1. Jonathan Chancellor in the Highlands

    In his latest Title Tattle, Jonathan Chancellor covers the comings and goings of wealthy (and white) Sydneysiders who continue to trade multi-million dollar hobby farms in the desirable weekender destination 100kms south of the city. However, one interesting observation of his caught our attention: 

    “And ever on the lookout for the start of a possible trend, Title Tattle notes the first substantial lifestyle farm acquisition by Chinese buyers within the highlands. It was when the Lin family paid $7.15 million for Gleneagle (pictured above)…The Lins export wine from the Canberra region to China, as their customers love the fruity shiraz. The family were the $8.5 million buyers of the record-setting Waverton residence sale in 2010.” 

    Cash rich Chinese acquiring trophy or record setting property in Australia is nothing new (think Point Piper’s Craig-y-Mor and Chatswood’s recent record setter), but we’ve yet to see astute foreign buyers from China dip into the traditional holiday home markets of the Southern Highlands and the Palm Beach/Whale Beach region (Queensland, however, that’s another story). The Radical Terrace wonders if this will in fact evolve into a trend and, if so, what effects on residential prices it will have. 

  2. Title Battle: Lists Always Win

    Jonathan Chancellor over at Title Tattle could have broken news of a sale at Point Piper’s Altona (no such sale as yet), but it still would have been no match against Margie Blok’s Title Deeds. She had the ultimate trump card resting in her back pocket: THE LIST. As our readers may know, the Radical Terrace can’t get enough of lists; and we’ve been wanting for a 2011 top sales list. It never materialized in the summer months, but Margie has produced one in this week’s Title Deeds covering the last 12 months. Nice work. Now if only we can get an update to Jonathan Chancellor’s epic roll call back from 2002…

    But now let’s do a bit of LIST ANALYSIS. First off, taking top prize, is the Rose Bay Vaucluse acquisition by the expat Yang Family of a Hillside Ave for $21.5m. It’s an impressive house (designed by Tanner Architects) indeed, but for a non-waterfront, non-“landmark”/”trophy” house to take the top spot. Granted, the home is newly constructed since the parcel of land last traded in 1996 for just shy of $4m, but still, for a home we’ve never “heard of” to take top prize is an unusual event in the Sydney real estate world. However, it irks us that Margie calls the address Rose Bay, when it is clearly north of Towns Road, the established Vaucluse/Rose Bay border. Also to note is the high prevalence of Bellevue Hill non-waterfronts and Mosman waterfronts; a full 3 of the top 5 sales go to Mosman, an unusually high amount for the North Shore suburb and 7 of the top 20 are in the 2-0-2-3 of Bellevue Hill. The Eastern Suburbs once again dominates the list, but without the usual Vaucluse and Point Piper waterfront stalwarts we’ve come to expect. Let’s just pin it on the fact that some of the most desirable homes in Sydney on the market in the last 12 months are still on the market today…

    THE RUNDOWN:

    1. Hillside Ave, Rose Bay Vaucluse, $21.5m (pictured)
    2. Bay St, Mosman, $20m
    3. Hopetoun Ave, Mosman, $19m
    4. Mandalong Rd, Mosman, $18m
    5. Wolseley Rd, Point Piper, $18m
    6. Bayview Hill Rd, Rose Bay, $15m
    7. Wunulla Rd, Point Piper, $15m
    8. Kirkoswald Ave, Mosman, $14m
    9. Wunulla Rd, Point Piper, $13.6m
    10. Victoria Rd, Bellevue Hill, $13.1m
    11. Cranbrook Rd, Bellevue Hill, $13m
    12. Victoria Rd, Bellevue Hill, $12m
    13. Olola Ave, Vaucluse, $11.8m
    14. McLean Crescent, Mosman, $10m
    15. Wunulla Rd, Point Piper, $9.7m
    16. Victoria Rd, Bellevue Hill, $9.5m
    17. Drumalbyn Rd, Bellevue Hill, $9.4m
    18. Angelo St, Woolwich, $9.2m
    19. Drumalbyn Rd, Bellevue Hill, $9m
    20. Ginahgulla Rd, Bellevue Hill, $8.5m 

