Victorian house price record smashed twice in a week as Toorak mansion fetches $80m

Victoria’s house price record has been smashed twice in one week as two grand Toorak mansions found buyers, with crypto king Ed Craven picking up a knockdown-rebuild for more than $80 million and another selling for almost $75 million.

The sale of the homes on St Georges Road, one of Melbourne’s most sought-after boulevards, represents the third- and fourth-highest prices paid for a house in Australia, behind the $100 million sale of Sydney trophy home Fairwater to billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and John Li’s $95 million purchase of Edgewater.

Marshall White’s Marcus Chiminello was the selling agent for both the Toorak homes, the most expensive of which surpassed the previous Victorian record of $52.5 million by more than 50 per cent.

He confirmed that 29-31 St Georges Road has sold for more than $80 million, but would not be drawn on the identity of the buyer.

Buyer’s agent Kim Easterbrook confirmed she represented buyer Ed Craven, 27, in the off-market deal, agreed at the auspicious price of $80,000,088, saying the house is in derelict condition, and he plans to build a new home on the block.

The transaction comes after Craven, co-founder of cryptocurrency casino Stake.com, bought a $38.5 million home on Orrong Road from William Deague, chief executive of Deague Group.

It ends an extended search for a buyer by David Yu, whose corporate entity owned the home, and was reported to be seeking a buyer off market more than two years ago. The home last traded for $5 million in 1991.

Elsewhere, 17 St Georges Road has also found a buyer, and one source familiar with the deal but not authorised to speak publicly put the price at just shy of $75 million.

The grand home was listed with a price guide of $65 million to $70 million and has been marked as under offer on its online listing.

Chiminello confirmed the home is under contract at a higher price than the guidance range, but would not be drawn on the exact price or the details of the buyer.

Known as Blair House, the Georgian Revival home is set on an oversized block of 7800 square metres and comes with a tennis court, kitchen with butler’s pantry and AGA oven, separate guest accommodation, expansive lawns and north-facing gardens.

The vendors are the Nanut family, selling a deceased estate.

Chiminello said Melbourne’s prestige market has gone “from strength to strength.

“It hasn’t taken a backward step despite the sentiment around property,” he said.

“These sorts of opportunities are generational, so whether the market is going up, down or sideways, there is always an undercurrent of interest in these sorts of opportunities.”

Victoria’s previous house price record was $52.5 million for the mansion known as Stonington, in Malvern, sold by art dealer Rod Menzies in 2018.

The previous highest price paid in Toorak was by Chemist Warehouse owner Sam Gance, who spent $43.1 million to buy a Lansell Road pile from British businessman Mark Healey and his wife Kelly last year.

In Hawthorn, former Australia Post boss and now Latitude Financial Services chief executive Ahmed Fahour sold his home Invergowrie for $40.5 million last year to Angela Tomisich, who co-founded the analytical science and devices company Trajan Group.

Technology entrepreneurs have been active in Toorak’s top-end market. Kogan.com founder and chief executive Ruslan Kogan paid $38.8 million in the suburb in 2018.

Also on St Georges Road, an oversized block sold for $38 million in 2017 to mystery buyer Qi Yang, and a Grange Road home was sold by Guy King, co-founder of discount coupon website RetailMeNot.com, for $31.25 million last year. Music promoter Michael Coppel sold his Hopetoun Road home for $30 million.

In South Yarra, a home near the Royal Botanic Gardens fetched $36 million when the Blythe family, of Spotless Group fame, sold to Owen Kerr, the co-founder of foreign exchange broking company Pepperstone, in late 2018.

High prices have been paid on the Mornington Peninsula too, where a Sorrento clifftop mansion sold for $30 million to private equity boss Ben Gray.

Melbourne’s prestige property market traditionally defies broader property downturns, as well-heeled buyers who have had business success search for generational homes, undeterred by rising interest rates or broader market sentiment.