The Altona aftermath - buyers baulking at the ambitious asking prices: Sydney's top 20 house sales in 2013: He Said/She Said

Perhaps it was the summer heat, not a new year's resolution, but our commentators Jonathan Chancellor and Margie Blok were in unison when it came to analysing the Title Tattle list of last year's top 20 Sydney houses sales.

They were both well at home given 19 of the 20 sales were in the eastern suburbs, which of course despite empty pockets, they know like the back of their hands.

2013 LIST OF TOP 20 HOUSE SALES

1. $52m – Point Piper, Wunulla Road - March (Agency by Alison Coopes)

 2. $33.5m – Point Piper, Wolseley Crescent – April (Ballard)

 3. $30m* - Darling Point, Lindsay Avenue – June (Christies, R&WDB & Ballard)

 4. $30m* – Rose Bay, Bayview Hill Road – May (Sothebys)

 5. $28m – Bellevue Hill, Cranbrook Road – August  (Sothebys)

 6. $19m – Vaucluse, The Crescent – May (McGrath, Savills)

 7. $16.3m – Darling Point, Eastbourne Road – March (McGrath & LJ Hooker Double Bay)

 8. $15.501m - Bellevue Hill, Victoria Road – May (BHR & Sothebys)

 9. $15.25m – Point Piper, Wentworth Place – August (Alison Coopes)

 10. $15m – Vaucluse, Vaucluse Road - February (Sothebys)

 11. $15m – Vaucluse, The Crescent – May (McGrath)

 12. $15m – Bondi, Wilga Street – October (Raine & Horne Double Bay)

 13. $14.35m – Point Piper, Wolseley Road – September (1st City Hasemer + Caldwell-Eyles & LJ Hooker Double Bay)

 14. $14m – Vaucluse, Wentworth Road – January (Pillinger & LJ Hooker Double Bay)

 15. $14m – Vaucluse, Wentworth Road – June (LJ Hooker Double Bay)

 16. $13.9m* - Mosman, Julian Street – October (Richardson & Wrench Mosman)

 17. $13.65m – Point Piper, Wentworth Street – April (Pillinger & Sothebys)

 18. $12.5m – Potts Point, Wylde Street – March (Ballard)

 19. $12.5m – Watsons Bay, Pacific Street – May (Sothebys)

 20. $11.4m - Point Piper, Wentworth Place – February (Richardson & Wrench Double Bay)

(*price not officially recorded/agents associated with marketing)

Our commentators came up with 10 insights into the prestige market, without recourse to excitable buyer agency quotes:

1) Of the top 20 sales, only one property was on the north shore - it was 16th on the list, a waterfront in Mosman on the lower north shore. For all the hoopla about the streets of the lower north shore pathed in Chinese diamonds, 34 Julian Street stood alone on the list. No settlement yet, but it sold for about $13.9 million in October through Richardson & Wrench Mosman to a Chinese buyer. The past year contrasted strongly to 2012 when eight of the top 20 were in Mosman with prices ranging between $9.2 million to $20 million, the year's highest when car dealer Laurie Sutton sold through Christies International to Chinese buyers.

2) Of the top 20 sales, four properties were bought by Chinese/Australian community buyers.

3) Piper Piper once again proved to be Sydney’s most expensive real estate, with the pricey suburb claiming the top sale of $52 million for Altona. It was on Wunulla Road this time rather than the dominant Wolseley Road which probably still holds the honors for Sydney's highest priced sale, the $52 million Villa Veneto where St Jean Cap Ferrat wedding plans are underway after a Penn family member's diamond ring engagement over the summer break. Much gaity in Hawaii apparently. Ofcourse those with long memories recall that Altona attracted a $55 million offer back in 2007 which was rejected. The ensuing global financial crisis triggered what would be best called a lacklustre market ever since, with the occasional out of line bright spot that agent Alison pulled off with the much-marketed prime Point Piper listing. All factors considering it was a very healthy price achieved by Alison Coopes. Point Piper also had the year's second highest sale of $33.5 million for the waterfront B & O House on Wolseley Crescent, along with four other properties on the list which cuts out $11.4 million. 

4) There will always be an unreported hush-hush sale that occured towards the year end, but it was telling that some 15 sales were transacted during the first six months of 2013. It suggests despite the print headlines spruiking a booming market that the prestige market never quite gained any great momentum. It could almost be that the hefty $52 million Altona, Point Piper sale - which Margie Blok broke news of in early May - actually triggered a renewed bout of ambitiously high expectations among the remaining long-term vendors which just wasn't ever going to be matched by cautious buyers. One sale on Wentworth Road, Vaucluse even saw the sale price drop $1 million from its prior sale price to $14 million, sold at $15 million just three years earlier.

