Young rich listers' houses 2020: Sydney's eastern suburbs are where their money flows

If 2020 is remembered as the year in which technology accounted for more than 80 per cent of the wealth on the Young Rich List, then the eastern suburbs deserves credit for housing almost one in five of the 100 rich folk who star in it.

But don’t expect a repeat of the more mature Rich List 200, which features many of our billionaire class such as Frank Lowy, Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest, Harry Triguboff and Mike Cannon-Brookes, who own properties in Point Piper and Vaucluse. The young rich are more likely to either rent or own areas such as Surry Hills, Bondi Beach and Alexandria.

There is one exception, however. Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar, who tops the list with wealth of $17.77 billion, has a $71 million house on the beachfront in Point Piper, next door to his Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes, who finally graduated from the list thanks to his 41st birthday earlier this month.

Not so Mitchell Harper, 38, who is in the process of upgrading his real estate to keep up with his wealth, which skyrocketed from $86 million last year to $694 million thanks to the float of his startup BigCommerce in August.

Now ranked ninth on the rich list, Harper sold his one-bedroom pad in Rozelle’s Balmain Shores development last month for $685,000.

The sale was a decent return on the $385,000 he paid for it in 2006. Brandon Nguyen and Andrew Liddell, of Bresic Whitney, declined to reveal where to is next for Harper, but corporate filings indicate he has moved to a rental in Northbridge.

Of the five billionaires who lead the list, all live in the eastern suburbs except Cameron Adams, the chief product officer of graphic design platform Canva. Adams is an inner westie, having bought his three-bedroom, one-bathroom weatherboard cottage in Rozelle in 2009 for $1,131,000.

Canva’s co-founders Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht, now worth $3.43 billion and ranked second and third after Farquhar, are Surry Hills locals, having bought their three-storey terrace three years ago for $1.5 million.

Fintech entrepreneur Nick Molnar is in North Bondi, where a year ago the Afterpay co-founder bought a new penthouse on the Ben Buckler clifftop for $10 million in his wife Gabrielle’s name. Early this year he bought the rest of the triplex for what local sources say was about $24 million.

Fellow fintech founder Larry Diamond, from Zip Co, is a Rose Bay homeowner, having bought a contemporary four-bedroom house two years ago for $5.12 million.

Another fintech name, Greg Moshal of Prospa, is based in Double Bay, having bought a $4 million apartment a year ago.

Test cricketer Steve Smith upgraded from his Coogee apartment to Vaucluse in May when he paid $6.6 million for a contemporary house and in September lodged a DA for $500,000 worth of alterations and additions.

Former Australian Test cricket captain Michael Clarke is still based in the east despite selling his Bondi Beach pad for $7.25 million in February. It is down the road from the North Bondi apartment rented by healthcare and hospitality businessman Sam Prince, in the Coast block developed by Rebel Penfold-Russell where Hugh Jackman and fellow young rich lister Erin Deering also own apartments.

Finder co-founder Fred Schebesta is based in Tamarama, buying a $3.9 million pad three years ago, in the block next door to where Tibra Capital’s co-founder Kinsey Cotton sold his pad last year for $4.15 million to move to Singapore and make his Sydney base on the Finger Wharf at Woolloomooloo.

Fellow Finder co-founder Frank Restuccia is a north shore homeowner. He bought his Federation bungalow in Roseville four years ago for $3.45 million.

Douglas Tynan, who owns a 15 per cent stake in VGI Partners, bought his Victorian home in Woollahra in 2015 for $6.15 million. At the other end of the suburb is Airtasker’s Tim Fung, who has a $2.75 million terrace bought four years ago, closer to the Paddington rental of Updater’s Grant Schaffer.

Also renting is Robert Rowe, co-founder of cloud-based fit-out company Nexvia, in the $8 million Bellevue Hill residence Taynish owned by commercial property magnate Robert Christie, and online furniture retailer Dean Ramler in Clovelly.