This article was originally published by Nathan Mawby via news.com.au | DECEMBER 19, 2017
MONSTER sales with eight-figures price tags have dominated the top of the Stonnington property market in 2017. Take a look at some of Melbourne’s biggest earners.
ALL eyes have been on the top end of Stonnington’s property market since an almost $40 million record sale in Toorak halfway through the year.
The off-market deal for 18 St Georges Rd shattered the record for any Victorian house sale to date.
And RT Edgar Toorak’s Jeremy Fox said the past 12 months in Toorak’s top end had been as strong as the interest in the record-breaking sale by his agency.
“I think it’s had the best year it’s had for a long time,” Mr Fox said.
The St Georges Rd sale topped Toorak’s previous record holder, 9 Towers Rd, by about $13 million.
Morell and Koren director and high-end buyer’s advocate David Morell said 18 St Georges Rd was the highlight of what had been an “interesting” year.
However, he added that it would have hampered some other high-end sales in the area as owners of illustrious properties raised their asking prices.
“You will get this lag from St Georges Rd, the people there will think there home is worth quite a bit more,” Mr Morell said.
He said one of the few top sales in the suburb this year not affected by the result at No. 18 St Georges Rd, was the $16.8 million deal signed for 2 Rostil Court in March.
The six-bedroom house spread over four storeys, came with a pool and tennis court, plus a home theatre and impressive views across the suburb.
Later in the year, celebrity chef Shannon Bennet and actor wife Madeleine West are also believed to have splashed about $16 million on a Lansell Rd, Toorak, house, and sold their 38 Cromwell Rd home in South Yarra for close to $10 million.
At the price it would be on a par with the sale of 2 Myvore Cres, Toorak, which initially sold for $19.1 million at auction. But the sale to an expat fell through and the home was later resold.
Sales records show it achieved $16 million the second time around.
“Myvore was the weirdest of the year,” Mr Morrell said.
Mr Fox said with a number of big prices in Toorak this year it was possible the suburb’s new record could be broken again in the coming year, but he did not expect it would be bested by such a margin.
“The market is very strong, so it could be soon,” Mr Fox said.
“I think the next record to be broken will be $40 million plus, but in the $40 million range somewhere.”
He said the strength of the market, which had added several eight-figure addresses to Stonnington’s streets in 2017, had set other benchmarks as well.
He pointed to the sale of a 606sq m block at 22 Lansell Rd, Toorak, for $6.4 million.
It worked out to $11,000 a square metre.
“That’s the highest price paid for land in Toorak,” he said.
Mr Morell said the price per square metre was the real litmus test for quality properties at the top end in Toorak.
“This time last year I was paying $6500-$7000 (a square metre) for reasonable blocks,” he said. “And in the past 12 months it’s up to $10,000 per square metre.”
Elsewhere in the municipality, CoreLogic records show high prices were paid in South Yarra, where a $13.8 million sum for 125-133 Walsh St added another eight-figured address to the vaunted street.
Sales records also showed a handful of hefty sums paid in other suburbs including the $7.8 million splashed on 10 Hampden Rd, Armadale, on November 25.
And in October, 33 Grant St, Malvern East, picked up substantial $6.125 million.
Even Prahran and Windsor, the municipality’s most affordable suburbs, had some sizeable results.
The biggest recorded by CoreLogic was the $4.47 million sale of 52 The Avenue.