Sydney's ultra-wealthy make their move on Berry's prestige market

Berry’s dairy farm countryside, charming village and nearby beaches have long lured the occasional well-known identity – think actor Garry McDonald and renowned polo player Sinclair Hill – but has been largely overlooked by Sydney’s high-net worth crowd. Until now.

Records show there has been a recent run of bullish sales from among Sydney’s uber-wealthy with an eye on the area’s holiday home market.

Most notably joining Berry’s weekender crowd is software entrepreneur Richard White, who debuted on last year’s BRW Rich 200 List with a net worth of $657 million.

White, whose stocks skyrocketed last year in large part thanks to the float of his logistics industry software company WiseTech Global, paid $2.65 million earlier this year for a 1.5-hectare property, Cooinda, through Belle Property’s Gary Dale.

This year’s highest registered sale is $4.08 million for the Kangaroo Valley retreat, Baltard II, of JP Morgan managing director Andrew Best and his wife Natalie.

Records show it was bought by North Shore-based Lisa White, wife of corporate advisor and Port Jackson Partners chairman David White.

The strong demand from Sydney buyers saw a 54-hectare property sell for $4 million this month before it even hit the internet, according to Carrie Bond, of South Coast Prestige Property. Records show that property was sold by Rose Bay-based businessman John Gunten and Jennifer Isele.

Tony Barron, of Sotheby’s International, credits the road upgrade to Berry with fuelling much of the newfound appeal for the area among Sydney’s well-heeled buyers.

“The road going down to Berry is now nothing short of sensational. What used to take at least two-and-a-half hours is now less than two hours,” said Mr Barron, who is currently selling the “Drawing Rooms of Berry” property in Woodhill for $4.5 million on behalf of property developer Kyko Group founder Mary Wong-Jenkings. The 5.88-hectare estate last traded 18 months ago for $3.9 million after only a couple of weeks on the market.

Among the area’s other recent bullish sales is the two-hectare property in Beaumont owned by Eve Hatchman, wife of corporate heavyweight Bruce Hatchman, who chairs the boards of Armidale Investment, Darwin Clean Fuels and Suters Holdings. It has sold for $3,025,000 to a buyer from Sydney despite failing to sell at its campaign of two years ago for less than that amount.

And records show director of Australian Travel Specialists Chris Weide and his wife Eva are recent buyers, settling on their $2.68 million purchase this month for the “Klimenti” property in Wattamolla through Gary Dale of BrandLogic managing director Steve Alexiou.

“Berry is like the towns in Midsomer Murders, with all the intrigue and colourful characters, but without the murders,” said Belle’s Mr Dale.