Julia Ross sells Villa del Mare, the Point Piper palazzo trophy home
It's Point Piper's fifth prestige sale in the past five months.
And after three years on and off the market, the recruitment queen Julia Ross has secured the sale of her trophy home.
It was relisted in August with continued $40 million hopes. No sale price has been revealed, but the offering had been perfectly timed within the current nice fillip in prestige Point Piper sales activity.
Property Observer understands the six bedroom non-waterfront home on Wolseley Road could have been sold for close to its bullish price tag of $40 million, possibly $38 million plus especially given the likely interest of Chinese buyers.
Villa del Mare, the much offered hillside Point Piper home famous for its remote-controlled billiard table that sank into the floor, was bought ten years ago for $21.5 million from Nati Stoliar. The vast limestone palazzo stands on 1508 square metre of level land at the corner of Wolseley Road and Wentworth Street. Privately set high above the street, Villa del Mare was designed by Chris Norris. Now wrapped by wisteria-draped verandahs, the three-level mansion has five living and dining areas that flow on to manicured gardens with an infinity swimming pool and iconic views across the harbour to the city skyline, Opera House and Harbour Bridge.
It was redundant for the now London-based founder of Julia Ross Recruitment. It has previously gone very close to sale since first listed in November 2011, with Julia sometimes showing signs of reluctance in actually signing the sales contract.
Julia Ross who founded Julia Ross Recruitment in 1988 sold half for $25 million in 2000 and the other half in 2011 for $27 million.
Villa del Mare was being marketed with Bill Malouf of LJ Hooker in conjunction with Ken Jacobs of Christies International who were confident they could set a record 2014 price.
The trophy sale also sets a new record for non-waterfront real estate in Australia, eclipsing the $32.4 million paid in 2008 for the nearby, now demolished mansion Craig-y-Mor, which was quietly bought from the Tilley family by Chinese princeling Zeng Wei and his wife Jiang Mei.
The highest sale this year has been $37 million just across the road on the harbour front, which had likewise been listed in 2011, but with overly ambitious $55 million expectations.
Last week harbourfront 110 Wolseley Road, Point Piper hit the market with hopes of securing the 2014 house price record.
Listing agent Bart Doff from Laing+Simmons Double Bay advised the property was likely to sell for $37 million plus.
The $37 million was secured next door when the property developer Ron Medich sold his David Katon-designed mansion to the aged-care industry boss Peter Wohl and his wife Jennifer.
In June the Simon HPM family sold their harbourfront home for $30 million to Global Renewables chief executive David Singh and his wife Belinda.
In August there was the sale of the non-waterfront property on Wentworth Street of rag trading entrepreneur Charles Scarf and his wife Maria which sold for more than $30 million to the Hunters Hill fund manager Nick Langley and his wife, the arts patron Lorraine Tarabay.
Another $30 million plus sale was achieved last week when a Vaucluse family bought the other neighbouring waterfront, the 1970s Point Piper mansion of the late developer and hotelier Salvatore Paino at 106 Wolseley Road sold through Michael Dunn and James Dunn from Richardson & Wrench Double Bay in conjunction with Enza Messina from Enza Messina Real Estate.
The home was listed following Paino's death in September last year with $40 million hopes.
Harbourfront 110 Wolseley is the home of Karyn Zamel, wife of mining engineer Gary Zamel, who are downsizing locally so the the three level Wolseley Road home with its jetty and pool has been listed.
With postcard perfect views of the Harbour Bridge, the Zamels bought the home from Lachlan and Sarah Murdoch in 2005 for $20.6 million.
The Murdochs had paid $12 million for the trophy home in 1999, the year they married, when it was bought from the US-born mining entrepreneur Robert Friedland.