    The Scorecard: Deeds: 7 // Tattle: 11

  3. Title Battle: Deeds or Tattle? Hot Damn! Margie’s Back! Nipping on the heels of Jonathan Chancellor’s 6-week run at the top of Title Battle, Margie Blok has rejoined the game. Last week (which Radical Terrace sadly was unable to offer a complete report on), Margie’s Title Deeds beat out Title Tattle with her coverage of the $14m Vaucluse non-waterfront listing only a day after this publication covered the house. Margie than made notice of the buyers of Mandolong, another Radical Terrace favourite; top that off with tales of an Elizabeth Bay penthouse and Deeds beat out Tattle last week.  Of course, that’s not to say Tattle didn’t try. It was a Victorian-heavy week for Chancellor (unfortunately, for Title Battle purposes, we only really count NSW property scoops to be fair to both parties) and the sale of a home in Kew’s Studley Park Estate, a listing that seemed to haunt the classifieds for far too long than its architectural pedigree would indicate. And this week? It went to Margie again. Two in a row! And all for her grabbing a listing that hasn’t even hit official listing pages yet of Domain or Realestate.com.au. ‘Carinya’ on Pymble’s desirable Telegraph Road is apparently on the market with $10m+ hopes through LJ Hooker Wahroonga agents Andrew Manion and Robert Ward. Radical Terrace has a lot to say about this record listing, especially the fact that it may reset the Upper North Shore market for the worse, seeing that it sold a full-priced $4.7m in 1999, one would expect the hopes to be a bit higher. But methinks this is indicative of the overall slump in desirability of the Upper North Shore.  Tattle did some good too. We’re excited for the Toorak mansion showdown on Towers Road, and many other nuggets of real estate goodness were found in his Tattle. It just wasn’t Carinya… That said, this week’s Title Battle wasn’t without a bit of drama. But that gets its own post, so stay tuned! Nonetheless, two points to Title Deeds. The Scorecard: Deeds: 6 // Tattle: 11

    Title Battle: Deeds or Tattle? Hot Damn! Margie’s Back!

    Nipping on the heels of Jonathan Chancellor’s 6-week run at the top of Title Battle, Margie Blok has rejoined the game. Last week (which Radical Terrace sadly was unable to offer a complete report on), Margie’s Title Deeds beat out Title Tattle with her coverage of the $14m Vaucluse non-waterfront listing only a day after this publication covered the house. Margie than made notice of the buyers of Mandolong, another Radical Terrace favourite; top that off with tales of an Elizabeth Bay penthouse and Deeds beat out Tattle last week. 

    Of course, that’s not to say Tattle didn’t try. It was a Victorian-heavy week for Chancellor (unfortunately, for Title Battle purposes, we only really count NSW property scoops to be fair to both parties) and the sale of a home in Kew’s Studley Park Estate, a listing that seemed to haunt the classifieds for far too long than its architectural pedigree would indicate.

    And this week? It went to Margie again. Two in a row! And all for her grabbing a listing that hasn’t even hit official listing pages yet of Domain or Realestate.com.au. ‘Carinya’ on Pymble’s desirable Telegraph Road is apparently on the market with $10m+ hopes through LJ Hooker Wahroonga agents Andrew Manion and Robert Ward. Radical Terrace has a lot to say about this record listing, especially the fact that it may reset the Upper North Shore market for the worse, seeing that it sold a full-priced $4.7m in 1999, one would expect the hopes to be a bit higher. But methinks this is indicative of the overall slump in desirability of the Upper North Shore. 

    Tattle did some good too. We’re excited for the Toorak mansion showdown on Towers Road, and many other nuggets of real estate goodness were found in his Tattle. It just wasn’t Carinya…

    That said, this week’s Title Battle wasn’t without a bit of drama. But that gets its own post, so stay tuned! Nonetheless, two points to Title Deeds.

    The Scorecard: Deeds: 6 // Tattle: 11

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  4. Title Battle: Deeds or Tattle?

    Once again, Chancellor and his team at Tattle takes the crown. It was close though, namely because Margie over at Title Deeds broke news of the sale of The Radical Terrace’s favourite home north of the Bridge - the twice-featured Mandolong House - in Mosman. Setting a non-waterfront record for the suburb (but far off the non-waterfront record in Sydney; that honour goes to the $32.4m Craig-y-Mor sale in Point Piper), 17 Mandolong Street clocked in at $18m selling through Brendan Warner, whom Margie quickly points out is responsible for three other $10m+ sales in the suburb. The Radical Terrace thinks it may see where Margie’s tips are coming from…and we like it! Margie also represented the Eastern Suburbs with news of Nicole Hunter’s Olola Avenue house in Vaucluse selling around the $11.9m mark. Seeing that Hunter purchased the home for $8.5m in 2002 and hope to fetch $15m+ for the abode today, we can only guess she’s a bit disappointed with the massively discounted sale. 

