What downturn? Hotel mogul Jerry Schwartz scores $30m on Vaucluse trophy home

Hotel mogul Jerry Schwartz sold his $30 million waterfront mansion in Vaucluse on Saturday, quelling fears that price falls across the broader Sydney market might hit Sydney’s trophy home owners.

The sale of the double block, known as Loch Maree, should prove a windfall for Dr Schwartz and his wife Debbie, even with the costs of a recent renovation, given it last traded three years ago for $24 million.

The Schwartz family are not moving far, having bought the nearby waterfront estate Phoenix Acres less than a year ago for $65.25 million from from Singaporean tycoon Chio Kiat Ow.

Sources said the property was expected to sell last week, but a new buyer emerged in recent days and is expected to have exchanged on Saturday at close to the $30 million asking price.

It is believed the sale was negotiated by Craig Pontey and Elliott Placks, of Ray White Double Bay, but neither agent responded to calls before publication.

The modernist residence designed by architect Michael Dysart is set on a double block of 2500-square metres and was built in the early 1970s for the late Gordon Barton, founder of IPEC.

The Bartons sold it in 1993 for $4.75 million to entrepreneur Duncan Saville and his wife Julie – they also had $30 million hopes when they listed it in 2012, when the global financial crisis was still being felt in Sydney’s high-end housing market.

A three-year sales campaign ended in 2015 when Dr Schwartz became its third owner. Last year’s renovations included the addition of a high-speed glass lift, as well as upgrades to the six-bedroom residence, tennis court, swimming pool, boat house and separate guest quarters.

Dr Schwartz, a cosmetic surgeon, most recently added the Four Points Sheraton at Central Park in Sydney to his portfolio of hotels, which already includes the Sofitel Darling Harbour, Rydges World Square, Hotel Ibis King Street Wharf, Mercure Hotel Canberra, Fairmont Resort Blue Mountains, and the Crowne Plaza Hunter Valley, among others.

Sydney’s trophy home market has had a bull run of sales this year, led by the $100 million sale in September of the Fairfax family’s Fairwater estate in Point Piper to tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes.

The highest sale result in Vaucluse this year is about $31 million for the half-renovated waterfront house of former KPMG Consulting partner Michael Ibrahim. The Schwartz family’s sale is expected to be the second highest in Vaucluse when it settles, topping the $28.52 million paid by gas industry boss Mark Michalowsky and his wife, Roleen in September.