Peak Sydney: The $55m house that will be as easy as a ‘walk in the park’ to sell

FOMO is dead, at least according to prestige selling agents left twiddling their thumbs this week in the run-up to Easter. Instead of the fear of missing out driving the high-end market to ever greater heights, the market is seeing a growing fear among homeowners that if they do sell they’ll be left (trophy) home-less.

Such a shortfall in uber expensive homes for sale is a quality problem, to be sure, but not one that is likely to keep many of us awake at night.

And yet it should make the job of selling the Vaucluse waterfront house long owned by the late mining boss Paul Lincoln-Smith a walk in the park, to quote veteran selling agent Bill Malouf. And that’s with his guide of $50 million to $55 million.

The 1400-square-metre property last traded in 1958 for £19,500, and is decked out with a six-bedroom residence and a boathouse, separate guest quarters, harbourside pool and deepwater jetty.

Lincoln-Smith, former chairman of Magnum Gold and its mining parent company Magnum Resources, died in 2013, aged 85, and the family home has been held by his widow Dawn Lincoln-Smith since then.

No doubt fuelling the brave commentary from Malouf is the $40.5 million sale last year of Point Seymour, the P&O-style “wedding cake house” a few doors away to Rebecca Lacey and Simon Ehrlich.

Just don’t expect any interest from Dancing With the Stars’ professional dancer Kym Johnson and her husband, cybersecurity software tycoon Robert Herjavec. The couple had been perusing habourfront real estate until recently, but that ended last weekend when their buyer’s agent Simon Cohen secured them a Centennial Park Federation mansion for somewhere between $21 million to $23 million.

And before any agents ask about Johnson’s beachfront Rose Bay pad she purchased in 2021 for $13.5 million, she’s keeping it.

The couple’s newly purchased parkside digs was sold by Afterpay investor and FinClear chairman David Hancock and his wife Fee, who are camping out at their $14 million family compound in Paddington.

Tweed heights

Skateboarders Jeff and Fleur Anning, the founders of global electric skateboard company Evolve, have staked a claim to the state’s Tweed Coast record books selling their Cabarita Beach house for a little more than $14 million.

The sale trumps by $4.5 million the area’s last top sale of $9.45 million set by a Kingscliff beachfront property purchased by Melbourne-based Allan Greenfield, majority owner of cable company TriCab.

Records show the Annings sold their Cabarita Beach designer digs, known as Caba Hill Beach House, to John Falzon, founder of landfill biogas company LMS Energy, and comes a year after Sims Metal sold its $272 million stake in LMS to Pacific Equity Partners.

The Annings purchased the Cabarita Beach property in 2019 for $4.075 million, and commissioned the modernist-style residence soon after, complete with swimming pool and a rooftop fire pit. It was listed for $15 million and sold by Kim Jones, of her eponymous agency.

It’s not the first time the Annings have done well from real estate. According to the oft-cited company line, the couple were trying to develop an electric skateboard from leftover parts in 2011 when they sold their home to help raise the $60,000 they needed for the prototype.

Evolve is now one of the world’s leading electric skateboard brands and saw turnover peak during the lockdown years at just shy of $30 million in the 2021 financial year.

The Tweed Coast record comes as Byron Bay scores another high-profile buyer, although at far from the bullish price levels of recent years.

Boost Juice entrepreneur and former Survivor Australia reality television contestant Janine Allis and her husband, Boost Juice co-founder Jeff Allis have purchased the Wategos Beach house of film writer and director John Raftopoulos and Claire Jensz.

The $17 million purchase price fell well short of the $25 million hopes of last September, and failed to top the $23 million set a year ago by Afterpay’s Anthony Eisen.

Wategos Beach is a refuge of high-profile types, like Deke Miskin, media man Antony Catalano, art dealer Steve Nasteski, RipCurl founder Brian Singer, and F45’s Adam Gilchrist.

Meanwhile, in the Byron Bay hinterland of Coopers Shoot, coal tycoon David Knappick and his wife Ann have paid $24 million for the 39 hectares of farmland surrounding their ultra-contemporary residence.

It was an off-market sale of the property by Lavender Bay-based businessman David Lhuede and his wife Suzanne after a delayed settlement from last year.

Knappick made his fortune in 2009 when Felix Resources was sold to Yanzhou Coal for $3.5 billion, padding out his coffers more recently by selling his Watermark property on Wategos Beach late last year for $30 million to Brisbane developer Adam Flaskas.