Quick turnaround sale results in a $525k loss

The former Hawthorn home of a veteran ABC finance presenter has been onsold at an alarming loss, as Canberra’s clearance rate bottomed.

The property at 3 Linda Crescent, Hawthorn was resold for a half-million-dollar loss.

The former Hawthorn home of veteran ABC-TV finance presenter Alan Kohler has been onsold at an alarming $525,000 loss.

Kohler and his novelist wife Deborah Forster secured an $8.7m sale last May, with delayed settlement terms until January this year.

Its buyer, Alfonso Guglielmi, immediately relisted the Linda Crescent house, with last month’s previously mystery price showing it re-sold for $8,175,000 in its settlement paperwork.

The five-bedroom, three-bathroom 1912 Edwardian home is now owned by the Moolman family from the Kervale property development group.

The Kohlers, who have been married 47 years, have downsized to a recently renovated, $3,395,000 1924-built Glen Iris bungalow, while also spending time at their Fairhaven retreat on the Victorian Surf Coast which cost $1.2m in 2012.

They had undertaken $300,000 in 2013 additions to the Hawthorn home overseen by interior designer Geraldine Maher, having paid $1,725,000 in 2003.

The 6 per cent Hawthorn price drop highlights the doldrums across much of Melbourne’s prestige property market.

“The air (and therefore the money) I thought might be pumping into the market has either stalled after the February pep, or quietly slipped away with the Trump bump,” buyers agent Mal James reported in his 2025 first-quarter update.

“Prices of many homes – not all, but a lot – have recently felt like they’re rolling along on half-flat tyres.”

Melbourne’s top advised house auction last week was next door when 1 Linda Crescent sold for $3.73m. The residence had $2.8m to $3.05m guidance from Chris Barrett and Nikki McCarthy from Marshall White Boroondara.

There were four bidders.

“It was purchased by a local owner-occupier who is planning on doing a renovation/extension,” Barrett said. It had last traded for $250,000 in 1990.

Auctions on a high

Some 3146 homes were taken to auction across the nation last week, the highest since the week before Easter last year.

Melbourne hosted the most auctions among the capitals with 1424 listings, according to CoreLogic’s Tim Lawless.

It was well down on 2024’s pre-Easter volume of 1760, but up on the 1202 in the pre-Easter week in 2023.

The Melbourne preliminary clearance rate came in at 67 per cent, a sharp drop from the 72.9 per cent result in the prior week.

But, it was the nation’s strongest capital city result. Canberra was the weakest capital at 41 per cent.

The 110 auctions held in the ACT was its second-highest volume this year.

The 41 per cent success rate was the lowest result since 2019.

“The week ahead of the Easter long weekend is always an active one for auction markets, and this year was no exception,” Lawless noted.

Top result

Sydney had 1307 auctions over the past week, its biggest week since the pre-Easter week in 2022.

“Demand from purchasers didn’t keep pace,” Lawless said.

The 65.5 per cent clearance rate so far was down from 69.9 per cent a week earlier, with the final numbers in the prior week revised down to 59.9 per cent.

Sydney had the nation’s top weekend auction outcome at Bronte when $8.9m was paid for a renovated 1921 bungalow.

There was onsite bidding from two of the four registered bidders.

Alexander Phillips at PPD Real Estate had given an initial $7.95m guide which was upped to $8.2m during the campaign for the four-bedroom, three-bathroom Yanko Avenue house on 461sq m.

41 Yanko Avenue, Bronte, NSW.

“While the stockmarket has shaken sentiment and impacted on some property buyers, A-grade real estate like this is the type of house you want to market amid this backdrop,” Phillips said.

The two-storey home, which has a triple-fronted gabled roof, last sold in 2018 for $3,335,000.

“The California bungalow has been given a new lease of life that captures the essence of relaxed family living by the beach,” Phillips said.

Sale fails

International sharemarket turmoil has, however, undone the $780m NSW Riverina farmland sale, including the historic Boonoke and Wanganella stations, to the Cayman Islands-based Agriculture & Natural Solutions Acquisition Corporation (ANSC).

ANSC lodged its termination notice on Saturday morning (AEST time) “due to increasingly volatile equity market conditions” but the FIRB-approved sale was already looking doubtful before Donald Trump’s tariff chaos.

ANSC had been struggling in their desire to buy and then list the farming portfolio on the New York Stock Exchange, with its December 2024 annual report noting the parties had been “discussing the best path forward”.

The thwarted sale by stockbroker Andrew Bell, and associates including Alastair Provan and the founder of the world’s biggest hedge fund, Ray Dalio, had followed the death of veteran stockbroker pastoralist Colin Bell.

The Weekly Times noted the bush telegraph presumes, with commodity prices still strong, that the 225,000ha Australian Food and Agriculture property portfolio is likely to hit the market in the near future.

The sheep station lineage dates back to the 1860s when George Peppin bred the Merino. It has a livestock carrying capacity of 247,000.

Locals keen

Brisbane’s Camp Hill had its top auction result at $3,831,000.

Place Woolloongabba agent Denis Najzar had just the two bidders, both local families keen to secure the keys to the five-bedroom, three-bathroom new home at 10 Janette Street.

Named Sintra, the bespoke house was built by Slate Property with Italian crosscut Travertine, French oak flooring, Azolla Avon nylon loop pile carpet, Polytec cabinetry and Venetian plaster walls.

10 Janette Street, Camp Hill, QLD.

The house was built after the 637sq m block cost $1.35m in early 2024.

Adelaide had 157 homes under the hammer, its highest volume so far this year, with its preliminary clearance rate falling sharply to 62.1 per cent. Its top sale was the 1989-built home at 11 Siesta Court, West Lakes, at $1.915m.

Despite there being three registered bidders, there was just the one active bidder when it was sold by Ray White agent Peter Kiritsis.

Low clearance

CoreLogic noted the week’s high volume of auctions collided with a drop in confidence amid the tariff-related ructions and sharemarket volatility, sending the preliminary clearance rate to its lowest level so far this year.

At 64.8 per cent, the week’s preliminary clearance rate was 5.9 percentage points lower than the prior week.

PropTrack reported the volume of auctions fell sharply this week amid the Easter break with 943 homes scheduled to go under the hammer, rising to 1343 the week after despite the Anzac Day long weekend.

The most viewed residential listing on realestate.com.au last week was 47 Twin Creeks Drive, Luddenham, 42km west of Sydney. The home features five bedrooms and eight bathrooms along with an external studio. It was designed by architect Daniel Briffa from Adan Creative Designs.

The property at 47 Twin Creeks Drive, Luddenham, NSW.

There have been more than 18,000 page views for the campaign so far by Paul Dukes of Dukes Estate Agents.

It overlooks the picturesque Twin Creeks Golf course.