Sydney’s ultra-prestige home buyers left begging

A “chronic” shortage of trophy listings for sale is forcing buyers to compete for luxury property in the $10 million-range, much to the delight of high-end vendors.

Fuelling demand is a steep increase in the number of ultra-high net worth individuals who call Sydney home, according to Knight Frank’s 2016 Wealth Report.

One of the few ultra-prestige homes for sale is Brett Blundy’s $45 million waterfront pad in Rose Bay. Photo: Huw Lambert

“That shortage of stock is a result of the sheer number of sales that transacted last year in that $10 million-plus range,” said valuer Paul Donovan, director of Pontons.

The ultra-prestige market is commonly defined as $10 million-plus, whereas the trophy home market is a more rarefied market worth in excess of $30 million, said Ken Jacobs, of Christie’s International.

Donovan puts the number of ultra-prestige deals at close to 70 last year, a record high level of activity in the trophy market.

One of Point Piper’s rare original homes, Anaconda, is up for $25 million through Bill Malouf and Ken Jacobs. Photo: Supplied

Last year’s sales turnover was 60 per cent higher than the second highest year for activity the year before. There were 46 ultra-prestige sales in Sydney in 2014, topping the previous bumper year for trophy sales in 2008 of 44 sales.

One of this year’s few new trophy offerings is the Rose Bay waterfront reserve property of Singapore-based retailer Brett Blundy with hopes of $45 million.

It had traded three years earlier for $33 million when sold by IT entrepreneur Neil Miller.

This house at 110 Wolseley Road Point Piper was formerly owned by Lachlan Murdoch. It has been put up for sale by mining engineer Gary Zamel and wife Karyn with $40 million hopes.Photo: Toby Johnstone

“The level of interest and number of inspections has been really strong not only because of the standard of the home but the basic economics that there’s not much stock up against it,” said Brad Pillinger, of Pillingers, who listed it in conjunction with Michael Pallier, of Sotheby’s International .

In February 2014, Domain figures showed there was well in excess of $1 billion worth of ultra-prestige real estate for sale. That figure has since slumped to about $680 million, and the bulk of those listings have been on the market for up to six months or more.

Strong buyer demand has also meant there are more off-market sales, according to Ken Jacobs, who sold Sydney’s two highest priced houses on the quiet in the past six months.

The waterfront home of Anywhere Travel managing director Barbara Whitten and her lawyer husband Ray is listed for $35 million.

James Packer’s Vaucluse mansion La Mer sold in August for $70 million and the nearby residence Villa Igiea was sold by expat entrepreneur Wayne Burt on New Year’s Eve for more than $52 million.

Buyer’s agent Deb West, of SydneySlice, said the shortage of high-end offerings was chronic, and she doesn’t see any dramatic turnaround in stock levels coming soon.

SydneySlice co-principal Stephen Smith agreed: “It you want to buy in the next two months, move quickly because there’s not much around after Easter either.

The Fairfax family estate Elaine at Point Piper has been re-launched this year in the hopes of snagging a buyer.

“And the risk for those waiting until after Easter is that then we run into the school holidays, then there’s a budget to be handed down, which stifles the top-end market, and a federal election happening this year as well,” said Smith.

Knight Frank’s latest Wealth Report saw Sydney rise to number eight on the list of top 10 global cities most important to the wealthy elite, defined as having a net worth of more than $30 million.

That meteoric rise in the number of wealthy Sydneysiders was a 135 per cent rise over the 10 years to 2015.