‘Tower of Power’ luxury residence leads new listings

The late Sir Rod Carnegie’s Melbourne apartment is on the market for $6.5m-plus, while Adelaide continues to win the capital city clearance rate battle.

The Melbourne apartment of the late Sir Rod Carnegie has been listed for sale. Pictures: Supplied

The Domain apartment of the late Melbourne corporate titan, Sir Rod Carnegie, has been listed for sale. The half-floor, three-bedroom abode is being marketed by the Kay & Burton chairman Gerald Delany.

The 1 Albert Road complex, one of the first high-rise residential buildings overlooking the St Kilda Road boulevard in the mid-1990s, has long been colloquially known as the ‘Tower of Power’.

Carnegie’s 16th floor offering with 338sq m space has been given $6.5m to $7m price guidance, with expressions of interest closing on December 5.

Sir Rod, who established McKinsey & Company in Australia in the 1960s, went on to be the chief executive and chairman of CRA, which ranked as Australia’s biggest mining company. He was president of the Business Council of Australia in the 1980s.

The ‘Tower of Power’ at 1 Albert Road, Melbourne.

Sir Rod, who died in July aged 91, took up residency in The Domain in 1995 with his late wife, Lady Carmen, when he was chairman of Hudson Conway, the developer who converted the 1964 BP House office tower.

Delany’s involvement dates back to the off-plan sell-out in 1993/94, in which 100 apartments were priced from $150,250 for one-bedroom units to $525,000 for three bedrooms. Hudson Conway developer Lloyd Williams secured his longtime 20th-floor penthouse in the block.

The building’s transformation from offices to residential was featured in the book From BP House to The Domain by architectural commentator Philip Goad.

Views of the city from within the late Sir Rod Carnegie’s apartment at 161/1 Albert Road.

Many more offices are set to disappear, with the staggered transition to luxury residential getting a boost from the work-from-home trend that took hold during the Covid pandemic.

The fringe St Kilda Road office market has a 27 per cent vacancy rate, the highest of all Australian CBD and non-CBD markets, according to the Property Council.

Bankrupted exec gets top price

The nation’s top sale came on auction-eve in Point Piper, ­undisclosed but marketed with a $12m price guide through Michael Pallierof Sotheby’s International.

The two-level penthouse was listed by a court-appointed trustee and receiver Andrew Scott, who has been busy mopping up the multimillion-dollar eastern suburbs property portfolio of the Stolyar family.

3/10 Longworth Avenue, Point Piper.

Scott has a caveat, a writ and two court orders registered on title, granting him security over the property, arising from insolvency proceedings before Federal Court Justice Brigitte Markovic.

The three-bedroom, three-bathroom apartment is in the name of Faina Stolyar, the pensioner mother of former mining executive Ian Stolyar, who was bankrupted along with his wife BethNguyen in 2016.

Prior to the sales listing, the court heard all three had resided at the recently renovated Longworth Avenue property, atop the Martinique triplex on Lady Martins Beach, which was acquired at $10.4m in 2020.

The dispute has gone all the way to the High Court, where Faina Stolyar failed last year to secure special leave to appeal against the substantive judgment.

Some $14,195,143 is owed to the trustee, as at May, the court Judgement noted.

North Shore home leads auction results

The nation’s top under-the-hammer sale was $7.1m in Chatswood when Millbank, an 1908 Queen Anne-style Federation home, sold through Ray White Lower North Shore agents John McManus and Brooke Listberger.

There were 19 bids from three of the eight registered bidders after the bidding opened at $6m.

It sold at above its $6.9m reserve to a local family upsizing from an apartment.

13 Robinson Street, Chatswood.

The five-bedroom, three-bathroom house on 935sq m at 13 Robinson Street last traded in 1992 at $750,000.

Sydney hosted 1046 auctions, its third busiest year-to-date week after the pre-Easter and late September weeks.

Inside the property, which has a pool.

CoreLogic’s Tim Lawless calculated its preliminary clearance rate as hovering around 64 per cent, with the prior week’s 55 per cent final numbers ominously the lowest clearance rate so far this year.

Glen Waverly house takes honours before Cup Week

Only 473 auctions were held in Melbourne as attention turned to the Spring Racing Carnival, a similar number to last year. Its 62 per cent preliminary clearance was the second lowest of the year to date, CoreLogic calculated.

8 Foy Court, Glen Waverley.

Melbourne’s top reported sale was a five-bedroom, five-bathroom Foy Court, Glen Waverley house that fetched $3.01m, having been listed with $2.78m to $2.98m guidance through Jellis Craig agent Eric Shan.

Marketed it as having “a lucky number 8 address”, the French Provincial-style house first sold in 2021 for $2.45m.

It garnered 6600 page views on realestate.com.au during its recent marketing.

Grange property best in Brisbane

There are reports an Ascot estate in Brisbane has sold to a local family for $23m, beating the prior $20.5m record set in April last year by a New Farm riverfront.

The historic Sutherland Avenue, Ascot house has been sold by Brett Walker of BWC Group, who bought the 1930s Queenslander for $10m in 2021 from Ray White chairman Brian White.

Meanwhile, Brisbane’s top weekend result came pre-auction when a five-bedroom, five-bathroom house at 11 Newton Street, Grange fetched $4.55m.

The house, set on a 810sq m block with city views, came with more than 510sq m of living space.

Just 52 per cent of Brisbane auctions found a buyer, the second lowest result this year.

Adelaide continues to lead clearance rates

Adelaide continued to lead the capital city clearance rate, at 67 per cent, but at its second lowest for the year.

Its top reported sale was the re-imagined villa at 32 Wainhouse Street, Torrensville for $2.2m which was marketed as the “House of Hermes” by its Williams Luxury agent Jonathon Kiritsis.

The ‘House of Hermes’ at 32 Wainhouse Street, Torrensville.

The five-bedroom, three-bathroom 1913 house set a record price for the suburb, 3km west of the CBD, which takes its name after the Torrens Title pioneer Robert Torrens.

There were seven registered bidders.

Just the 15 auctions in Perth, with its top sale in Dalkeith when four of the eight registered bidders competed for the keys to the five-bedroom, two-bathroom 1950s Tudor residence at 2 Wattle Avenue.

It fetched $3.72m through Ray White agent Vivien Yap.

It last sold in 1999 for $940,000, having been briefly offered with $3.6m plus hopes in 2011.

Clover to offload Redfern terrace

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore and her husband Peter have listed their Redfern terrace, which they bought in 1978 for $45,000.

The three-bedroom, two-bathroom Kepos Street terrace goes to November 30 auction through Progress Real Estate agent Florance Wong.

The posting on realestate.com.au suggests there are $4m -plus price hopes for the three-storey Federation residence that sits on a 230sq m double block.

The couple have relocated to the nearby Moore Park Gardens apartment complex, where they spent $900,000 in 2014.