“Maybe the gap is narrowing and that comes from younger money entering the market, but it’s also coming from a more decentralised idea of what makes a top suburb,” said prestige valuer Paul Donovan, of Pontons.
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Mr Donovan points to the recent sale of a house opposite Bronte Beach for $23.388 million as a case in point.
Tamarama’s house record has also cracked the trophy market with a $25 million sale, and an oceanfront block of five apartments sold for $29.2 million.
“The eastern beaches market is among the most aggressive at the moment,” said McGrath’s William Manning. “The rule book on prices per square metre has been thrown out, and it’s largely fuelled by a much younger demographic who have made enormous amounts of money and don’t want to live in traditional blue chip neighbourhoods.”
Mosman came close to securing a sale of almost $40 million this year when the Iluka Road residence of investment banker Steve Bellotti was listed with Atlas’ Michael Coombs.
Coombs confirms he had half a dozen offers at more than $35 million, but the property never sold because Mr Bellotti decided he wanted to keep the house. “It wasn’t a lack of buyers, it was the vendor not wanting to sell,” Coombs said.
Mosman agent Kingsley Yates, of The Agency, said Mosman is on the brink of closing the gap with a $30 million sale – “once there’s one there will be two more within a few months” – but he doesn’t see the gap in price from one side of the harbour to the other narrowing more than that.
The Fairwater estate in Point Piper sold for $100 million in 2018.
“There are houses worth $40 million and $50 million in Mosman, but only a handful,” Mr Yates said. “That is nothing compared with the many estates in Bellevue Hill and Vaucluse, and all those mansions on the Point Piper and Darling Point waterfront.”
The price difference from one side of the harbour to the other isn’t lost on buyers. Mr Coombs said before the pandemic he would be lucky if 10 per cent of his buyers came from the eastern suburbs, but that had risen to 25 per cent.
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Buyers agent Deb West, of SydneySlice, said her clients were looking in both markets given the difference in value. “People looking at $25 million to $30 million in Bellevue Hill are able to buy a similar house in Mosman for $15 million to $20 million,” she said.
However, Mr Donovan warns the fillip in values in outlier prestige areas is also indicative of where we are at the top of the property cycle. “When the market corrects it will be felt in these areas more than in blue chip suburbs like Point Piper,” he said.