    But Title Tattle didn’t fail to impress; most noteworthy was their subtle notice of a depression in Hawthorn prestige prices, noting the ~$8m sale of a Scotch Hill “original” that previously sold for $9m in 2007. The home was featured on The Radical Terrace last month. Chancellor’s Tattle continued on their Victorian property binge reporting on the sale of Mt Martha’s rather odd ‘Glynt Manor’, the even more peculiar mansard-roofed Coburg mansion ‘Kalimna’ (that we featured last week), and the tough-to-sell Newport weatherboard of Scott Pendlebury. However, what really gave Title Tattle this week’s edge was a much-appreciated Radical Terrace shout-out and a LIST! You know we love lists, and even better: a list of 2011’s most expensive suburbs. Chuck in a tale of ‘Swifts’ property drama in Darling Point (this time it’s a noise complaint; the mansion is a sponge of drama), and you’ve got yourself a winner with Title Tattle.

    The Scorecard: Deeds: 4 // Tattle: 11

  5. Title Battle: Deeds or Tattle? Tattle!

    Margie Blok and her cohorts at SMH’s Title Deeds definitely picked up their game this week; a marked improvement on last week’s lacklustre showing. This week, Deeds highlighted the unique $9m+ penthouse of John and Patti David which graces the 26th floor of the Observatory Tower and has a terrace worthy of a suburban backyard in Pymble. Tacking on that penthouse listing, Blok makes mention of the Watsons Bay abode we discussed a few days back, the pretty ordinary-looking (but extraordinarily priced) Darling Point apartment that’s asking $6m+, and a Redfern (Redfern?) apartment held by the perpetually-awful Holmes a Court family.

    But was it enough to eclipse Chancellor’s rocking and rolling? Not quite. In addition to leaking the extraordinary Leslie Wilkinson-designed Point Piper mansion, Tattle made mention of Castle Cove’s uniquely ugly and expensive Neerim House that appears to have found a buyer around $11m mark. Chancellor then backtracked with the yawn-inducing tale of that over-publicized and entirely lame apartment-styled cruise ship that seems to only interest the geriatrics. But Chancellor, never failing to impress, proceeded to bust out a laundry list of notable sales and listings from Lisa Ho’s Randwick House to the Perini Family’s Neutral Bay residence (that’s overpriced at $8m+ with a crap-tastic renovation). The American icing on the cake was his news of Paul Hogan’s Malibu abode (that he likely picked up from Curbed). 

    A hint for Blok: It’s time for SMH to do a property blog. Waiting til Saturday for the print edition of Domain is pretty 20th Century, if you ask us.

    The Scorecard: Deeds: 4 // Tattle: 9

  6. Title Battle: Deeds or Tattle? It’s Tattle! It’s a pretty quiet week in residential listings, but Jonathan Chancellor still wins this week’s award. What happened, Margie? No trophy listings, no tales of property intrigue. Title Tattle definitely cleaned it up. The Scorecard: Deeds: 4 // Tattle: 8 Pictured: Alex Popov-designed manse in Mosman, asking $10.5m+

    Title Battle: Deeds or Tattle? It’s Tattle!

    It’s a pretty quiet week in residential listings, but Jonathan Chancellor still wins this week’s award. What happened, Margie? No trophy listings, no tales of property intrigue. Title Tattle definitely cleaned it up.

    The Scorecard: Deeds: 4 // Tattle: 8

    Pictured: Alex Popov-designed manse in Mosman, asking $10.5m+

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  7. Title Battle: Deeds or Tattle? It’s A Tie! Jonathan Chancellor has been on a role. He reported on the loss-making (and beautiful) Balinese property in Palm Beach of the disgraced Tony Morris and Toni Collette’s (now well-reported) switcheroo in Bronte as well as a host of interesting Darling Point properties that have popped up on the market in the past week. Pretty unstoppable, eh? Well, Margie Blok snuck in and reported on the listing of The Priory on the Neutral Bay waterfront. Although, seeing how doting Margie Blok is on the co-listing (Richard Harding of LJ Hooker and the omni-present Ken Jacobs of Christie’s), I wouldn’t be surprised if Deeds was leaked the listing a few days ahead and asked to be nice. Because it’s really not worth $10m (east-facing Harbour views to Cremorne Point instead of the City/Bridge/Opera House; shared driveway; dire need of refurbishment…). The Scorecard: Deeds: 4 // Tattle: 7* *Tattle won last week, but I didn’t do a write up…sorry guys! Pictured: The Priory, $10m+

    Title Battle: Deeds or Tattle? It’s A Tie!

    Jonathan Chancellor has been on a role. He reported on the loss-making (and beautiful) Balinese property in Palm Beach of the disgraced Tony Morris and Toni Collette’s (now well-reported) switcheroo in Bronte as well as a host of interesting Darling Point properties that have popped up on the market in the past week. Pretty unstoppable, eh? Well, Margie Blok snuck in and reported on the listing of The Priory on the Neutral Bay waterfront. Although, seeing how doting Margie Blok is on the co-listing (Richard Harding of LJ Hooker and the omni-present Ken Jacobs of Christie’s), I wouldn’t be surprised if Deeds was leaked the listing a few days ahead and asked to be nice. Because it’s really not worth $10m (east-facing Harbour views to Cremorne Point instead of the City/Bridge/Opera House; shared driveway; dire need of refurbishment…).

