Mansion sales keep virus at bay

The sprawling Yaloak Estate, sporting one of Victoria’s biggest mansions, has been sold to ­Chinese interests after being put on the block last year for $50m.

The Yaloak Estate mansion at Ballan, outside Melbourne.

The sprawling Yaloak Estate, sporting one of Victoria’s biggest mansions, has been sold to ­Chinese interests after being put on the block last year for $50m.

The remarkable 5071ha property at Ballan, 78km northwest of Melbourne, had quietly been under offer since January after a four-month campaign launched in September.

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Now, it has been revealed that the property, marketed as the largest such land parcel near Melbourne, has been secured by a Chinese-backed private company called Harvest Agriculture.

The company, with 25-year-old director Yingzi Xu at the helm, has been capitalised with $37m.

The sale is proof that the COVID-19 pandemic has yet to hit the top end of the mansion market, with a ­series of sales to local buyers, particularly in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Yaloak Estate’s sprawling grounds include an imposing 1890s homestead, comprising six bedrooms, a ­library, multiple sitting rooms and surrounded by manicured gardens.

Lawyer and winery owner Peter Yunghann sold the property, which also houses the ­Yaloak Polo Club, a favourite haunt of Melbourne society.

Seven additional residences stand across the estate’s cropping and grazing land, which includes a wind farm.

The deal — brokered as ­the coronavirus was first reported in China — coincided with the end of the strongest resurgence in ­residential property prices on ­record.

The charge was largely led by the top end of the market, which was firing around the country.

An unliveable 7246sq m property in Melbourne’s blue-chip Toorak dubbed the “ghost mansion” was placed under offer in an off-market deal for $80m in February. About the same time, Brisbane’s most expensive home at 1 Leopard Street, Kangaroo Point, was sold for $18m to local buyers seeking cliff-side views overlooking the city.