Tina Arena's stylish Toorak home returns to market with higher price

Singer-songwriter Tina Arena has returned her stylish Melbourne home to the property market following a seven-month hiatus and a price hike as the city emerges from lockdown.

The five-bedroom house in the affluent suburb of Toorak returned to the market last week, with an expression of interest campaign guided at $7 million to $7.5 million.

It comes almost a year after the pop sensation first lifted the chains off the grand residence, listing the property with a guide of $7 million last November. It was then pulled from the market earlier this year.

Records show Arena bought the home for $5,733,000 in 2017. At the time she was upgrading from a renovated terrace in Fitzroy, and had previously spent years living in France with her long-term partner Vincent Mancini.

Selling agent Justin Long of Marshall White Stonnington, who also handled the previous sale of the property, declined to comment on the vendor or their situation. However, he noted the property had been drawing interest from a good number of families in the competitive market.

“I don’t think it’s any secret that the market has been ticking along nicely since it was last available,” he said of the $500,000 price hike. Adding that a less recently renovated five-bedroom house in the suburb had sold for $7.3 million in August, though that sat on a larger 1110-square-metre block.

Toorak’s median house prices tipped over $4.61 million over the year to June, lifting by 2.5 per cent, Domain data show. It’s up 34 per cent over the past five years.

Earlier this month a five-bedroom house in the suburb sold for more than $40 million, becoming the most expensive house ever sold at auction in Australia, and the second most expensive home ever traded in Victoria.

“[The market’s been] quite remarkable … I’ve never seen anything stronger than this in 30 years. Supply levels have been low for quite some time comparative to demand, then you’ve got [record low] interest rates … and the fact that we’re all spending a lot more time at home than we used to. It’s really almost a perfect storm.”

The five-bedroom, three-and-a-half bathroom house was designed and owned by architect Marcus Martin in the 1930s. It was later renovated by architect Wayne Gillespie and “hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth” of further upgrades had been made by its latest owner, Mr Long said.

The north-facing, two-storey home sits on an 837-square-metre block and has a large solar-heated pool and outdoor entertaining terrace, sure to have the buyers thinking: ‘now I can dance’.

Downstairs, buyers will find a gourmet kitchen with a butler’s pantry, open-plan living and dining areas, as well as a formal lounge room, both of which have fireplaces – that could have you singing ‘burn for me, burn for me’ – and an en suite bedroom.

Four more bedrooms are found upstairs, including the master bedroom with its own sun-drenched terrace, a dressing room and en suite. Other features throughout the home include a cellar, laundry, potting shed and double car garage.

The house is within walking distance of local shops, two tram lines and Kooyong train station, as well as sought-after private schools and the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club.

Expressions of interest close on November 17.

With Elizabeth Redman