The two-hectare property is largely unchanged,at least according to council records,since it last traded in 2009 when it was billed as a six-bedroom,six-bathroom residence with a swimming pool,spa,tennis court,self-contained cabana and private three-hole golf course.
Despite the lack of any significant improvements,soaring local values mean the sale price is more than three times the $5.25 million Neilson paid for it 15 years ago when it was sold byAmanda andMuzio Cantarella,of the Vittoria coffee family.
Neilson,an arts patron in her own right and member of the Art Gallery of NSW Trust,calls Balmain East home,where she and husbandTodd Buncombe have undertaken a dramatic redesign of the waterfront house they bought in 2014 for $11.8 million.
Neilson’s Terrey Hills buyer isKatherine King,who for more than a decade owned the acreage next door,also on prized Booralie Road,having purchased it in 2013 for $3.15 million fromSally Sims,wife of private equity industry leaderTim Sims.
But in recent weeks,King’s property next door has been transferred at an estimated value of $12 million to a family investment company headed by her partner,Andrew King,who co-founded Regal Funds with his brother,Phil King.
The Kings’ property investment company also owns a landmark property known as Sandy Hollow,once a centrepiece of failed billionaireNathan Tinkler’s Hunter Valley horse-breeding empire,Patinack Farm. It sold to the Kings for $7.5 million in 2017.
Values in the Forest district have risen after last year’s record equestrian estate to cricket’s golden coupleAlyssa Healy andMitchell Starc.
Fairy Bower’s higher hopes
Manly’s trophy home market looks poised to claim an all-time new house price record after a freshly built Fairy Bower residence hit the market with a $35 million guide.
Justine Acret commissioned the Madeleine Blanchfield Architects redesign with Dangar Barin Smith gardens following her purchase of the Catholic Church leasehold in 2018 for $14 million. HusbandChris Acretco-founded mortgage broker Smartline,a majority stake of which was acquired by property giant REA in 2017 as part of a $67 million deal.
It was a bullish purchase price at the time from laparoscopic surgeonCraig Taylor,who took his money up the road to buy motorcycle championWayne Gardner’s former home for $16 million.
Michael Clarke,of Clarke&Humel,takes on the listing less than a year after a house across the road when sold by Cathal O’Rourke,of UK construction giant Laing O’Rourke.
‘Liveable’ at $30m
A house on the Rose Bay beachfront euphemistically billed as “liveable” sold for about $30 million this week.
The exact sale price will be left to settlement given Sotheby’s Michael Pallier said he could not talk about a sale,though the marketing has slipped off property sites.
The sale ends more than half a century of ownership byBeverley Freedman,who is moving a few doors up the beachfront to a $14.5 million duplex she bought last year from prominent businessmanRobert Champion De Crespigny.
Historic records show Freedman and her late husband,pharmacistLeo Freedman,owned their beachfront house since 1973,when they paid $147,000. Collins Avenue values have soared,led first by rag trader Nick Kelly’s $29 million in 2022 and the $35 million sale a few months later by Laser Clinic’sAlistair Champion.
Killara’s secret sale
Still with Sydney’s run of ridiculously expensive secret sales,the Killara home of oncologistDr Sally Baron-Hay andJamie Woodhill,of the Patrick stevedores founding family,has sold off-market for $15 million to little-known cash buyerQiuqin Li.
And in case anyone missed the extent of Sydney’s runaway house prices,the Federation house on 2300 square metres last traded for $3.6 million in 2011.
Woodhill has already re-emerged on title records as the $12.6 million buyer of a Palm Beach weekender last year.
Farewell to the ’Loo
Prominent barrister and former Mardi Gras presidentRichard Cobden,SC,is calling time on his quarter of a century in Woolloomooloo’s Wharf Terraces,with plans to move north. His pad is listed with Stone Real Estate’s Julian Rowe for $6.6 million ahead of auction this Saturday.
Cobden was a long-time resident in the harbourside complex when in 2006 he swapped a lease for a mortgage,buying his three-bedroom spread with double car space for $2.55 million.