Rob Mills’ Lorne beachside beauty Ocean House brings in $4.8m

Architect Rob Mills has found a $4.8m buyer for his family’s Lorne weekender.

Ocean House, marketed as one of Australia’s finest beachside residences, was built after the 1.3ha site was bought for $375,000 in 2005.

Architect Rob Mills has found a $4.8m buyer for his family’s Lorne weekender. Dubbed Ocean House, and marketed as one of Australia’s finest beachside residences, the six-bedroom home was built after the 1.3ha site was bought for $375,000 in 2005.

Built on the steep site, the home, which had been a $1400-a-night holiday rental,had a $3.65m to $4m guide from Great Ocean Road Real Estate agent Ian Stewart in conjunction with Kay & Burton’s Ross Savas.

The seaside listing coincided with Mills also listing his $9m Armadale home, a former cardboard factory, given his intention to spend more time next year in Sydney, where he’s picked up many new clients.

They include mortgage broker James Symonds who recently secured approval for his $9.5m home in Bellevue Hill. There are $2.1m in renovations proposed by Oliver Li from Eton International Property for his recent $2.9m Paddington terrace purchase.

One of Mills’ first Sydney residential commissions was Sunnyside, the harbourfront home in Kirribilli, which is the mirror image of historic Kirribilli House, the PM’s residence. The architect/interior designer couple Will and Siobhan Rothwell engaged Mills after buying the gabled Gothic sandstone home from John and Eve Molyneux who’d owned it since paying $153,500 in 1971. It was built in the 1850s for the master of the Royal Mint.

Swell price on coast

There’s a new Victorian Surf Coast house price record after a $10.2m two-home compound sale at Barwon Heads.

Overlooking the Barwon Golf Course’s 7th fairway, it was marketed as a once-in-100-year opportunity by its RT Edgar selling agents Peter Molly and Andy Ingham, who secured the sale in 18 days.

2-4 Stephens Parade, Barwon Heads.

Competing Bids gleans the buyer is set to emerge as the Total Tools chief Paul Dumbrell.

The main rammed-earth home was designed by architects Swaney Draper.

Every summer seems to yield a new record for the Bellarine Peninsula weekender market, southwest of Melbourne, with last January seeing a $7.25m contemporary home sale on Lorne’s Roadknight Street. Recent analysis shows seaside suburbs within a two-hour commute of central business districts have seen the biggest annual jump in prices, sometimes rising up to 10 times the national average, according to CoreLogic.

Auctions retreat

Over the past week, 2065 auctions were held across the nation’s capital cities, down from 2168 in the previous week.

Of the 1704 results collected so far by CoreLogic, 75 per cent reported a successful outcome.

“For the previous five weeks, the final clearance rate across the combined capital cities had averaged 70 per cent,” Tim Lawless at CoreLogic noted.

A year ago, 2912 homes were taken to auction and 71 per cent were successful.

Melbourne had 874 auctions, down slightly from the previous week’s 909, and substantially fewer than the 1520 this time last December.

So far, 731 auction results have been collected, returning a preliminary clearance rate of 73 per cent.

No flip yet for cricketing great Shane Warne whose Brighton house passed in at the weekend auction at $5.65m, leaving the top Melbourne sale as $4.1m in Elsternwick.

There was bidding on Warne’s home from three parties. It was offered with a $5.8m to $6.38m price guide from JP Dixon agent Jonathan Dixon.

When listed pre-COVID-19 lockdown, the Newbay Crescent property came with a price guide of $6.8m to $7.4m.

Set on 662sq m, the five-bedroom, five-bathroom French Provincial-style house boasts a nightclub-quality bar plus a wine-tasting room with space for 530 bottles.

Warne paid $5.4m for the home in 2018 when it was bought from the private investigator Anthony Thompson, who’d purchased it for $4.2m in 2015 from the Essendon AFL legend Matthew Lloyd and wife Lisa.

Heine bought Clendon

Financial adviser Michael Heine is set to emerge as the mystery $22.1m buyer of Clendon, the six-bedroom 1920s Toorak house sold late last month.

The two-storey house with tennis court set on a 2360sq m Clendon Road holding had a $18.5m to $20.35m expressions of interest price guide, but then went to a private auction conducted by Marshall White.

The home of Emprise Group chairman Sam Hayward last traded for $3.4m in 1995.

Heine, the Netwealth co-founder, took $24m out of the company in August in a share selldown.

Knockdown price

Sydney was host to 871 auctions, and of the 730 results collected so far, 80 per cent were successful. This time last year, 976 auctions were held across Sydney, and 73 per cent of reported auctions were successful.

179 Denison Street, Newtown.

A dilapidated Newtown terrace fetched $1.3m as two bidders sought the knockdown two-bedroom cottage. The Denison Street offering sold to a builder from Western Sydney, having traded for $1.19m in August last year, with approval since secured for a three-bedroom, three-bathroom home.

Buoyant Brisbane

Brisbane saw a busy 57 per cent auction success rate, including a block of riverfront land at New Farm for $9.91m to the local developer Seymour Group.

A Yeronga house sold for $2.8m through Ray White agents Christine Rudolph and Matt Lancashire to a buyer from Melbourne who had driven up to the Sunshine State when borders reopened last Tuesday.

It is a contemporary five-bedroom home opposite Jacaranda Park.

39 Ormuz Road, Yeronga.

“During a usual year things start to wrap up after the Melbourne Cup, but this summer, we’re only just getting started,” Lancashire said.

“We don’t see any sign of it slowing down throughout the early months of 2021 either.”

On the Gold Coast a Mermaid Waters offering sold for $1,590,000 to a buyer from Taylors Lakes in Victoria who’d viewed the property for the first time an hour before the auction.

“The sea-change this family had been dreaming of was brought forward by the events of 2020,” Ray White agent Mitch Palmer said of the renewed migration trend.

Back home again

Expatriates buying back home is the other big factor influencing prices, with Crown Residences at One Barangaroo hoping to capitalise on the trend over the summer.

“Ultra-prime property is viewed as a safe investment for the long term … but there will be caution from some,” Knight Frank agent Erin van Tui l noted last week as she sought the final handful of buyers for the 82 apartments.

She’s expecting increased interest given the imminent transition from an off-plan product to being able to be inspected, with prices starting at $9.5m. Crown has provided no update since February, when $650m in sales had been secured a year ahead of March 2021 settlement date.

While the ILGA has blocked Crown from opening its casino until Patricia Bergin delivers her recommendations on its suitability to hold the licence, the Crown Spa Sydney is nearing completion, with the health and wellness facilities designed by interior designer Blainey North.

Meanwhile, James Packer’s superyacht IJE arrived in Panama on Saturday, having departed Papeete, French Polynesia last month.

No word on its forward itinerary, but IJE, named after Packer’s three children, Indig o, Jackson and Emmanuelle, spent last New Year’s Eve at the Panama Canal.