Press scion Alexander Ma's Vaucluse house sells for more than $30 million

The Vaucluse mansion owned by press scion Alexander Ma has sold for more than $30 million, less than three months after it returned to the market following a failed sale last year.

The seven-bedroom mansion was purchased by Ma, the son and heir apparent of Hong Kong press baron Ching-kwan Ma, in 2017 for $26.5 million – when he was just 28.

The Bruce Stafford-designed residence sold on Monday, through Peter Leipnik and Alexander George of BadgerFox. Leipnik was tight-lipped on the exact sale price, but confirmed to Domain that the home had sold above the $30 million price guide.

Ma will be hoping this sale sticks, after a previous exchange for the Vaucluse Road property in March last year failed to settle.

While no sale result was disclosed at the time, sources said the home exchanged for $28 million, with Leipnik later telling Domain it sold for more than $30 million.

Rumours soon spread that the deal was set to fall over, and in September Leipnik said settlement on the deal had been pushed out again.

He was hopeful the original buyer would complete the purchase, but noted it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing for the vendor if the sale fell through, as they had exchanged on a full 10 per cent deposit – suggesting the mystery buyer lost more than $3 million by walking away from the deal.

Ultimately the deal did fall over, with the grand mansion – which Ma bought from businessman Yaron Remen and his wife Shauna – returned to the market with the same BadgerFox team almost nine months later.

The designer residence is set on almost 1500 square metres and includes parking for 12 cars, eight bathrooms, a home cinema, heated pool, internal lift, gymnasium with spa and sauna and a wine cellar.

It’s just a few doors away from two neighbouring sites which Ma snapped up for $55 million in 2018.

Ma’s dad is known as CK Ma, owner of Hong Kong’s media empire Oriental Press Group, and his family founded the group’s flagship newspaper Oriental Daily News.

He became known in Australia in 1993 when he paid about $130 million for the Hilton Hotel from the receivers of the late Alan Bond, and then sold it back to the Hilton family in 2000 for a reported $200 million.