Our wealthiest 250 Australians set to surface in The List
Jerry Schwartz is confident he has already got excellent value for money from forking out $67.25m for his Sydney mansion.
Jerry Schwartz is confident he has already got excellent value for money from forking out a handsome $67.25 million for his harbourfront mansion in Sydney’s Vaucluse.
Dr Schwartz bought the property for its 25m pool — the largest private swimming hole on Sydney Harbour — a year ago, but says the mansion and houses like it are also defying the downturn that has begun to hit the wider residential market.
The cosmetic surgeon and hotel owner has a $468m fortune, and is a member of the inaugural edition of The List — Australia’s Richest 250, published as a special magazine in The Weekend Australian on Saturday.
Property dominates The List, contributing 68 members including billionaires Harry Triguboff and Lang Walker. Many members of The List have also made their fortunes in industries such as transport and mining, before diversifying into residential and commercial property investments.
The List is the most comprehensive study of the country’s wealthy elite ever undertaken in Australia, with more people featured — 250 — than ever before. There are 96 billionaires and 27 women on The List, with an average wealth of $1.27 billion for the 250 members of the edition.
The entire wealth for the 250 is almost $320bn.
Many have made big property purchases in the past year, defying the building gloom around the wider residential market.
Dr Schwartz, who with 14 hotels in NSW and Queensland is billed as Australia’s largest private owner of accommodation venues, is ranked in 213th place on The List.
He wants to increase the height of the tennis court on his Sydney property to make way for a home cinema and six-car garage and is confident the $5m he is spending on renovations will make the property even more valuable.
“Despite the perceived gloom in the general property market, Sydney prestige homes definitely have survived and remain very strongly priced,” he told The Australian. “This is because of the limited stock of harbourside and other prestige homes.”
Sydney’s eastern suburbs and lower north shore were the dominant areas in the ultra-prestige residential sector over the past year, according to My Housing Market, accounting for a total of 50 house and apartment sales in the exclusive $10m-plus price bracket.
Despite the popularity of the eastern suburbs, it was the lower north shore in Sydney, principally Mosman, where most of the $10m-plus sales occurred in 2018, with 19 transactions. The highest priced sale was the palatial 1-3 Burran Avenue, at $23.733m.
Apart from NSW, the only other state to record multiple $10m-plus house and apartment transactions last year was Victoria, with seven sales in Toorak led by the $38.8m sale of 9 Chastleton Avenue.
The inaugural edition of The List is dedicated entirely to news stories and features on Australia’s richest individuals and families, tapping into the lessons behind their business careers and identifying trends in the creation of personal wealth.
The List: Don’t miss your 84-page magazine this Saturday inside The Weekend Australian