1. Upper North Shore Sell-Off

    Hot on the heels of the $10m+ listing of Pymble Federation mansion ‘Carinya’, we see a mini-spike in the number of mansions of varying architectural pedigree hitting the market in the Polo Belt in the $3m - $5m range. 

    1. ‘Highlands’, a John Horbury Hunt-designed Wahroonga estate on one acre wants mid-$3m. Hunt was a prolific colonial architect, pioneering the New England “Shingle Style” homes in the Australian architectural vernacular. His antipodean adaptations of the Shingle Style incorporate the Craftsman and Federation stylings, fast becoming en vogue at the turn of the century. The manse was constructed in 1891 at a time when the Upper North Shore was a virtually undeveloped country retreat for Sydneysiders. Highlands has been listed before and its failure to sell raises some eyebrows. Josh Luschwitz of Luschwitz has the listing. ‘Highlands’, Wahroonga

    2. Another Luschwitz listing is the non-addressed “Fine Federation” home seeking a very bullish $4.9m. Yeah, there’s a tennis court and a pool in addition to the 5-bedroom home, but the interiors are shockingly bland and the whole property will require at least a million in refurbishments to bring it up to speed. Definitely not a buy.

    3. ‘Rowardennan’ listed today, seeking just shy of $5m. It’s a grand tudor-meets-queen-anne-meets-dutch-colonial-meets-federation abode designed by BJ Waterhouse, architect to many Lower North Shore mansions in Neutral Bay and Cremorne Point (most notably, ‘The Gables’). Rowardennan is situated on the pretsige Warrawee Road in Warrawee, a hop, skip, and a jump away from the previous two properties situated in the Billyard Road precinct of Wahroonga (the one time hot spot of Sydney real estate, long since past its prime). The four bedder comes with a large pool, a winding driveway, and one crazy-ass door. Chana [sic] Scotcher of her eponymous real estate agency has the listing: 5 Warrawee Avenue, Warrawee

    And these are just three recent listings. Wahroonga is still home to several languishing listings in the $5m+ camp: Craigairn, Amberleigh Manor, and Bolton Grange remain sitting on the market like geriatrics in a nursing home living room.