Australian property record smashed as Toorak mansion sells for $150m

The secret $150m sale of Toorak compound Coonac, owned by Rich Lister Paul Little, sets a national house price record.

Melbourne has taken Sydney’s crown as home to the most expensive house ever sold in Australia, with landmark Toorak estate Coonac selling for about $150 million in a low-key deal that has eclipsed the previous national house record by some $20 million.

The deal was inked for what is widely regarded as one of Victoria’s best homes. The landmark 1867-built Coonac was sold by AFR Rich Lister, billionaire property developer and former Toll Holdings boss Paul Little and his businesswoman wife Jane Hansen, who is the chancellor of the University of Melbourne.

The double-storey Italianate mansion sits on a 1.08 hectare landholding complete with pool and cabana, tennis court, park-like gardens and 200-metre frontage onto blue-chip Clendon Road.

The $150 million sale easily eclipsed the old mark jointly held by two Point Piper properties – Uig Lodge and Elaine – which both sold for $130 million.

Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar and his investment banker wife Kim Jackson paid $130 million for Uig Lodge in late 2022, before selling their nearby waterfront Elaine last year to a consortium that includes the CEO at Acce Investments Group, Wei “Patrick” Shi last year.

In 2019 developer Lendlease sold a combined penthouse and sub-penthouse in harbourside tower One Sydney Harbour in Barangaroo for $140 million, which is due to settle to the mystery buyer in coming months now the tower is complete.

The Coonac sale almost doubles the old Melbourne house price record, $80 million paid by crypto billionaire Ed Craven for a dilapidated mansion on St Georges Road. The Stake.com founder demolished the old mansion and is building a contemporary compound.

Sources have tipped Kay & Burton prestige heavyweights Ross Savas and Gerald Delaney as the agents behind the triple-digit Coonac deal, but there is no word yet on the identity of the deep-pocketed buyer.

While managing director Mr Savas declined to comment on the sale, he said the agency’s private client network had shown “healthy interest” in Melbourne’s top end.

“As Australia’s high-net-worth population continues to grow, the imbalance between supply and demand in this segment will continue,” Mr Savas said, adding foreign buyers and returning expats would continue to be key players behind Melbourne’s biggest trophy deals.

“The international market remains the most dynamic sector, and its strength is undeniable,” Mr Savas said. “The current exchange rate offers significant value for buyers with US dollars, creating a compelling investment opportunity.”

Former Essendon Football Club chairman Mr Little and former investment banker Ms Hansen paid $14.5 million for the home in 2002, purchased from Spotless managing director Brian Blythe.

It is understood the couple have extensively restored the grand 20-room mansion, which was originally built in 1867 for pioneer pastoralist Robert Ronald.

The National Trust describes Coonac as architecturally “very interesting” as it forms a link “between the restrained style of the earlier Italianate residences and the extravagant boom-style mansions of the 1880s”.

The trust described the mansion as “particularly Australian in design, adapting the neo-classic and picturesque concepts of 19th century English architecture to suit a hotter and harsher climate by the use of a wide two-storey loggia or piazza”.

From 1948 to 1986, Coonac operated as a Commonwealth rehabilitation centre, a use which ultimately saved it from the wrecking ball that met with many other nearby mansions to make way for flats in the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1986, the grand estate was bought by flamboyant property developer Livio and Josie Cellante for $3.8 million.

Following an opulent renovation, the Cellantes found themselves in financial trouble, and in 1993 Coonac was then sold via tender by ANZ for $4.6 million to Spotless managing director Brian Blythe.

It’s understood Coonac’s outgoing owners are selling to downsize – albeit to another grand mansion – in South Yarra, which they are currently renovating.

Mr Little and Ms Hansen paid $19.25 million for Goodrest Mansion – also known as Simonds Hall – purchased from Christ Church Grammar School in December 2019.

The property is undergoing a multi-year renovation, and has views across Fawkner Park.