Richard White buys his fifth apartment in the Eliza complex opposite Sydney’s Hyde Park
Despite being mired in salacious revelations in recent weeks, WiseTech founder Richard White still found time to buy his fifth apartment in the Eliza complex in Sydney’s CBD.
The founder of logistics giant WiseTech, Richard White, has recently bought his fifth apartment in the Eliza complex opposite Hyde Park in the Sydney CBD.
The latest acquisition was a one-bedroom, one-bathroom lower level apartment that cost $2.4m. It was bought through Caduceus Asset Managers, a company linked to White.
The initial directors of Caduceus were long-time associates – Reg Kennedy, White’s driver, and Tony Jex, who was in a glam 1970s rock band with White. Last month White became the sole director and shareholder of Caduceus, seemingly named after the winged staff carried by Hermes, the messenger of the gods, as a symbol of peace and inviolability.
White has spent $32.75m on his five acquisitions in the 19-apartment Elizabeth Street building, designed by architect Tony Owen for Edward Doueihi’s Ceerose development company.
His first buy was a four-bedroom apartment on the eighth floor that cost $6.5m in 2021.
His dearest purchase was the four-bedroom, five-bathroom 14th floor penthouse with rooftop terrace which cost $15.5m in 2022, and now comes with Macquarie Bank financing.
It was purchased from Glencore mining senior executive Peter Freyberg and his wife Kylie by another of White’s Greek mythology-inspired companies, Icarus Property Managers, and transferred into his name late last year.
The billionaire stood down as WiseTech CEO last week after numerous revelations about his personal life, which saw him dubbed the ‘‘The LinkedIn Lecher’’. The allegations hit WiseTech’s market capitalisation with its shares closing at $112 on Friday, down from $137 since the start of October when The Australian first reported on a Federal Court matter involving a dispute over furniture payments for the Vaucluse love nest of his former partner, Linda Rogan.
Perth’s premium buy
Booming Perth secured the nation’s top auction result when $12.2m was paid for a South Perth apartment.
There were four registered bidders for the Parker Street offering, but just one was active after the $11m opening bid by the successful phone bidder.
The recently completed 11th-floor, four-bedroom, four-bathroom unit was sold by Vivien Yap at Ray White Dalkeith Claremont.
“The buyer is from Asia and his daughter lives here,” Yap advised.
“His brother lives in Perth as well.”
The buyer owned a property on the east coast, she added.
The apartment spans the entire floor, with 437sq m of internal space and a 115sq m northern terrace, along with southern, eastern and western terraces.
Its Cox Interiors decor include bespoke cabinets by Italian designers Arclinea, with elegant wood textures and stone surfaces.
The residence has secure basement parking for five vehicles with four EV charging points.
It’s located in a 15-floor Colliere Architecture-designed development consisting of two towers with 26 residential dwellings.
“The vendors bought this apartment to downsize into from a huge home,” said Yap.
“But they decided they weren’t ready to downsize with many grandchildren, so are staying put in their current home.”
The shared facilities included a heated infinity pool, gym, plus owner’s lounge and billiards games room.
Its 2020 off-the-plan prices ranged from $1.8m for the two-bedroom apartments to $10.5m for the penthouses.
Perth also saw the $7.525m weekend sale by downsizers of the Giorgi-built five-bedroom, three-bathroom home at 106 Burke Drive, Attadale through Ray White Dalkeith Claremont agent Rio Varen.
“The riverside home was an absolute masterpiece, with grand architecture,” he said.
“The buyer is a local family who wanted to move closer to the water for a change of lifestyle.”
Cordell Build puts its 2015 construction cost at $3,462,000.
Clearance rate falling
Adelaide ranked as the strongest capital with a 73 per cent success rate from results so far, while the 14 auctions held in Perth achieved a 70 per cent clearance rate.
CoreLogic’s Tim Lawless calculated the 3076 auctions held across all the capital cities – only the second time this year when the weekly number of auctions has been above the 3000 mark – had a 66 per cent national preliminary auction clearance rate.
It down from 67 per cent preliminary rate in the prior week, which was revised down to 58 per cent on the final results, the lowest in the year to date.
Melbourne’s 1603 preliminary clearance rate came in at 68 per cent, and Sydney eased to 64 per cent from 987 auctions.
Passed in
The nation’s dearest weekend auction offering, on the harbourfront at Addison Road, Manly, failed to sell.
The five-bedroom wedding cake-style residence, first listed by the Shamia family for September auction, retains its $16m guidance.
A pricey Paddington cottage ranked as the nation’s second-highest advised weekend sale. It was announced on the market when bidding hit $12.1m at its crowded onsite auction.
The opening $11m bid had matched the price guidance from Maclay Longhurst at Sotheby’s International.
The Paddington Street sandstone cottage was last sold in 2015 for $6.5m to Francis and Barbara Kennedy, co-owners of the 2015 Golden Slipper winner, Vancouver.
They had bought it from the fashion designer Collette Dinnigan,who moved to Watsons Bay.
By coincidence, Dinnigan’s former Watsons Bay abode has been up for sale. Listed by advertising duo Justin and Dom Hind, the three-level home built as a Masonic lodge in 1924 was purchased from Dinnigan for $9m in 2016.
The guide on its initial September relisting was $20m. It has now been scheduled for December 4 auction.
Tiuna on top
Melbourne’s top sale was Tiuna, the Victorian Italianate-style Elwood trophy home, but the post-auction price was not revealed. Its guidance had been $7.5m to $8m, not too dissimilar to its $7.3m to $8m guidance when listed unsuccessfully in 2020.
The Tiuna Grove house sold after being passed in at $7.1m, buyers agent Mal James noted.
The five-bedroom 1884 house was listed by Jane Turner, the comedian and actor, who bought the home with lawyer husband John Denton, the Paris-based Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Commerce.
It cost $802,500 in 1997.
Set behind an ivy-clad wall, the residence on 1018sq m had been renovated in the early 2000s by architecture firm Jackson Clements Burrows.
James noted some big bayside estate agency brands “have unsold homes everywhere”.
“These agencies aren’t busy selling; they’re busy signing up sellers to put their boards up,” he warned.
Melbourne’s highest disclosed price was the four-bedroom house at 6 Hawthorn Grove, Hawthorn, where Mike Beardsley at Jellis Craig Boroondara secured a $6.42m post-auction deal, in conjunction with Sam Davenport at Prop Culture.
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