Fashion designer Alex Perry buys Darlinghurst apartment for $1.7 million

Alex Perry has made a trendy buy in Darlinghurst. Photo: Shaney Balcombe

As Alex Perry was being inducted into the Australian Fashion Walk of Style on Oxford Street recently, behind the scenes his property portfolio grew by one apartment in Darlinghurst.

The two-bedroom apartment in The Dominion put Perry and his wife Mary back $1.7 million when they bought it through
Ray White CBD’s Michael Lowdon.

 

And the apartment is already proving to be a  decent earner for the couple, returning $1050 a week in rent.

 

The leafy outlook from Perry’s inner-city buy. Photo: Supplied 

Landmark Mona Farm up for grabs

Braidwood’s Mona Farm, which dates back to the 1830s and was built for surgeon and explorer Thomas Braidwood-Wilson, is up for grabs given Rose Deo’s plans to move to the Southern Highlands.

The 50-hectare property features a landmark Palladian-style bridge over a lake (with a resident platypus) and landscaped gardens that won a Belle Magazine award in 2003, and a 1903 coach house and stables that have been converted to luxury accommodation.

There’s been a major restoration of the main residence and grounds since Deo bought it in 2014 for $3 million, including the addition of an Olympic-sized equestrian arena.

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It returns to the market with a $5 million guide through Knight Frank’s Deborah Cullen following Deo’s purchase of Rosehill Farm in Kangaloon for $4.8 million last year from fund manager Will Liley and his wife Janice. 

Mona Farm comes with a price guide of $5 million. Photo: Supplied

Time for some last-minute shopping?

If you’re thinking of selling and haven’t listed this week, you’re waiting until 2018 given there’s only four weeks until Santa arrives.

Making a last-minute bolt before the festive circuit-breaker is ex-HSBC chief executive John Dickinson with his waterfront residence in Northbridge for about $15 million.

Ex-HSBC chief executive John Dickinson has listed his waterfront residence in Northbridge. Photo: Supplied

The three-level home – built after Dickinson bought the 2064 square metre property in 1993 for $1 million – includes prestige must-haves such as a billiards room, lift, two kitchens, workshop, cellar, sauna, tennis court, pool and private mooring.

Martin Ross and Darren Curtis, of Christie’s International, have the property listing. 

The home has a billiards room, lift, two kitchens, cellar, sauna, tennis court, pool and private mooring. Photo: Supplied

Torrens sets sail for $5m-plus

The same team from Christie’s is also rolling out the Bayview home of Georgie Torrens, of Grant Torrens International Marine fame, with a price guide of $5.3 million to $5.55 million.

Torrens, who founded SME Agency, bought the contemporary Araluen Place residence with a pool and teppanyaki barbecue new in 2013 for $3.75 million.

The Bayview digs of Georgie Torrens has a guide of $5.3 million to $5.55 million. Photo: Supplied

Torrens bought the contemporary digs new in 2013. Photo: Supplied

Modernist appeal in Bellevue Hill

Brian White isn’t just the chairman of the family-owned real estate giant that bears his name – he and wife Rosemary are also fans of modernist architecture, judging by their recent buy in Bellevue Hill.

The couple’s purchase for more than $7.3 million is none other than the home of car-dealership heir Scott Sutton, and is expected to be an investment for White, who calls the Point Piper waterfront Redvers home.

Brian White, chairman of Ray White, has bought in Bellevue Hill. Photo: Louie Douvis

And the agent who sold it to him? That would be Raine & Horne Double Bay’s Denise Cameron, who was asking $7.5 million when it was listed in August.

Sutton, who bought the 1960-built house in 2015 for $5.3 million and then renovated it, has joined White on Point Piper’s Wolseley Road, bunking down at his $4.2 million apartment bought in 2010.

Entrepreneur trades up

Start-up whiz David Vitek spent $5.43 million on this Clovelly house. Photo: Supplied

It was only a matter of time before David Vitek scored a spot in Title Deeds.

The entrepreneur co-founder and chief of online tradie marketplace hipages has grown the start-up into an almost $200 million business, and followed suit by upgrading from the Clovelly house he and his wife Angela David bought a decade ago for $1.6 million.

David Smyth is behind the property’s design. Photo: Supplied

And what a glamorous trade up it is. Records show the couple paid $5.43 million this month for the architect David Smyth-designed residence on Clovelly’s Keith Street that was recently sold by Alexander Phillips, of Phillips Pantzer Donnelley.

Don’t expect to see the Vitek’s former home hit the market soon. It’s been leased out for $2000 a week.

Abbotsford record for mansion sale

This grandiose mansion smashed Abbotsford’s previous suburb high. Photo: Supplied

Spiritual healers Mina and Yvon Attia pulled off a miracle on the sale of their opulent waterfront mansion in Abbotsford when a FIRB-approved buyer from China agreed to pay about $9.5 million for it.

The leaders of the Celebrate Freedom ministry paid $3.4 million for it in 2003 and completed the four-level residence in 2010.

Tim Le, of BlackDiamondz, also gets credit for the deal, which almost doubled the suburb’s previous high of $5.2 million set in 2015.

Palm Beach’s Northview lists

The well-positioned Palm Beach trophy home Northview is up for grabs. Photo: Supplied

In Palm Beach the well-positioned home of Susan Hurst, part-owner of Sleep Centres of Australia, Northview, is up for grabs given about $9.5 million.

The two-storey residence was built in 1928 by the Wiltshire family, known locally for donating the strip of reserve that runs alongside Gretel Packer’s Palm Beach weekender for public use.

The Palm Beach weekender was built in 1928. Photo: Supplied

The 1300 square metre site was originally chosen because of its views to Pittwater and the Pacific.

Having last traded in 1999 for $2.4 million it returns to the market with David Edwards, of LJ Hooker Palm Beach.