Veteran banker pulls $8m Bellevue Hill penthouse from auction

The national clearance rate dipped this week, as more than 20 NSW luxury homes failed to find buyers.

Veteran former Macquarie and Credit Suisse banker Edward Jewell-Tait and his wife JoClements pulled their Bellevue Hill penthouse from its weekend auction.

There is now a $7.95m asking price for the contemporary apartment, set atop the remodelled 1928 Spanish mission complex Palomar.

The home has harbour views towards Rose Bay.

Michael Pallier of Sydney Sotheby’s International had initially listed the three-bedroom, three-bathroom off-market with $9m hopes, which was revised down to $8m by early May.

There is an 18 metres-long entertaining terrace, with undercover living and dining, outdoor heating and a separate bar and barbecue area with harbour views towards Rose Bay.

The Drumalbyn Rd penthouse cost $5.8m in a 2019 off-the-plan purchase.

The couple intend to spend more time back in Perth.

In 1997 a permanent move back to Perth was first trialled after Jewell-Tait married Clements, whose family were running Cape Lodge near Margaret River at the time.

The property was pulled from its weekend auction.

A longtime fixture on the Sydney philanthropic and social scene, Jewell-Tait had been at Macquarie from 1980, then becoming chairman of its operations in WA after the initial move west.

He next headed to the Commonwealth Bank, then briefly Caledonia Investments before joining Credit Suisse as its head of private banking for Australia from 2011 until 2015.

Jewell-Tait is one of the four godparents of Francesca Barham Packer.

Chiswick sees top price

The nation’s top notified weekend auction result was $13.3m for a three-level house on the waterfront in Sydney’s Chiswick.

The 1575sqm Burns Cres property last sold in 2013 for $5m with approval for $427,000 of alterations to the 2000-built house secured in 2021.

The house, designed using Feng Shui principles, comes with a private beach and slipway into Five Dock Bay.

Ray White agents Mario and Jessica Carbone took an $11m opening bid.

It was a changing of the guard between two local families, Mario Carbone said.

“Our sellers lived here for 10 years raising their children and are now downsizing, and they were particularly touched that it went to a new young family who reminded them of themselves,” he said.

As the calendar slipped into winter, there were 31 prestige auction listings seeking $5m or more across Sydney, but just eight found buyers.

There was no price reveal when 9 Birkley Rd, Manly sold after some 8000 page views on realestate.com.au, nor any price given after the sale of 9 Saiala Rd, East Killara.

The listing at 21 Murralin Lane, Sylvania fetched $6.35m, according to the Auction Snitch app, which seeks to enhance price transparency. It advised it was 32 per cent over its price guide.

Mum’s the word

The nondisclosure of bidding outcomes are occurring amid failed auction campaigns too.

Property developer Shane Smollen and his wife Rebecca have yet to sell their Byron Bay mansion, which was initially listed with hopes of $40m last November via an expressions of interest campaign.

Smollen, director of Sydney-based developer Central Element and ASX-listed McGrath real estate group, put the much-lauded five-bedroom, six-bathroom Belongil Beach home to auction late last week through Nick Dunn and Ollie Charkos, of McGrath Byron Bay in conjunction with Ed Silk.

“The owner asked that no details on the auction be released,” a McGrath spokesperson said.

The unsold house, which took three years to complete, was conceived by Melbourne architects Workroom Design.

Guidance beat for Easton

PPD’s Alexander Phillips has secured $13m for Bob Easton, the former chairman of Accenture ANZ, for the Bronte dress circle listing which had $12m guidance.

The two beachside semis were bought by Easton and his wife Marie in 2015 for $7.5m.

The Eastons are staying hillside in Bronte.

Mermaid mansion goes for motza

Queensland’s top weekend result was at Mermaid Waters when $7.25m was paid for Mulia, a four-bedroom, four-bathroom house set on 1108sqm.

Located within the Paradise Quays estate, the contemporary two-storey house comes with a 45m water frontage and 10m pontoon.

30 Montego Court, Mermaid Waters, QLD.

Designed by BDA Architecture with a wraparound covered alfresco terrace, Mulia also sports a Polito wood-fired pizza oven, an infinity pool and a spa.

It was sold by Erik and Lea Raaschou through Kollosche agent Taylor Kleinberg.

They built after selling their prior Mermaid Waters mansion for a then-record price of $2.8m in 2018.

Albert Park home Melbourne’s best

Melbourne’s top sale was when $8.1m was paid for the decorative Edwardian home in Albert Park of skincare entrepreneur Geoff Pearce.

It had come with a $7.4m to $7.8m price guide, having last sold in 2017 at $7.7m.

The modern home saw two bidders compete for the keys to the Kerferd Road address, selling to buyers from Essendon after securing over 10,500 page views on realestate.com.au.

The property had also been Melbourne’s priciest weekend auction in 2017, when Pearce was among the three bidders for the five-bedroom, red-brick residence with modern extension and a pool.

The home had traded at $4.9m in 2014 when sold by travel agency founder Geoff Harris to tea retailer Bruce Crome.

Latitude boss lists

Robert Belan, managing director and CEO of Latitude Financial Services, has listed his

1915 Edwardian home in Malvern East.

The June 15 auction comes with $6m to $6.6m guidance from Nathan Waterson at Jellis Craig in conjunction with seller’s advocate Tim Picken.

The five-bedroom, three-bathroom house sits on a 1263sqm Glenbrook Ave block, amid gardens designed by Erin Green of Nature’s Best Landscapes.

19 Glenbrook Ave, Malvern East, VIC.

Clearance rate dips

The national preliminary clearance rate sat slightly lower last week at 71.4 per cent, with the volume trending to an 11-week high, with 2319 homes put under the hammer.

CoreLogic’s Tim Lawless calculated it was the busiest week since the week before Easter and 28 per cent above the same time last year.

The volume is set to drop due to the King’s Birthday long weekend in some states, with around 1300 auctions scheduled.

“But the following week should bounce back with around 2275 auctions,” Lawless said.

The highest capital city success rate was Adelaide (87 per cent) with Fox Real Estate topping the sales with the $2.6m sale of the 1870 bluestone villa at 192 Fisher St, Malvern.

192 Fisher Street, Malvern, SA.

The most viewed auction listing on realestate.com.au was the six-bedroom, two-bathroom house at 1 Columbia St, Paralowie, South Australia, which fetched $720,000, $280,100 above reserve.

Nine of the 58 registered bidders were active, Ray White auctioneer John Morris advised.