Secret buyers of Toorak mansion believed to be $20m Sydney downsizers

The buyer of the most expensive house sold in Melbourne this year are understood to be $20 million downsizers.   

Former tobacco company chief William Webb and his wife Marijke are believed to be the new owners of the Toorak mansion.

They are rumoured to have acquired the property on the downlow after offloading a record-breaking $40 million trophy home in Sydney earlier this year.

Whispers among elite leafy east circles are that the Webbs have bought the grand home from Melbourne City soccer club director Ghadir Razuki.

Public land title records show the home, in upmarket Yar Orrong Road, is in Mr Razuki’s name.

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Mr Webb is the ex-CEO of cigarette giant Philip Morris Companies.

Marshall White director Marcus Chiminello is understood to have inked the deal for Yar Orrong Road. He has not confirmed it and could not be reached for comment.

The mansion, in a pocket of the suburb where many of Melbourne’s powerbrokers live, is believed to have fetched around $20 million in a hush-hush, off-market transaction.

It was never publicly advertised, which is common at the luxury of the market, where discretion is sought.

The Webbs are the previous owners of European-style Point Piper mansion Mandalay, which sold for about $40 million in May this year.

Their buyer, an Australian who had immigrated from China, forked out a new non-waterfront record price for Sydney.

Mandalay hit the market in February and has panoramic views capturing the harbour and Opera House.

Mansions in Yar Orrong Road are tightly held and typically 1930s or ’40s in style, on very large blocks of up to 2000 square metres.

Residents in this upmarket patch of Toorak include retail scion John Gandel and Essendon Football Club chairman and property developer Paul Little.