AFR Rich List 2021: Property players Harry Triguboff and Frank Lowy among Australia's richest

The biggest property players on the Rich List have been revealed, with fortunes shifting as the nation emerges from last year’s pandemic recession.

Three of the top 10 richest people in the country built their empires through property, as did 49 of the top 200 people on the Financial Review Rich List, released on Friday.

Meriton founder and apartment developer Harry Triguboff was revealed as the sixth-richest person in Australia, with a fortune of $17.27 billion – up from $14.42 billion last year, even though COVID-19 forced the closure of Australia’s borders to immigrants and hit demand for inner-city units.

Triguboff’s own home real estate is no slouch either. He and his wife Rhonda live on one of the largest privately held landholdings on the Vaucluse waterfront, complete with two separate dwellings.

The 5200-square-metre estate is an amalgamation of what was originally four lots, and a DA was lodged with Woollahra Council to subdivide the estate back into four lots last October.

Shimao Property Holdings chairman Hui Wing Mau’s fortune fell to a still-sizeable $11.7 billion, from $18.06 billion last year. The Hong Kong-based Australian citizen made his fortune in property developments in China and Australia.

Westfield shopping centre empire magnate Sir Frank Lowy’s wealth held broadly steady at $8.51 billion, from $8.3 billion last year, after the Lowy family sold their retail group to a European company in a well-timed deal three years ago. He then moved to Israel but retained a home on the waterfront in Sydney’s exclusive Point Piper.

Sir Frank’s Point Piper home is also an amalgamation. He and his late wife Shirley first bought a waterfront house in 1971 for $310,000, and in 1991 added son Steven Lowy’s house next door for $1.3 million only to demolish it to extend their own residence with a home cinema and tennis court.

Despite restrictions on movement to slow the spread of coronavirus, several property bosses have benefited from ultra-low interest rates designed to support the economy, Rich List co-editor Michael Bailey said.

“Except for people with hotels and who are really concentrated in inner-city apartments, it’s been remarkably good,” Mr Bailey said.

“Low interest rates have lifted most of the boats when it comes to property.”

For example, Mr Triguboff owns large amounts of land, which is becoming more valuable in line with the rising housing market, offsetting any hit to his apartment rents received or his serviced apartment business, Mr Bailey said.

Industrial property owners have also benefited from the online shopping boom, while the digital revolution has boosted Robin Khuda, founder of data centre company AirTrunk.

Khuda has ploughed a fair proportion of that new-found wealth into Sydney’s prestige property market, splurging about $74 million in the past year on property. Among the high-end house purchases by the tech entrepreneur are four properties in Palm Beach, two houses in Mosman for $13 million and $10 million each, four terraces in Paddington and Woollahra, and an apartment in McMahons Point bought for $6.1 million from former New Zealand prime minister Sir John Key.

While shopping centre landlords such as Chadstone part-owner John Gandel were marked down last year, they have come back a little this year after the pandemic was not as bad as feared.

For Rich Listers who made their wealth in other sectors, many have later dabbled in property – either as a new business opportunity (such as logistics kingpin Paul Little who later turned to apartment development) or as the buyer of trophy homes to enjoy. Property in Australia is seen as “like putting your money in the bank”, Mr Bailey said.

Australia’s richest person is iron ore boss Gina Rinehart, worth an eye-watering $31.06 billion, up from $28.89 billion last year as the iron ore price soars.

While Rinehart has not been named on any property title records for years, she was linked to the $10.91 million purchase of a contemporary home on Noosa River last month bought in the name of one of her Hancock Prospecting executives.

She also owns a residence in Perth’s Dalkeith that consists of three properties in a cluster, plus a strip of land next door and an adjoining empty block that is for sale with a $9 million price guide, and two adjoining riverfront properties in Brisbane’s Hawthorne, snapped up for about $18 million in 2014. The same Hancock Prospecting executive who bought in Noosa, Dan Wade, also bought a two-storey house just two doors from the boss’s Hawthorne home for $9.9 million in August.

Still in iron ore, Fortescue Metals Group chairman Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest ranked second at $27.25 billion, up from $23 billion last year.

He made headlines for buying a historic Cottesloe home in Perth for $16 million in 2015, using it to house five refugee families, then planning a restoration. He also bought a waterfront residence in Sydney’s Point Piper for more than $16 million.

Tech success stories Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar ranked third and fifth, worth $20.18 billion and $20 billion respectively, through their enterprise software behemoth Atlassian.

Mr Cannon-Brookes has amassed arguably the country’s largest collection of private homes, weekenders and farms, spending almost $250 million on real estate over the past decade.

His primary residence is the $100 million Fairwater estate on the Point Piper beachfront, next door to his co-chief executive Mr Farquhar, who paid $71 million for the neighbouring Elaine estate.

Cardboard box king Anthony Pratt is the fourth-richest Australian at $20.09 billion and lives in the historic Raheen mansion in Melbourne’s leafy Kew.

New entrants to the top 10 are another software duo, co-founders of graphic design firm Canva Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht at $7.98 billion.

They’re Surry Hills locals, having bought their three-storey terrace for $1.5 million in 2017 and undertaken a substantial renovation the following year.

Even with closed borders, Mr Bailey expects property to keep propelling the wealth of Australia’s richest people – notwithstanding questions over how fast hotels can recover or how much retail spending will shift away from shopping centres.

“There’s a domestic market that can still fuel growth – I don’t see it disappearing overnight,” he said.

“Especially while interest rates remain low, I certainly think property’s going to keep rolling on.”