    The Scorecard: Deeds: 4 // Tattle: 7*

    *Tattle won last week, but I didn’t do a write up…sorry guys!

    Pictured: The Priory, $10m+

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  8. Title Battle: This Week’s Winner - Tattle! Jonathan Chancellor’s Title Tattle hit it out of the park this week. In fact, he was so spot on, we overlapped on two listings (the $18m+ listing of Headingley House in Woollahra and the Marshall Family’s tired Lynwood Farm listed for $5.3m) and provided us with some juice on over the top Italianate in Adelaide and a particularly charming sandstone “cottage” on Moncur Street, Woollahra. Although not officially party of his Tattle, Chancellor continued his buttering up to John McGrath with some PR about his eponymous firm’s acquisition of Sarah Lorden Real Estate. Could it have been such favours that’s garnered Chancellor the gossip on property’s hitting the market a day earlier? Who knows… Margie had some good moments in Title Deeds this week. Although being late to the party on the Headingley House listing (and a full week and a half past the modern terrace listing on Holdsworth St, Woollahra), she managed to squeak in on a BKH-designed Elizabeth Bay penthouse at 28 Billyard Street that set an apartment sale record for the Eastern Suburbs when it sold for $14m in 2006. Martin Schiller at Savills has that trophy listing. So where did Blok go wrong? Too many late listings (remember our December story on Lanes’ End in Sutton Forest anyone?) and allowing one of her staffers to write this story of over-the-top NIMBYism in Redfern… The Scorecard: Deeds: 3 // Tattle: 5 (Pictured: Benacre, Glen Osmond, SA. $6m+)

    Title Battle: This Week’s Winner - Tattle!

    Jonathan Chancellor’s Title Tattle hit it out of the park this week. In fact, he was so spot on, we overlapped on two listings (the $18m+ listing of Headingley House in Woollahra and the Marshall Family’s tired Lynwood Farm listed for $5.3m) and provided us with some juice on over the top Italianate in Adelaide and a particularly charming sandstone “cottage” on Moncur Street, Woollahra. Although not officially party of his Tattle, Chancellor continued his buttering up to John McGrath with some PR about his eponymous firm’s acquisition of Sarah Lorden Real Estate. Could it have been such favours that’s garnered Chancellor the gossip on property’s hitting the market a day earlier? Who knows…

    Margie had some good moments in Title Deeds this week. Although being late to the party on the Headingley House listing (and a full week and a half past the modern terrace listing on Holdsworth St, Woollahra), she managed to squeak in on a BKH-designed Elizabeth Bay penthouse at 28 Billyard Street that set an apartment sale record for the Eastern Suburbs when it sold for $14m in 2006. Martin Schiller at Savills has that trophy listing. So where did Blok go wrong? Too many late listings (remember our December story on Lanes’ End in Sutton Forest anyone?) and allowing one of her staffers to write this story of over-the-top NIMBYism in Redfern…

    The Scorecard: Deeds: 3 // Tattle: 5

    (Pictured: Benacre, Glen Osmond, SA. $6m+)

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  9. Battle of the Deeds: This Week’s Winner? Tattle! Margie Blok and her Title Deeds went to the Deep South this week: Tasmania. She reported on the Greg Woolley record-breaking $8m sale that Chancellor broke several weeks back (and I covered here) and then meandered around the remainder of the Island highlighting some other Tassie properties. Chancellor, on the other hand, talked Central Coast McMansions, the Surry Hills listing I covered last week here (old news!), the Dame’s Queen St Woollahra tear down (also covered that one here, but only thanks to a Chancellor tip-off).  Way to go Chancellor. Heres the latest scorecard: Deeds: 3 // Tattle: 4 Pictured: Dysart House sold for $1.5m in Tasmania

    Battle of the Deeds: This Week’s Winner? Tattle!

    Margie Blok and her Title Deeds went to the Deep South this week: Tasmania. She reported on the Greg Woolley record-breaking $8m sale that Chancellor broke several weeks back (and I covered here) and then meandered around the remainder of the Island highlighting some other Tassie properties. Chancellor, on the other hand, talked Central Coast McMansions, the Surry Hills listing I covered last week here (old news!), the Dame’s Queen St Woollahra tear down (also covered that one here, but only thanks to a Chancellor tip-off). 

    Way to go Chancellor. Heres the latest scorecard:

    Deeds: 3 // Tattle: 4

    Pictured: Dysart House sold for $1.5m in Tasmania

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