Kirribilli waterfront site smashes reserve by $4.8m

A landmark waterfront estate at Kirribilli has sold under the hammer for an eye-watering $19.8 million – $4.8 million above the reserve price – and the biggest auction result across Sydney’s wet weekend.

The sale of 2-4 Stannards Place also blitzed the residential sales record set in 2018 with the sale of an entire block of apartments at 63 Carabella St, for $12.025 million.

The suburb’s house sale price of $12 million was set in 2008 for 1A Plunkett St.

This was the first time since 1938 that the 1269sqm estate in Stannards Place had been offered for auction. It was marketed by Piers van Hamburg and Nigel Mukhi, of Di Jones Neutral Bay, in conjunction with Guillaume Volz and Henry Burke, of Colliers International.

An aerial view.

Mr van Hamburg said about 80 people turned out for the Saturday afternoon auction and about half of them – spectators only and not registered bidders or their supporters – had to be turned away due to COVID restrictions on crowd numbers.

“We had to be very mindful of public safety so had to limit the people at the auction to registered bidders and their families and support people,” he said. “We couldn’t have spectators on the day.”

The prime waterfront estate comprises two properties that were offered separately in consecutive auctions.

The first one to go under the hammer was the larger of the two properties at No. 2. Five bidders registered, and the reserve was set at $9.5 million.

You can’t get much closer to waterfront than this.

Mr van Hamburg said the bidding opened at $8 million and was slow to get started, although once it reached the reserve, three bidders dug in to battle it out for the keys.

“He was there to buy both and he was very determined,” he said.

In the end, the local buyer, who has not been identified, had to offer a bid $2 million over the reserve to secure the property.

Mr van Hamburg said the sale was the biggest sale so far in his 23-year career, and topped off a busy couple of months.

He said he understood the new owner planned to build a ‘super’ family compound on the site.

The existing c1920s bungalow and mid-century home on the property are both in need of extensive renovation, but he said they presented a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to own a very unique property.

“It’s probably the most rare and unique offering I’ve had the pleasure of listing in 23 years in real estate,” he said.

Set over three separate titles, the property has an impressive 38.42m frontage to Sydney Harbour and a deep waterfront jetty, harbourside pool and a slipway. The view stretches across Careening Cove towards the Ensemble Theatre.

This article from the Mosman Daily originally appeared as “Kirribilli waterfront estate sells under the hammer for $19.8m: smashes reserve by $4.8m”.