David Waterhouse doubles his money in Darling Point thanks to $5.4m sale 'sight unseen'

David Waterhouse, the son of the late bookmaking legend Bill Waterhouse, is still awaiting a $50 million buyer of his Elizabeth Bay mansion Tresco, but he scored a $5.4 million buyer for his Darling Point apartment on Wednesday.

The buyer is currently overseas and given COVID-19 border closures was forced to buy it sight unseen.

Waterhouse, a former art collector, options trader and long-estranged member of the prominent horse racing family, has more than doubled the $2.52 million he paid for the waterfront apartment in the Santina building two years ago.

Renovated since then, it was listed with Jason Boon, of Richardson & Wrench Elizabeth Bay, and Sotheby’s Daphne Sauvage last week with a guide of $5.5 million, before D’Leanne Lewis, of Laing + Simmons Double Bay, introduced the buyer by video.

Waterhouse listed his colonial mansion Tresco in Elizabeth Bay with $50 million hopes in 2017, and has held firm to the bullish asking price since.

The former couple had bought it in 2004 for $11 million.

Despite separating since, Janette and David emerged as joint buyers of the landmark Spanish Mission residence Villa Biscaya in Rose Bay earlier this year, ending a more than five-year sales campaign that started in 2014 and long held to a $12.5 million asking price. Settlement is yet to confirm the sale price.

Waterhouse lived among a who’s who of owner occupiers in the Santina building, among them Sydney Cricket Ground Trust chief Kerrie Mather, who bought the penthouse for $10.35 million in 2007, magician Garry Cohen and his wife, travel consultancy owner Fay Cohen, and art dealer Steve Nasteski after he bought the double apartment of Marie Spies a year ago for $7.5 million.