South Yarra mansion sells for eye-watering $36 million in deal linked to wealthy Blythe, Kerr families

A South Yarra mansion has quietly changed hands for the sky-high price of $36 million in a secret off-market deal.

Entrepreneur Owen Kerr slapped a caveat on the Marne Street residence in February, as first revealed by Domain, with the price becoming public when the sale settled this week in Georgia Kerr’s name.

Public records show the vendor was Edward Blythe, understood to be a relative of former Spotless chairman Brian Blythe.

Once owned by Melbourne’s wealthy Baillieu family, the home occupies a premier location close to the Royal Botanic Gardens.

The deal was arranged off-market through Kay & Burton chairman Gerald Delany, who was tight-lipped on the transaction when contacted.

“I can really only say that, obviously, it’s one of, certainly South Yarra’s – if not Melbourne’s – finest properties,” Mr Delany told Domain on Wednesday.

“It is confirmation of the great strength that good, top-quality properties have, as far as demand is concerned in Melbourne.”

Speaking broadly about Melbourne’s prestige housing market, he said the best homes are tracking well, but owners were hesitant to sell their homes, leading to a shortage of offerings.

“There’s a scarcity of properties, certainly of the calibre of Marne Street,” he said.

“There’s some good real estate on the market, and some good sales are being achieved, but we’re not seeing a volume of them at all.”

Previously the mansion was sold for $4.25 million in 2001 by Elizabeth Baillieu.

In 2002, Brian Blythe sold his former Italianate-style residence Coonac on Clendon Road, Toorak to investment banker Jane Hansen, married to logistics boss Paul Little, for $14.5 million.

Both Owen and Georgia Kerr list their address on corporate records at a nearby South Yarra property purchased for $3.51 million in 2017.

Mr Kerr, 35, co-founded foreign exchange broker Pepperstone and his wealth was valued at $538 million on the most recent Australian Financial Review Rich List.

The sale is among the highest recorded in Melbourne. The city’s house price record stands at $52.5 million for Stonington mansion in Malvern.

A fire-damaged home on an expansive Toorak block sold in 2017 for $38 million, while tech rich-lister Ruslan Kogan paid about $38.8 million for a pad in the same suburb.