Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest buying Cottesloe's historic Tukurua

Tukurua, the iconic Cottesloe mansion is being bought for $16 million by the billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest.

But the seller of the 21-room beachfront home, Ted Smith appears to be having seller's remorse telling the local paper he had agreed to sell his home for $9 million below valuation to the West Australian mining magnate, he said in a statement to the The Sunday Times.

Tukurua, a 21-room mansion on 5000sq m of prime land on Rosendo Street, was built in 1896 as the summer residence of WA’s first attorney-general, Sir Septimus Burt.

Mr Smith spent $5 million of his own money restoring the building after he inherited it from his long-time friend and landlord Dorothea Cass when she died in 1994. The 82 year old Ted Smith had lived in a small cottage on the property since 1973.

Tukurua had $50 million hopes when it was placed on the market for the first time in more than 100 years in July last year.

The Australian reported on the weekend Andrew Forrest offered to pay $16 million for the property in March, with a $7 million deposit and the remainder due in August 2018.

The 1890s Cottesloe gold boom summer beach mansion official revised $25 million plus hopes earlier this year. According to CoreLogic RP Data, the median house price for Cottesloe was $1.82m in August.