5) Vaucluse was the second busiest suburb with five properties ranging in price from $14 million to $19 million. And it has the freshest 2014 prestige listing of 9 Coolong Road. Its launch publicity began online Thursday morning for the vendors, Alastair and Gillian Walton, with the emphatic SMH Domain headline, Agents eye $40m for Vaucluse mansion, but within the hour there'd been a revision to the 11.05am headline. It was changed to You'll need more than $30 million for this Vaucluse waterfront. Efforts to erase all published evidence of the $40 million price guidance from Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, podcasts, flipagram et al - and every url bar one- went into overdrive in the leadup to its 11.51am republication. The Domain team had done the same thing earlier this year after an erroneous $25 million record Toorak sale report. No doubt the so-called "industry sources" responsible for the hefty Vaucluse price estimate went into hiding out west with egg on their faces. The seven-bedroom home was the one rented by Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio in 2011, briefly at around $15,000 a week, during the filming of The Great Gatsby. The hour-long, yet enduring, price mess only served to show how hard it is to bridge the gap between vendor hopes and buyer interest, though we couldn't recall a $10 million gap ever happening in our days in print media from one weekend edition to the next.

6) Inland sales did surprisingly well, though 13 properties in the top 20 were waterfront, waterfront reserve or oceanfront. Denis O'Neil - affectionately known among the family as the Big D - secured $28 million for Addenbrooke, atop Bellevue Hill.

7) Watsons Bay was an interesting mix of divergent prices. Margie Blok got her surveyer's waywiser out to calculate a few prices per square metre. The $12.5 million sale of No 6 Pacific Street (1112 square metre) seems quite steep when compared with the $8 million sale of No 14 Pacific Street (1259 square metres) in September. However, No 6 has a modern house standing on a waterfront block with a swimming pool and the largest private jetty in Watsons Bay, while No 14 has a heritage listed two-storey weatherboard house (among the oldest in the suburb) fronting a huge level lawn running to the water’s edge. But both of these sales are cheap when compared with 2008’s sale of No 4 Pacific Street (1043 sqm) at $22.5 million.

8) The old property adages were evident, though the neighbours being the most likely buyers was only seen the once, and it reflected the other increasingly regular occurance of wealthy private schools getting bigger by buying up the neighbourhood. The last big neighbourhood buy-up was 2012 at Bronte when $16.5 million - a suburb record price – was paid on the prestigious beachside strip known as The Cutting. The Kendalls’s long held home was purchased by their neighbours, Seumas Dawes, a funds manager, and his wife Rosemary Seaton, who bought their large three-level residence in 2006 for $12.3 million, a suburb record at the time. Dawes worked in the public sector, including three years as a senior advisor to the then treasurer Paul Keating, before commencing his career in financial markets in 1989. Last year did see some monopoly board players with the two appearances  - upgrading or empty nesting -  with the Kelly's upsizing in Vaucluse, and the empty nester McWilliams trading, quite nicely, in Point Piper.

9) Heritage makes a rare appearance with Bomera at Potts Point where of course nearby Jenner House had featured on the top sale's list in 2009. Jenner last sold at $15 million by McGrath agent Ben Collier, and was briefly listed last year without success. Perhaps on the back of the bullish Jenner sale price, Bomera, the 1858 Italianate mansion, was initially listed with $25 million hopes in 2011. The last, at Point Piper, on the list at 20th spot this year was a property ripe for renovation or replacement.

10) Masking the buyer's true identity remains omnipresent. Neither of us are actually aware of who was the buyer at Altona (pictured below). We keep pondering whether they could they be so high profile they don't want to attract attention in their home country, so used the shield of the Melbourne holding company. Jonathan did spot a Mercedes with Victorian numberplates - and lucky 8s - in the Altona driveway while reconnoitering one day, but of course number plate RTA searches are now forbidden. Not even Kate McClymont, the Fairfax Media super sleuth, can get access to  these official records. The B&O house buyer bought using his accountant's name. But it is understood to be the Forbes Rich Lister, the Chinese millionaire Qiu Yafu, who headed the Cubbie Station cotton acquistion. Qiu Yafu - who we gather is known by the name, Jerry - is the chairman of global textiles group Shandong Ruyi. He ranked 356 on The Forbes 400 Richest Chinese in 2007, but no mentions subsequent. No surprise there.