch more than $100m.
Then there is John Symond’s Wingadal, the huge Point Piper mansion now on the market with a sale target of more than $200m.
The top end of the property market looks as buoyant as ever.
This story is from the November issue of Mansion Magazine.
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