Property baron Stephen Burcher scores $23.5m for Rose Bay trophy home

The keenly watched sales campaign of property baron Stephen Burcher amd his wife Melissa ended on Tuesday morning when a local buyer paid about $23.5 million for his Rose Bay trophy home.

The waterfront residence has been the subject of intense negotiations since Saturday when about 150 people were in attendance to see it passed in at auction at $23.25 million.

There were six registered bidders on the day, and prestige agents have watched with interest not only because it was hoped to set an auction record for a single residence under the hammer, but because it was viewed as a bellwether of the ultra-prestige market.

Gag orders prevented Ben Collier, of The Agency, from disclosing the sale price but subsequent offers of $23.3 million and $23.5 million were later offered, say independent sources.

The result is expected to fall above the last highest offer, making it the highest sale result so far this year.

But the Bruce Stafford-redesigned residence falls short of the $25 million hopes it was listed for earlier this month at the start of an expressions of interest campaign.

That sales strategy was changed to an auction campaign last week as a mechanism to create more transparency to buyers and offer the vendor more leverage to negotiate.

Settlement will confirm the sale result and buyer.

However, Sydney’s record high house sale under the hammer remains unchanged since 2009 when media boss Lachlan Murdoch and his wife Sarah paid $23 million for the Bellevue Hill estate Le Manoir.

Burcher, who heads up the Burcher Property Group, bought the 675 square metre, batlle-axe property on Rose Bay’s Tivoli Avenue in 2010 for $12.5 million from developer Michael Issa and his wife Anastazija Balaz.

It was one of two on the waterfront developed in tandem. The house next door sold a month before Burcher’s for $12 million to property developer Paul Smith and his wife Hillarie.

The Burchers undertook a major renovation of the five-bedroom, five-bathroom residence, which has Hare + Klein interiors, an internal lift to all three levels and gun-barrel Harbour Bridge views.

A swimming pool and landscaped garden by Anthony Wyer extends to a private boatshed on the waterfront.

The Burchers, who are hoping to downsize to Woollahra, own the super yacht Quantum and bought a beachfront weekender at Palm Beach last year for $12 million.