Property baron Stephen Burcher sets sights on $25m auction record in Rose Bay

Strong buyer interest has forced the agent selling the Rose Bay trophy home of property baron Stephen Burcher to put it up for auction this Saturday – despite it carrying a guide of $25 million.

The dramatic change of sales tactic after only three weeks on the market is a turnaround on the expressions-of-interest campaign that was set to conclude on Friday.

If sold at that price, the waterfront residence with gun-barrel Harbour Bridge views will be Sydney’s highest residential sales result under the hammer, topping the $23 million auction high of a decade ago.

In 2009 the French government sold its trade commissioner’s residence, Le Manoir, at a hotly contested auction at which initial hopes of $15 million were outstripped by an opening bid of $18 million. Bidding  closed $5 million later when it was bought by media boss Lachlan Murdoch and his wife, television presenter and model Sarah.

Last year businessman and art collector John Schaeffer sold the historic Bonnington mansion, also in Bellevue Hill, under the hammer for $20.32 million to fund manager Ari Droga and his architect wife Lisa, making it the second-highest auction result.

The third-highest auction result was set in 2010 when a harbourfront house in Point Piper sold for $17.3 million to Caledonia Investments executive chairman Mark Nelson.

Ben Collier, of The Agency, was prompted to swap the Burcher family’s sales campaign to an openly competitive auction one this week given interest from “multiple parties”.

Seven contracts have been issued, and of those three to four parties are expected to register for the Saturday afternoon auction.

“You don’t ordinarily see trophy homes of this calibre draw the sort of buyer demand that would warrant an auction because the buyer pool in that price range is far smaller,” said Domain senior research analyst  Nicola Powell.

“But an auction will draw that competition out into the open, so this should be a good test of the top end of the market.”

Privacy concerns are not expected to hamper the open competition, with the on-site action closed to journalists and selling agents.

Fuelling demand are tight listing levels at the high-end. The Burcher family home is one of the few properties to hit the market for the first time in the $20 million-plus range this year.

Burcher, who heads up the Burcher Property Group, bought the three-level residence in 2010 for $12.5 million from developer Michael Issa and his wife Anastazija Balaz.

A major renovation since involved a redesign by architect Bruce Stafford, interiors by Hare + Klein, and landscaped gardening by Anthony Wyer.

The five-bedroom, five-bathroom residence is set on a waterfront block with a private boat shed, harbour-front swimming pool, and an internal lift across three levels.