Trophy homes: Everything but the cup thrown in

Field House, the renovated Mount Macedon estate, has been sold by horse-training property developer Lloyd Williams.

The Armadale property in suburban Melbourne.

Field House, the recently renovated and expanded Mount Macedon estate, has been sold by horse-training property developer Lloyd Williams. It was sold for $4 million to Dean Koutsoumidis, the boss of mortgage fund Equity-One, and his wife Rebecca. It had last traded at $2.6m in 2009. Designed by Rosenthal Munckton and Shields, the house, in rural Victoria, sits on 5ha with extensive garaging and a helipad. It was built by Sir Robert Law-Smith and Joan Law-Smith, a gifted plantswoman. It had been listed by Jock Langley at Abercomby’s in conjunction with Lindsay Hill Real Estate. Williams, who retains his nearby stables, Macedon Lodge, has won five Melbourne Cups and is hoping for a sixth with Almandin.

Quick flip finds the mark

Newlyweds Adam Gandel and Amira Jacobson have spent $4.1m on a 1900s home in Armadale in Melbourne. It was a quick flip by former Collingwood forward-turned property developer Chris Tarrant and wife Lauren, who paid $2.1m for the house only last year. The Toorak-based couple transformed the classic, solid-brick Edwardian home. Wattle Glen, set on 560sq m, has four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a sitting room and a study. Glass sliders open from the open-plan kitchen, living and dining area to a private garden. Marshall White agents John Manton and Fiona Ansell-Jones sold the house. Gandel is a senior analyst at accounting firm William Buck. Jacobsen is the co-founder of activewear company Talbot Avenue. They wed at the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds this year, with grandfather billionaire property developer John Gandel among the proudest in attendance.

Hopes halved for lifestyle retreat

Former Queensland mining executive Ian Howard-Smith and wife Margaret have halved their price expectations for their 80ha lifestyle retreat near Rockhampton. The Mount Haven home, for which they had had hopes of $30m, now comes with a $15m price tag. The rural estate at Emu Park, overlooking Keppel Bay and Great Keppel Island, was bought when the couple moved from Brisbane more than a decade ago. They built two homes on the vast parcel of land. Savills Gold Coast agents Christopher Jones and Wayne Holmes are now handling the marketing. The property comes with approval potential for tourism ventures or a retirement community. Howard-Smith founded Queensland Metals Corp and discovered the Kunwarara magnesite deposit north of Rockhampton in the mid-1980s.

Designer back on the peninsula

Retired stockbroker Peter Wenzel and interior designer wife Jo have bought back in Mornington Peninsula, paying $3.3m for a house on Point Nepean Road in Sorrento. Peninsula Sotheby’s International agents Linda Boulter and Patrick Sinn sold the property, set on an elevated 3000sq m with five bedrooms and four bathrooms, a championship grass tennis court, gardens and a Mediterranean-style courtyard. Jo has an affinity for French architecture.

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