Rich enclaves: Australia’s top 10 suburbs for billionaires

The most exclusive suburb has no sweeping harbour views or superyacht access. It does have plenty of privacy though. See where Australia’s richest people live.

Scott Farquar, Mike Cannon-Brookes, Harry Stamoulis and the Zimmermann sisters.

The most popular enclave for billionaires and other members of Australia’s wealthy elite definitely has no stunning harbourside locations or even picture postcard views of mountains or cityscapes.

What Melbourne’s Toorak certainly has to offer though is space, and privacy - and more members of the 2024 edition of The List - Australia’s Richest 250 than any other suburb in the country.

Take a tour around the suburb about 5km from Melbourne’s CBD and you’ll see plenty of huge mansions set behind tall hedges or large walls. The most you’ll generally see from the gently undulating streets are well manicured lawns and glimpses of some of the biggest houses in Australia.

Don’t worry Sydney, the harbour city’s waterfront suburbs still dominate the ranks of The List with mansions and huge residences dotted along the swanky shores.

And, until 28-year-old cryptocurrency gambling magnate Ed Craven’s bold plans for his $145m home came along, Sydney also boasted the most expensive real estate in Australia.

Here are the most popular suburbs in Australia for the country’s 250 wealthiest people:

Toorak (22)

Almost 10 per cent of Australia’s wealthy people live in Melbourne’s Toorak, the suburb that has long been the most popular among the city’s richest individuals and families.

Ed Craven is obliterating records in the suburb. He bought the old so-called “ghost mansion” that has been sitting half-built for three decades on prestigious St Georges Road for $80m two years ago, has knocked it down and is spending another $145m to build the house of his dreams.

While he waits for his 8000sq m of internal space and huge backyard to take shape in the next three years, Craven is living at another Toorak mansion that he paid $38m for in 2022 on nearby Orrong Road.

Ed Craven's plans for Australia's most expensive home. Illustration: Emilia Tortorella

New billionaire Nick Wakim, who has just pulled off a huge lithium deal in California, has been almost as prolific. Wakim last year spent $61m on the Albany Road compound of the late Ron Walker, the Huntingfield complex that comes with six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a tennis court and two pools.

Wakim also bought the house next door for about $12m and in February was named the $40m buyer of a 3700sq m property on Myoora Road, opposite billionaire Lindsay Fox’s large holding.

Other Melbourne billionaires who make Toorak home include Paul Little, Jonathan Munz and Harry Stamoulis, whose St Georges Road mansion reportedly cost $70m to build.

Then there is Sam Gance, who spent $43m on a five-bedroom trophy home in 2021 that also features a cinema room, outdoor leisure centre and entertainment rooms, including one with an adjacent kitchen with a built-in chicken rotisserie and teppanyaki grill.

Point Piper (14)

Atlassian co-founders Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes dominate the action in Point Piper, having spent $130m for Uig Lodge and $100m on the Fairwater estate respectively in recent years.

Uig Lodge has 180 degree harbour views from Point Piper’s highest spot, and was constructed in the style of a Scottish baronial castle in the early 1900s, while Fairwater is set on a 1.12ha estate.

Uig Lodge at Point Piper.

But John Symond’s huge mansion would top both in price terms should the Aussie Home Loans founder ever sell up.

It has six bedrooms with ensuites, two swimming pools and more than 75 metres of absolute water frontage, making it the largest harbourfront in the exclusive suburb.

Other Point Piper owners include Will Vicars, whose mansion is set on 900sq m with great harbour views and direct access to Seven Shillings Beach.

Vaucluse (13)

Fashion entrepreneur Nicky Zimmerman shelled out $60m in late 2022 for a three-storey residence on almost 1700 square metres of waterfront prime space. The Coolong Road mansion includes six bedrooms and nine bathrooms, a rumpus and billiard room, darkroom, home office and cellar.

Other Vaucluse residents include Jerry Schwartz, who is renovating his lavish $64m Phoenix Acres waterfront estate, Harry Triguboff and Justin Hemmes, who owns the $100m Hermitage estate.

Mosman (6)

Markus Kahlbetzer owns Mandolong House, one of Mosman’s most coveted estates on Sydney’s lower north shore.

The five-bedroom, six-bathroom mansion features a grand entrance hall and formal reception rooms as well as entertainment areas that open to wide terraces and a self-contained pavilion for guests.

Meanwhile, AirTrunk founder Robin Khuda paid $20m for a house on Balmoral’s slopes in 2021 and followed it up the next year with the $11m purchase of the house next door.

Hunters Hill (6)

The List’s oldest billionaire, 100-year-old Len Ainsworth, is a notable Hunters Hill resident as is fund manager Chris Mackay who has a 3200sq m four-bedroom house on Sydney’s water.

Longueville (4)

Christian Beck, fresh off winning last December’s Sydney to Hobart yacht race, is one of the Richest 250 members living in Sydney’s harbourside Longueville. Beck’s waterfront mansion has its own jetty with deepwater mooring, and free-flowing lounge and dining rooms that opens up to a covered outdoor living and entertainment area with built-in barbeque.

Bellevue Hill (4)

Gretel Packer has several properties around Sydney, including the Edwardian residence Winston in Bellevue Hill that cost $11.25m.

Mosman Park (4)

Perth’s Mosman Park is the only other suburb outside Sydney that is a top 10 enclave for Richest 250 members. Billionaire mining magnate Chris Ellison set a record in 2009 when he paid $57.5m for Angela Bennett’s mansion on Bennett St. Then in 2014, he snapped up two neighbouring properties for about $12m.

Woollahra (4)

Industrial property magnate Greg Goodman is a notable resident of the eastern Sydney suburb, where he owns at least three mansions including the historic Orama estate. Goodman undertook the renovation of an historic villa, and also the construction of a new concrete and glass pavilion beyond it. He has since paid $8.1m for a neo-Georgian property over the back fence and in 2022 spent $7m on a designer cottage nearby.

St Kilda & St Kilda East (4)

Melbourne’s bohemian bayside suburb is another fashionable neighbourhood for the city’s wealthy. Max Beck has a penthouse atop the development the property doyen built behind the famous Esplanade Hotel with brilliant views of the bay, and Peter Scanlon is among those that also call St Kilda home.