Sale of environmental lawyer Sarah Cooke’s Point Piper waterfront ‘imminent’
Environmental lawyer Sarah Cooke has relaunched her Point Piper waterfront to the market for 2021, with a $50m asking price — $10m less than when it was first offered 15 months ago.
Now locked down in London, she’s more motivated than ever to sell the five-bedroom, six-bathroom home with iconic harbour views at 1 Wingadal Place.
And with so few luxury homes on the market, Raine and Horne Double Bay’s Alex Lyons, who shares the listing with principal Ric Serrao, is confident of nabbing a buyer.
“In terms of trophy homes, this is as good as it gets,” says Lyons.
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“It’s priced in line with the market, based on recent comparable sales.
“With the amount of buyer demand from all over the world — including London, New York, Singapore and Hong Kong — I believe there’ll be an imminent sale.”
It’s understood there’s been interest in the $40m range from both returned expats and international buyers since the new year.
It’s not as if overseas buyers are opposed to spending double-digit millions on houses sight-unseen — Chicago-based derivatives trader Andrew Killion bought businessman Alexander Ma’s Vaucluse home for $30 million last September.
Cooke’s home was built to an original design by James Stockwell and Jonathan Temple, then lecturers at Sydney University’s School of Architecture.
Meanwhile, Serrao is celebrating the snappy sale of a block of four two-bedroom flats at 138 Hastings Parade, North Bondi, which sold before its ad could hit the Courier.
He’d had a $9m guide — it’s sold for more than $11m. Title records show it’s in the name of psychotherapist Liat Liling.
Deutsch home for sale
The Vaucluse home that property records show is owned by Thomas and Christine Deutsch — parents of the F45 founder, Rob Deutsch — is up for February 22 auction.
Laing and Simmons principal D’Leanne Lewis has a $6m guide for the four-bedroom home with pool on a 930sqm block at 79 Hopetoun Avenue, in the same family for 44 years. Rob Deutsch bought a block of four Art Deco flats with shopfront below at 56 Campbell Parade Bondi Beach for $20.65m last month.
2021 is set to be a big year for Lewis — on Friday it was revealed she’s one of the new owners of the Laing and Simmons franchise and she’s set to star in Selling Sydney in March.
Mid-north coast beckons
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Now that we can work anywhere, buying a dream home on the mid-north coast can be a reality. Celebs such as Rachel Ward and Bryan Brown and George Negus already own there. This estate (left), with a Caroline Pidcock-designed main residence and two-bed cottage on 44.2 hectares in the Tamban Valley, has a tennis court and pool. Tom Jamieson of Sotheby’s has a guide of $3.5m to $3.8m. Its owners have spent $1m on recent renovations.
Buyers are desperate
Home sellers who list early in 2021 can be confident of a quick, strong sale, with buyers so desperate they’re telling agents they’ll pay “whatever it takes”.
“There’s just no stock,” says Paul Biller of Biller Property, who has just negotiated a private $6m Dover Heights sale.
“Buyers are paying whatever it takes to secure properties … the owner was not even considering selling but we made a strong offer and they took it,” Biller said.
Meanwhile, Angus Gorrie of McGrath has sold a “semi-style” garden apartment in Market Street, Randwick prior to its scheduled February auction for $2,025,000 — the guide had been $1.7m.
“We had three people fighting over it and all were interested up to $2m,” Gorrie said. Property listings across the city are down 12 per cent in January compared with a year ago, according to CoreLogic.
Industry doyen Bob Guth of BradfieldCleary says: “We’re light-on for listings and everyone’s saying the same thing … when you get a listing there’s an abundance of interested parties.”
Penthouse sells for $11m
The Elizabeth Bay waterfront penthouse of Forager Funds chief executive officer Jeff Weeden and his partner Gareth Bowler has sold for about $11m, 10 months after it was listed.
The two-storey spread sits atop the Billyard Gardens complex, where actor Cate Blanchett and playwright Andrew Upton bought their children a unit for $1.92m in 2013.
Ballard Property’s Paul Ephron and principal Clint Ballard had an $11m guide.