Millennial crypto mogul Ed Craven splurges $88 million on record-breaking mansion

Millennial businessman Ed Craven has set a new real estate record with the purchase of an $88 million Melbourne mansion once dubbed a “ghost house”.

Nine confirmed on Monday the transaction for 29-31 St Georges Road, Toorak, the highest price paid for a home in Victoria, and third highest property sale in Australia.

The epic deal emerged as another Toorak mansion on the same street, which once threatened to break the Victorian price benchmark before this hushed contract came to light, went under offer for a sum understood to be more than $70 million.

Mr Craven, 26, the founder of online cryptocurrency casino Stake.com, acquired the empty 29-31 St Georges Road in a discreet, off-market trade – his second multimillion-dollar house purchase this year in the salubrious suburb.

Also on Monday, 17 St Georges Road in Toorak, which had a price guide of $65 million to $70 million when it launched on the market last month, was slipped under offer.

Marshall White director Marcus Chiminello represented the vendors in both St Georges Road deals, it is understood. However, Mr Chiminello declined to comment on any aspect of either sale.

The national record price is the $100 million sale of Sydney trophy home Fairwater, in Point Piper, to Atlassian software billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, followed by mining chief John Li’s $95 million purchase of Edgewater, also in Point Piper. The St Georges Road estates now occupy third and fourth spots.

The vendor of 29-31 St Georges Road, property tycoon David Yu, held the plum but vacant address for more than 30 years.

The French Renaissance-style mansion on a 7113-square-metre block is in the name of Mr Yu’s company Ausvest Holdings, of which he is director, and was bought for $5 million in 1991, Pricefinder data shows.

Domain reported in 2017 that 29-31 St Georges Road was an “unfinished mansion” with 19 bedrooms, collecting cobwebs – a “ghost house” on a grand boulevard.

Applications to build units on the land were knocked back, and no real estate agent could convince Mr Yu to sell.

Until now.

In March, Mr Craven dropped $38 million on his first Toorak mansion, buying from another real estate supremo – on this occasion William Deague, chief executive of property developer Deague Group.

Mr Craven’s venture Stake.com is understood to be the world’s largest crypto gambling platform.

The previous Victorian price record was the $52.5 million paid for Stonington mansion in Malvern, which changed owners in 2017.

St Georges Road in Toorak is one of the elite streets of Melbourne. Mansions of monumental size and luxurious design line the leafy street, which runs between the main arterial of Toorak Road and the Yarra River.