Former Woolworths boss Bill Wavish and his wife Vonnie have had a good run on the property market this week, selling both their Palm Beach weekender and their Kurraba Point trophy home with a combined worth of about $29 million.
The double sale – one within two weeks of listing and the other two years after it hit the market – comes as the number of prestige homes available for sale in Sydney falls to all-time low levels amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Palm Beach’s luxury market has been one of the most bullish this year, kicked off with a record-high $24 million sale in February and fuelled since by Sydneysiders looking to make a permanent move to the holiday peninsula.
Wavish’s property, known as Koombahla, was listed with an initial guide of $7.5 million by Ray White Mosman’s Geoff Smith and LJ Hooker Palm Beach’s Peter Robinson, but strong interest soon forced that guide up to $8 million.
The listing scored a sold notification on property portals on Tuesday amid speculation it had sold for more than $8 million.
Wavish had recently stepped down as chairman of Myer when he bought the architect Michael Robilliard-designed residence in September 2009 for $5.45 million from Surfection’s Chris and Amanda Athas.
Despite no comment from the agents, the sales notification coincided with a sold notice on the Wavish family’s Kurraba Point home.
The waterfront house hit the market two years ago, initially with $35 million hopes with Ray White’s Smith and Richard Harding, but that guide was revised to $21 million more recently.
Smith declined to comment on the sale price and settlement will reveal if it tops this year’s highest settlement on the lower north shore – the two-storey penthouse atop The Bradfield at McMahons Point bought off-the-plan by Rugby Australia’s Peter Wiggs for $21 million.
The Wavish family’s Kurraba Point property was originally attached townhouses, the first bought in 2007 for $12 million and its twin added in 2010 for $8.3 million. The block was later amalgamated and the Californian-style house commissioned with Vonnie overseeing interiors by designer Greg Natale.
The result is an impressive home with state-of-the-art finishes that include 880 square metres of internal living space with five bedrooms, two kitchens, a gym and seven bathrooms, all accessed by an internal lift.