Top End Residential Continues to Grind

AUSTRALIA’s prestige property market appears to still be in deceleration mode.

In Sydney, the Vaucluse mansion being offloaded by the Cattell family has been reduced from $21 million to $18 million. Nearby, property developer Paul Smith sold his Bellevue Hill home for a price believed to be “a heavy discount” to the $14 million he first asked last year.

SQM Research managing director Louis Christoper said the Sydney and Melbourne prestige market are recording modest price falls.

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Bondi Apartment Complex Could Fetch $25 Million

A SOUTH African investor is set to reap between $17 million and $25 million, from the sale of an entire apartment block on Bondi Beach, in Sydney’s ritzy east.

The complex at 105 Ramsgate Avenue includes 10 apartments, and the only “boathouse” on Bondi Beach – a small cupboard effectively, big enough for a kayak sized vessel.

The vendor, businessman and developer Neill Miller, is selling the block after obtaining a permit to build three luxury apartments on the site.

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James Packer to Amalgamate, Redevelop Vaucluse Supersite

BILLIONAIRE media and gaming magnate James Packer has received council approval to redevelop a 3369 square metre sloping site in Sydney’s ritzy eastern suburb of Vaucluse.

Mr Packer with wife Erica (picture, above) has acquired three adjoining homes between Wentworth and Victoria roads.

The largest home – a 1970s, unrenovated Guildford Bell designed mansion will be retained (view from pool, right). Mr Packer, through company Monac Developments Pty Ltd, paid $18 million for this home in mid 2009.

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Sydney Mansion Sells For $30 Million

AUSTRALIA’s prestige real estate market seems to be going from strength to strength, with an overseas-based investor paying close to $30 million for a villa style mansion in Sydney’s ritzy Vaucluse.

The six-bedroom home was marketed by Ray White Real Estate’s Prestige Sales Michael Finger, who said five parties competed for the property, which has Sydney Harbour views.

The sale price surpasses the 2010 record held when the former Toorak estate of Diana Baillieu, in Melbourne, sold to a property developer for $25 million – or about $10 million more than the price it sold for, a year earlier.

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PRC, Russell Crowe, Tipped to Bid For $15 Million Bellevue Hill Mansion, Sydney

THE People’s Republic of China is expected to take on New Zealand actor Russell Crowe, in bidding for a $15 million Sydney mansion, once used by the French government as a consulate.

The Victoria Road estate, Le Manoir, will be auctioned this evening at an invitation-only event in which prospective buyers have to make a refundable $50,000 deposit, just to make a bid.

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