Stonington mansion sale sets new $52m home price record

Art dealer Rod Menzies has sold his Malvern mansion for a new house price record of $52.5 million, eclipsing the state's previous $40 million record for a Toorak home.

The Stonington mansion sale set a new record.

A decade after Australia’s former government house, Stonington, was controversially transferred into private hands for $17.5 million, Mr Menzies has onsold it.

The historic property at 336 Glenferrie Road has sold to an Asia-based buyer who is not yet registered on title.

Stonington was built in 1890 by Cobb & Co coaches partner John Wagner.

Stonington's sale price exceeds the previous state price record set just eight months ago when ex-Mirvac director Marina Darling and husband, Anthony, sold 18 St Georges Road in blue-chip Toorak, to Chinese businessman Qi Yang, for a reported $40 million.

18 St Georges Road, Toorak sold to Chinese businessman Qi Yang, for a reported $40 million.

That purchaser’s identity was not revealed while approval for the sale was obtained from the Foreign Investment Review Board.

Sources close to the Stonington deal speculate something similar is happening, with the accountant registered on title as the sole proprietor, Xiao Cao, said to be representing an as yet undisclosed offshore party.

Sean Cussell, the ex-Marshall White director who sold Mr Menzies the Stonington estate, is speculated to also be behind the latest deal, but would not comment.

In a show of strength for Melbourne’s prestige sector, Stonington’s sale price is double the $26.25 million record set a year ago, when Daniel and Danielle Besen sold 9 Towers Road, Toorak, to Netflow managing director Phil Dreaver and his wife Sally.

For six years prior, the record price paid for a home in Victoria was $26 million, established when BRW Rich List member John Higgins bought Portsea’s clifftop Ilyuka from Computershare co-founder Michele O’Halloran.

Mr Menzies purchased Stonington, on about 1.2 hectares, from developers who had sliced off large sections of the yard on which were built townhouses and apartments.

The imposing mansion – from which the local council derives its name - housed Victoria’s governors for 30 years until 1931.

It was built in 1890 by Cobb & Co coaches partner John Wagner who occupied it until his death in 1901. It was then leased to the government, which bought it for $35,000 in 1928.

Also used as a school and hospital, Stonington was out of private hands until 2006 when Deakin University signed a deal on Christmas Eve to sell the then-three hectare holding to developer Hamton for $33 million.

Despite local lobbying, the government did not intervene in the sale.

Mr Menzies subsequently acquired Stonington in an off-market deal. It was speculated at the time that the vendor was required to complete a lavish fit-out of the home for Mr Menzies.

Sources who have been in the mansion say it offers an abundance of bedrooms, living areas and wet zones, with intricate detail in its fittings.

The art dealer declined to comment when contacted on Thursday about the sale of Stonington and another mansion in Nagambie, Noorilim, which he tried unsuccessfully to sell eight years ago for more than $10 million.

Last month, a Toorak compound, with six dwellings, and on a 4697 square metre block, hit the market with price expectations of between $45 million and $50 million.

One of the marketing agents of that site, Julian White, of CBRE, expects continued growth in the residential sector this year.

“Residential properties in prestigious Sydney suburbs sell for in excess of $20,000 per square metre,” Mr White said. “Melbourne is only seven per cent smaller in size and growing at a faster rate. With strong population growth and the continued advance of Melbourne to attract nation-wide business headquarters and offshore investment, this gap is expected to close”.

Last April, a national record price of $71 million was achieved when Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar bought the Elaine estate in Point Piper, Sydney, from members of the Fairfax family.