Pony for Christmas? Sydney’s well-heeled gallop for equestrian estates

There was a time when really lucky girls and boys scored a pony for Christmas, but in these heady times it seems an equestrian estate is more the thing.

None of which seems to be lost on childcare businessman and GWS Giants deputy chairman Adrian Fonseca, given his wife Nancy Reardon-Fonseca and their daughters Sophia and Olivia are all keen horse riders (although word is not their son, Alex).

The Duffys Forest estate purchased by Adrian Fonseca and Nancy Reardon-Fonseca has set a high for the Forest.

Sources say Fonseca is the $14.38 million buyer of the Duffys Forest trophy estate Claremont, which is only a tad more than the $14.35 million Fonseca paid for the family’s Bellevue Hill residence in 2018.

The couple’s new 2.2 hectare estate comes with all the bells and whistles for life in lockdown. Think billiard room, library, home cinema and gym in the main homestead, as well as tennis court, guest cottage, two pools and impressive equestrian facilities.

No word yet on what Fonseca plans to do with the other weekend acreage in Terrey Hills he bought for $4.6 million in 2016.

The sale of Claremont, by Sydney Country Living’s Shayne Hutton, has set a record for the Forest on behalf of Malcolm Turnbull’s preferred Chinese herbalist Dr Shuquan Liu and Dajing Li, who are moving to a recently purchased $5 million acreage in Terrey Hills.

Until recent years, the Forest’s luxury estates had struggled to breach the $10 million price level despite cashed-up local homeowners such as Dick Smith, Andrew Pridham, Ian Oatley and Paris Neilson.

That changed in 2018, when outdoor advertising boss Ray Balcomb secured $10.25 million for his Duffys Forest equestrian estate – which has resold a couple of times since, most recently in October for more than $14 million. Clarke & Humel’s Michael Clarke is yet to reveal the result, but the buyer is the chief of lingerie company Naked Brand Justin Davis-Rice and his wife Katharine.

Yerbury’s educated investment

Former Macquarie University vice-chancellor Di Yerbury has sold her long-held waterfront apartment in McMahons Point for what is rumoured to be more than $10 million.

Di Yerbury has sold her apartment in the block of 12 known as The Anchorage.Credit:

And to think she bought the three-bedroom spread in the Philip Cox-designed building for $67,000 in 1985 – two years before she became the country’s first female vice-chancellor.

Atlas’ Adrian Bridges sold the waterfront pad well ahead of the December 11 auction. The exact sale price is subject to gag orders.

Melbourne yogi buys in Byron

Dionnie Fahour, the former wife of Latitude Financial boss Ahmed Fahour, looks to be swapping Melbourne’s social scene to join the well-heeled “hippies” of Byron Bay, where she has bought a luxury hinterland retreat in Myocum for $5.7 million.

The 4.7 hectare property includes a recently renovated three-bedroom house.Credit:

It’s a change of scene for Fahour, who until her split with the former Australia Post boss in 2018 was among Melbourne’s best housed locals, living in the historic Invergowrie estate in Hawthorn the couple bought in 2013 for $22 million, and which sold mid-year for $40.5 million.

Fahour sold her Melbourne home in inner bayside Elwood more recently for $7.25 million, 18 months after she bought it for $6.35 million.

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