The 10 most expensive suburbs in Australia: from Toorak to Vaucluse
Plenty of billionaires live around the suburbs on Sydney harbour. But the leafy suburb that boasts the most wealthy people has set plenty of records in recent years.
There might be more billionaires enjoying Sydney’s incredible water views in the suburbs dotted around the harbour, but the nation’s richest enclave has some stunning properties in its own right.
And has been setting plenty of records of late.
Melbourne’s leafy Toorak, with its undulating streets and huge mansions set behind walls and hedges is a relatively discreet haven for the city’s billionaires - who keep building and buying in the area.
Toorak has the most residents on this year’s edition of The List - Australia’s Richest 250, published by The Australian.
Almost 10 per cent of Australia’s wealthy elite live in Toorak, but the prestige suburbs in Sydney attract the biggest and most consistent price tags.
Here are the most popular suburbs in Australia for the country’s 250 wealthiest people for 2025:
Toorak, VIC 3142, (22)
There are 22 entrants on this year’s The List - Richest 250 who call Toorak home with plenty of property news to keep the locals busy.
The market is particularly waiting with keen interest to find out who bought Toll Holdings billionaire Paul Little’s Coonac estate for an estimated $130m, and potentially even higher. News of the deal emerged in February and so far the buyer has not been revealed.
Little and wife Jane Hansen paid $14.5m for the Clendon Road mansion in 2002.
Set on about 1.09 hectares, Coonac is one of the largest blocks in Toorak and the Italianate double-storey mansion has 20 rooms, a tennis court, pool and cabana.
Coonac is one of a number of Toorak homes often barely visible behind large gardens and high brick walls from the street.
Some are big enough to be sighted though, including the $70m St Georges Road mansion owned by property developer Harry Stamoulis, who placed 206th on The List with an estimated $797m fortune.
Its facade has soaring colonnades and hand-carved sculptures and cornices decorate the home, which took three years to build.
But that is dwarfed by Ed Craven’s nearby $145m rebuild of the so-called “Ghost Mansion”. Designed by renowned Melbourne architect Paul Conrad, Craven’s huge Toorak property will feature about 8000sq m of internal space.
Other notable Toorak residents include Lindsay Fox, who owns The Eulinya estate on Irving Road, and Chemist Warehouse co-founder Sam Gance, who paid $43m in 2021 for a luxury mansion that includes an onsite wellness retreat.
Vaucluse, NSW 2030, (13)
Billionaire Betty Klimenko is among the 13 richlisters who call Vaucluse home. In fact she likes it so much that she has purchased several properties there over the years.
The adopted daughter of Westfield co-founder John Saunders, Klimenko first bought a double block property in 2007 and now has at least six Vaucluse blocks in a compound where family and friends live.
Hospitality king Justin Hemmes is among the other Vaucluse residents.
He lives in The Hermitage, the stunning home with huge gardens he has transformed in the past decade and which his parents paid about $500,000 for 50 years ago.
Harry Triguboff is also a long-time Vaucluse resident, while Jerry Schwartz is continuing renovations at his $67m Phoenix Acres mansion, including a new tunnel.
Point Piper, NSW 2011, (12)
Atlassian co-founders Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes still own record-setting Point Piper mansions in Sydney, albeit not next to each other any more.
Farquhar last year sold the historic Elaine mansion for $130m to an undisclosed buyer, the same amount he paid for another Point Piper home, UIG Lodge, in 2022.
Elaine was next to Fairwater, the estate Cannon-Brookes paid a then record $100m for in 2018.
Uig Lodge was built in 1900 in the style of a Scottish baronial castle and offers spectacular views of Sydney Harbour - the big drawcard for the suburb.
Wolseley Road is known as the most prestigious street there, where the likes of billionaires Paul Lederer, Frank Lowy and Jack Cowin among those that have long owned mansions.
Mosman, NSW 2088, (7)
The Sydney lower north shore suburb’s residents include billionaire data centre founder Robin Khuda, who is building his dream home there. He bought a double block in 2021 for $19.5m and then the next-door neighbour’s home later in the year for $11m.
A new tri-level home on the consolidated Balmoral Avenue site is now being built.
Beauty Point is a popular area for Mosman’s well-heeled elite, with Suttons Motors co-owners Craig and Ryan Sutton among several family members who live there.
Hunters Hill, NSW 2110, (6)
Another suburb of Sydney’s lower north shore, Hunters Hill is the home for the country’s oldest billionaire in Len Ainsworth. The 101-year-old irrepressible Ainsworth has long lived in the suburb along with the likes of Sue Walker, whose late husband Lang Walker bought the Milthorpe Estate. Considered one of the best properties in the area, sitting on 7200sq m.
Fund manager Chris Mackay is among the other members of The List who also live in Hunters Hill.
Mosman Park, WA 6012, (4)
Mineral Resources boss Chris Ellison is the best-known resident of Perth’s Mosman Park, having set a record in 2009 when he paid $57.5m for reclusive billionaire Angela Bennett’s mansion on Bennett Street.
In 2014, Ellison and wife Tia paid $5 million for Spanish-style, six-bedroom, four-bathroom hacienda on 826sq m next door, though the property was reportedly put on the market last year.
They also bought another adjacent property, for $6.625 million in 2014.
Bellevue Hill, NSW 2023 (5)
Freight magnate Arthur Tzaneros paid about $61m for his Bellevue Hill mansion in Sydney in 2023. The previous owner, Leo Lynch, had paid $9m for it in 2014 and completely rebuilt it before selling to Tzaneros.
But perhaps the biggest name living in Bellevue Hill for now is Scott Farquhar, who is living there with his family in what has been described as a $16.5m “in-between home”.
Their triple brick residence on a private 1416sq m parcel of land faces north with excellent harbour and district views.
Dalkeith, WA 6009, (4)
Perth’s other billionaire enclave boasts residents such as Vikas Rambal and Seven Group boss Kerry Stokes, whose house on the Swan River is considered one of the Western Australian capital’s best. Stokes has lived in Dalkeith since the 1970s when he paid $200,000 for his 3200sq m block.
Brighton, VIC 3186 (4) and South Yarra, VIC 3141 (4)
A smattering of Melbourne’s elite are found in bayside Brighton, including property doyen Michael Buxton, and the more inner-city South Yarra.
The latter includes Larry Kestelman’s $50m penthouse at his $800m luxury Capitol Grand building that counts David Bromley as an artist-in-residence.
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