Property tycoon Richard Gu misses out on another high-end Sydney home

Property tycoon Richard Mingfeng Gu has had an unlucky run with Sydney high-end real estate market since he moved here five years ago.

First, when he was sensationally forced to default on the $19.8 million purchase of Cate Blanchett’s Hunters Hill home and more recently when he failed to complete on a $19 million house in Point Piper.

It is the third time unlucky for Gu given his bid to buy the Potts Point apartment of prominent architect Deece Giles three years ago in the name of his AXF Group later fell over when the company defaulted on the purchase.

Mr Gu’s latest home upgrade plans were on the luxury three-level residence on Point Piper’s Wentworth Street that dentist and property investor Le Tran bought in 2015 for $16.1 million from Seven’s commercial director Bruce McWilliam.

Mr Tran listed the property for sale in late 2018 with BlackDiamondz Concierge for $20 million, and a few weeks later Mr Gu agreed to buy it for more than $19 million.

However, Mr Gu denies defaulting on the deal because a few months after agreeing to buy it he says he renegotiated with Dr Tran to rent it for a year. Mr Gu rejects claims by sources that he had paid a deposit, saying the money paid at the time was for rent.

“Everybody’s happy,” said Mr Gu, 36. “And we’ve decided that long-term renting is better for us because we don’t know where we want to live.”

Dr Tran did not respond to calls for this story.

The Point Piper residence is set to hit the market again in coming weeks with BlackDiamondz’ Monika Tu and Jad Khattar in conjunction with Pillinger’s Brad Pillinger.

Mr Gu launched his family’s AXF Group in Australia in 2005 as the Australian arm of Shanghai-based Xiangfu company, headed by his wealthy, self-made multimillionaire father, Qi Liang Gu.

Mr Gu’s track record of high-end home negotiations goes back to 2015 when he moved to Sydney and exchanged to buy the historic Hunters Hill trophy home Bulwarra from Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton for $19.8 million after just three weeks on the market.

A year later he was forced to pull out of the purchase due to tighter capital controls in China, costing him at least $990,000 in the deposit. The property was later returned to the market and sold for $18 million.

Less than 18 months later Mr Gu’s AXF Group, of which he is sole owner and director, exchanged to buy the three-bedroom apartment in Potts Point’s Ikon building of architect Deece Giles with a staged repayment plan. When settlement failed to complete the apartment was put back up for sale and later sold for $3.7 million.

Mr Gu did complete on his purchase of the northern beaches modernist residence Walker House at Bayview in 2017 for $7.95 million thanks to a couple of high-interest loans. However, a year later the property was sold for $6.95 million – a $1 million loss.