Laurie Sutton tests Potts Point's trophy market with $12m penthouse

Retired car dealer Laurie Sutton is set to cash in on Potts Point’s prestige apartment market, listing his penthouse atop the exclusive Rockwall Apartments.

The three-bedroom spread is expected to test the strength of the recent bull run of penthouse sales in the high-end suburb, which culminated in two suburb record sales late last year.

As the prestige market kicks off for 2019, agents are expected to watch the sale keenly amid expectations Sydney’s trophy market will continue to be immune to the broader market downturn.

One of two penthouses in the Mirvac-built development, the three-bedroom apartment claims the prime north-west facing corner with panoramic views over the harbour and CBD skyline.

It hit the market on Thursday with a guide of $12 million to $13 million through Jason Boon, of Richardson & Wrench Elizabeth Bay.

It last traded in 2011 for $8.85 million when sold by then CBD Business Systems director Bill Smith, setting a building high that remains unbeaten.

The $15 million high of 2012, set when billionaire Bob Ell sold his Pomeroy penthouse, was topped when the penthouse in the nearby Villard building was sold for $15.5 million by Mr Boon on behalf of digital media boss Matthew Kapp.

That high was topped in November when audio king Peter Freedman paid $16 million for a penthouse in the Ikon building owned by TV production company boss and former Macquarie banker John Caldon.

Sutton, the son of the late Suttons Motors founder Sir Frederick Sutton, is no stranger to impressive trophy home sales.

In 2012, he put his name to two of the year’s highest sales when he traded in his Mosman estate on the waterfront in Beauty Point for a near-record high of $20 million, to buy the Palm Beach plantation-style residence Kalua for $22 million.

Sutton is now based in Palm Beach, but also claimed a Darling Point high in 2007 when he bought on Lindsay Avenue for $18.5 million from nightclub entrepreneur Barry Wain.