How a little-known former hotel mogul paid $80m for one of Sydney’s finest homes

As statement homes go, the landmark Spanish mission residence Boomerang at Elizabeth Bay is hard to beat. It sits on arguably some of Sydney’s best harbourfront real estate, offers the glamour of a Hollywood-style mansion and comes with a rich history of high-profile owners.

If housing can say, “you’ve made it”, this one does.

But just who “made it” as the new owner has remained a mystery for the past 10 months since it was sold for about $80 million by the family of trucking billionaire Lindsay Fox.

No longer. This week well-placed sources pinned the purchase on Hoang Trang Do, who with his family and corporate interests is linked to more than $280 million worth of recent real estate purchases.

Despite Do’s expensive taste in real estate he has kept a low profile in Sydney, making it clear last year that he prefers his property interests to remain private and declining to comment on Boomerang.

But financial records lodged in Vietnam reveal that Do, who did a master of business administration at a university in Sydney, held several senior executive roles in import-export companies in Vietnam before he was appointed vice-chairman of one of Saigon’s largest hotel operators, Que Huong Liberty, in 2011.

More recently, Do was deputy chairman of Vietnam’s national literature and foreign language book publisher Phuong Nam Cultural, though he no longer holds those corporate roles in Vietnam.

Instead, the Australian citizen has been busy closer to home, making his first big-ticket impression on title records in 2017 when one of his investment companies bought a 12-level office building in Parramatta for $52 million.

He added another commercial building the following year for $54.5 million, but sold it in 2021 for $56 million.

Do has done better from his residential real estate. In 2018, he bought a Vaucluse house for $16 million, then sold it last year for $37 million to rich-list rag traders Georgia and Daniel Contos.

And a year ago he paid Sydney FC owner Scott Barlow and his wife Alina $60 million for the Point Piper trophy home Akuna.

Do’s purchase of Akuna put his name firmly in the spotlight of property watchers, and yours truly, given it came a year after the Barlows bought it for $45 million.

As Do awaits next year’s settlement on his purchase of Boomerang, he is now open to offers for Akuna, with sources saying buyers have been shown through amid suggestions of a $75 million price tag.

At that level, it would not only cover Do’s purchase price but also the $4 million stamp duty.

Do joins a high-profile cast of corporate heavyweights to own Boomerang since it was built almost a century ago by music publisher Frank Albert. The late property developer Ian Hayson owned it in the 1970s, followed by businessman Peter Fox, bookmaker Mark Read, Perth developer Warren Anderson and jailed fraudster Nati Stoliar.

It set a national house price record in 2002 when sold by hedge fund manager Duncan Mount to the late art collector John Schaeffer for $20.7 million, but sold for a loss in 2005 at $20 million to Katrina Fox.

Creative delight

Artist Mary Shackman’s historic Paddington home, Lammermuir, hit the market on Thursday more than three decades after she purchased it, with hopes of setting a suburb record.

The 1835-built residence was previously owned by former Fairfax Media boss Martin Dougherty, who bought it in 1989 for $950,000, only to see it sold by the bank three years later in a near derelict state.

There’s nothing derelict about the three-level residence now after the late interiors architect Brian Kiernan was commissioned to redesign it.

Ray White Double Bay’s Alan Fettes and Sotheby’s Clint Ballard are yet to set a guide for the 650-square-metre property.

Maas’ next move

The Manly home of Emma Maas, wife of former South Sydney Rabbitohs player-turned-rich lister Wes Maas, is also up for sale, which is curious timing.

The chief of ASX-listed construction company Maas Group was the hot tip to be this year’s $35 million record-setting buyer for the Fairy Bower designer residence of Smartline co-founder Chris Acret and his wife Justine. That was until his office denied it all, stating: “Wes Maas has not purchased a property.”

And yet, the Maas family had no sooner secured approved plans for a redesign of the family home than they have listed it with Clarke & Humel’s Cherie Humel and Michael Clarke. Weird.

Good to know if Maas did want to buy the most expensive house on the Northern Beaches, he could afford it. He ranked on this year’s AFR Rich List 200 with an estimated worth of $814 million.