Sydney suburbs that had record house prices in 2018, revealing two-speed property market

Sydney’s two-speed property market is starkly revealed by an impressive list of record highs in prestige suburbs at the same time as the broader market copped a dramatic fall in home values.

The start of the spring selling season was marked by falls in home values of 8.1 per cent in September from the peak in mid-2017, the same month Australia recorded its first nine-digit sale thanks to the $100 million sale of the Fairwater estate in Point Piper.

“When it comes to these top sales, market conditions are not the issue,” said Ken Jacobs, of Christie’s International. “It comes down to the right property becoming available to secure the leading result.”

It is the fifth year in a row that Mr Jacobs negotiated the city’s highest-priced sale. In that time Sydney’s benchmark high has grown dramatically from the $39 million paid in 2014 for the Point Piper mansion Villa del Mare.

In 2015, the highest sale blew out to $70 million when James and Erica Packer sold in Vaucluse. In 2016, Point Piper’s Altona mansion sold for $61.8 million, and last year the Elaine estate next door to Fairwater sold for $71 million.

There are at least 25 Sydney suburb records confirmed this year, all of which are in prestige areas, with the oceanfront beach suburbs and trophy estates of the eastern suburbs dominating the list.

Settlement will confirm whether that list grows to 27 following the off-market sale of former Nine boss David Gyngell’s Dover Heights home, and the Longueville property held by real estate tycoon Ping Wei.

In contrast, there were at least 40 suburb records set last year from the $1.3 million Mt Druitt high to $71 million in Point Piper. In 2016 there were more than 52 suburb highs.

This year’s second-highest sale was the Rona estate in Bellevue Hill at $58 million to property investor Richard Scheinberg, almost doubling the suburb’s previous $30.8 million high.

Retail billionaire Brett Blundy topped his own Rose Bay high of $33 million when he sold his contemporary waterfront reserve residence for an unconfirmed sale price of about $45 million.

The Mosman high was set at $25 million when Swans chairman Andrew Pridham bought the Hopetoun trophy home.

Cremorne topped its high twice, first at $18 million when the Kennard family bought a waterfront house, and again at $18.8 million for the waterfront home of landscaper Anthony Tisch and his wife, Wendy.

In Kirribilli, a garden apartment on the harbourfront set a $10,796,400 high when bought by PNG-based expat Ingrid Richardson.

The Dural high was smashed by more than $2 million when Jun Long Zhang, the husband of one of China’s richest women Zhou Qunfei, bought Moncur Estate for $10.85 million.

The northern beaches proved a bonanza for home owners with seven suburb highs, led by the $16 million sale of the Manly home of former Vocation chief Mark Hutchinson.

Narrabeen’s high now matches Mona Vale’s after Emma Lambert, daughter of philanthropist Barry Lambert, sold her beachfront home, Ohana, to Chunyan Li.

Oil and gas multimillionaire Russell Staley reset the Collaroy record twice when he bought adjoining beachfront properties for $8.25 million and $7.25 million to make a $15.5 million compound set to be bulldozed and rebuilt as a single residence.

The Sutherland Shire was another strong performer with the whole region’s high reset at $10.86 million by a house in exclusive Kangaroo Point.

Wahroonga triumphed on the Upper North Shore with a $13 million house sale, and Roseville with $7.4 million.

25 suburb records of 2018

1 $100 million – Fairwater, New South Head Road, Point Piper

2 $58 million – Rona, Ginahgulla Road, Bellevue Hill

3 $45 million – Bayview Hill Road, Rose Bay

4 $29 million – Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach

5 $25 million – Hopetoun, Hopetoun Avenue, Mosman

6 $18.8 million – Wonga Road, Cremorne

7 $16.5 million – Braelin, Lang Road, Centennial Park

8 $16 million – Ikon penthouse, Macleay Street, Potts Point

9 c$16 million – Bower Street, Manly

10 $15.05 million – Neerim House, Neerim Road, Castle Cove

11 $14 million – Hastings Parade, North Bondi

12 $13 million – Water Street, Wahroonga

13 $12 million – Pavilion Street, Queenscliff

14 $11.5 million – Monash Crescent, Clontarf

15 $11.2 million – Northwood Road, Northwood

16 $10.86 million – Kangaroo Point Road, Kangaroo Point

17 $10.85 million – Moncur Estate, Carters Road, Dural

18 $10,796,400 – Kirribilli Avenue, Kirribilli

19 $10.25 million – Wyong Road, Duffys Forest

20 $8.25 million – Beach Street, Collaroy

21 $7.55 million – Ohana, Ocean Street, Narrabeen

22 $7.55 million – Hillcrest Road, Mona Vale

232 $7.5 million – Maroopna Road, Yowie Bay

24 $7.4 million – Trafalgar Street, Roseville

25 $5.9 million – Brighton Street, Freshwater