Chris and Katrina Barter trade Hunters Hill's trophy Bulwarra for $22m house in Mosman

Sydney’s trophy home market kicked into top gear this week when former Goldman Sachs investment banker Chris Barter and his Australian wife Katrina traded in their $18 million Hunters Hill home for a house in Mosman’s Golden Triangle worth almost $22 million.

Local sources remain doubtful whether the sale of Bulwarra reclaimed the Hunters Hill house price record, last set when the Barters purchased the historic 1877-built mansion in 2017 for $18 million from Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton.

However, a caveat on title reveals Bulwarra was again bought by expats, this time by lawyer Brooke Lindsay, general counsel at United Arab Emirates telco Etisalat.

Lindsay’s partner is Marcus Hill, a senior executive at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and a director at Sydney Transport Partners, which is part of the consortium behind WestConnex.

The Barters newly purchased Mosman home was sold by KPMG special advisor Max Donnelly and his wife Fiona, who had listed it two years ago for $22 million.

Recent rumours the Donnelly home had sold were only confirmed this week after a removalist truck turned up to the property, ending the Donnelly family’s 16 years in residence.

When the Donnellys purchased the architect Susan Rothwell-designed property in 2004 for $10.2 million from former Oracle chief Neil Weston it was the suburb’s highest sale of the year.

It is the highest sale in Mosman this year, to date.

Geoff Smith, of Ray White Mosman, declined to confirm the widely tipped sale result, but had listed it in 2019 for $22 million. Independent sources say the Barter’s paid just shy of that after negotiations by their buyer’s agent Deborah West, of SydneySlice.

Despite confidentiality orders gagging agents from discussing the two deals, they were being billed by prestige agents as indicative of the many returning expats bolstering Sydney’s prestige market.

The Barters moved to Sydney about two years ago when Chris Barter, who previously headed up Goldman Sach’s Moscow office, co-founded venture capital fund King River Capital and Katrina stepped down as chair of The Grove Trust charity she founded in London.

As the Donnelleys were vacating their Hopetoun Avenue home this week locals were also treated to a front row seat to a security up-grade on the house next door owned by Louise Fussell, wife of UK private equity investor Thomas Fussell, given it is currently being leased by British pop star Rita Ora.