In high demand Mosman, this extravagant sandstone home is a prized rarity today

Sydney’s property market is unquestionably “red hot”, to use the words of Raine & Horne Mosman‘s Brendan Warner.

And Mosman’s housing market is performing better than most, despite a median house price of $4,287,500 thanks to a surge in median values of 22.5 per cent for the year to December.

The only thing holding those already bullish Domain Data figures back – and forcing prices higher in turn – is a lack of luxury housing for sale.

Warner points to a few sales in recent months: the $17.8 million paid by socialite Kate Waterhouse and her former rugby league player husband Luke Ricketson last December for a house fronting Balmoral Beach, which made the $20 million paid by shopping centre agent Simon Rooney for a Popov Bass-designed house on the Balmoral slopes look like a steal.

As buyer’s agent Deborah West nears a 20-year milestone at the helm of SydneySlice and having been heavily involved in the local prestige market, she says she has never seen a market this strong.

“Simply because buyers numbers are so high, stock levels are chronically low, and interest rates are allowing buyers to jump up to higher price brackets,” West said.

“And those houses with plenty of amenity are proving the most popular in this COVID market.”

Enter the grand sandstone residence set on a sprawling 1500 square metres of hillside above Clifton Gardens designed by architect Michael Robilliard.

The three-storey residence was a far more humble sandstone house clad in weatherboard with serious damp problems throughout and remnants of a terrazzo floor when purchased in 2006 from the late and long-time locals Di and Ian Schollbach for $5.6 million.

Robilliard was then given full licence to design what is now a five-bedroom residence spread over three levels, with a kitchen by chef Damian Pignolet and new terrazzo floors.

“Mosman shares the same geography as Vaucluse in that they both feature a lot of sandstone and are the home of the angophora gum tree,” said Robilliard.

And to that end, Robilliard’s design of 12 years ago capitalises on the land’s geography and makes the most of the long sloping site to ensure views to the harbour from every room.

Expressions of Interest

1A David Street, Mosman NSW 2088

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A circular sunroom at the centre of two wings is a unifying feature of the house. It is mirrored by the round swimming pool, metal screens with a steel ring, a circular staircase that doubles as a library and the separate studio.

And for those buyers starved of choice in the high-end local housing market, Brendan Warner’s timing of the launch couldn’t be better.

Warner is accepting expressions of interest with a guide of $16.5 million – $18 million.