Toorak sales boom having a ripple effect in the bay at Brighton
Sales in one plush Melbourne suburb are pushing up demand nearby.
The top end of Melbourne’s residential property market is running ahead of even the most optimistic expectations with a widespread boom spreading from Toorak mansions to their bayside counterparts and beyond.
Buoyed by low interest rates and readily available finance, buyers are backing the boom in prices as many are making purchases they had put off making for some years.
Others are seizing properties as they come on to the market, knowing that such gems are normally tightly held and could stick in their families for the long term.
The breadth of the price boom has been perhaps the most surprising element in the city as it has encompassed a series of sales north of the traditionally hard-to-smash $20m mark and a good flow of sub-$10m sales, with a lot of activity in between.
One of the biggest sales was a mansion at 12 Lansell Road, one of Toorak’s prestigious streets, for more than $25m with one of the key attractions of the five-bedroom home being its huge 3278sq m landholding.
Known as the “Halstead”, the residence is styled along English and Dutch colonial lines that are rarely found in Melbourne. It was designed by Australian architect Walter Butler and built in 1916 for Frances Clements. The mansion has five bedrooms and a large office, six bathrooms, three large living rooms, and spaces overlooking a well-maintained swimming pool. It was sold via Weast Corporation director James Liu.
RetailMeNot.com co-founder Guy King sold his Toorak mansion at 61-63 Grange Road for more than $30m to a local family via selling agents Sean Cussell and Marcus Heron of Christie’s International.
Boost Juice founder Janine Allis also offloaded her home at 9 Whernside Avenue, Toorak, for about $21m just two weeks after it hit the market via Marshall White’s Marcus Chiminello and Nicole French.
The ultra-modern home designed by Wolf Architects with bespoke interiors by In Design saw the buyer essentially picking up a near-new residence on a 1560sq m block.
While the mega-mansion sales grabbed headlines, other homes have also sold at a good clip.
Also in Toorak, 1 Devorgilla Avenue came on to the market at $7m and then sold for $8.12m via Justin Long and Fiona Counsel of Marshall White Stonnington. The three-level home was billed as offering European elegance with the classically designed residence sporting a lift to connect its floors. It also has herringbone parquetry floors, decorative panelled walls and high ceilings in an expansive sitting room and a formal dining room with a two-way pebble fire.
In a nod to the stay-at-home crowd it also has a large study that can serve as a home office with a discreetly concealed marble bathroom.
Meanwhile, a home at 233 Kooyong Road, also in Toorak, came on the market at $6.4m and sold for $7.3m via Maria Vovos and Joanna Nairn of Marshall White Stonnington. The distinguished English-style residence is well-proportioned and has a deep private northwest garden with a pool.
Living and dining areas open to the deep private established northwest garden with extensive stone paving, a gas-plumbed barbecue and pool. The home also has a 5000-bottle temperature-controlled wine cellar.
Some of the biggest sales have happened in the bayside suburb of Brighton which had not seen quite as much activity as Toorak, but is now gaining traction, particularly as buyers seek out a lifestyle where they may be spending more time at home.
In one of the largest sales, a classic home on a 3000sq m block tucked away from the Were Street strip, known as South Lodge, sold for more than $13m via JP Dixon’s Jonathan Dixon and Angie Swindon.
The picturesque rustic Victorian homestead built in 1842 was lovingly restored and has a pebbled drive that sweeps past vast lawns up to the residence. The home’s gabled roofs are set among the grand old trees and it is billed as a country-style estate, with an open fireplace and bay windows overlooking the rose garden.
A four-bedroom estate at 90 Esplanade also smashed records when it sold to former Gribbles Group strongman Wallace Stuart Cameron with the final pricing on the deal, via JP Dixon, yet to be disclosed.
Dixon says Brighton is coming into its own as a destination and even challenging traditional suburbs closer to the city as people seek out the enviable bayside lifestyle.
Luxury seekers have stuck close to traditional seaside haunts but the prices they are paying have effectively revalued the suburb and will reverberate through the market.
How long will the boom continue? Quite some time, perhaps, as the purchasers in the market are less overseas buyers than well-heeled locals making decisions to buy up long-desired properties. Just how long could be in the hands of the bankers.
