Was 2021 the Year of the Super Deal?

Chief EconomistIn 2021, there was seemingly no let up in pandemic driven stop/start activity however for property, conditions continue to power ahead. And while the start of year predictions of a house price collapse were rife, Australia’s median has increased by 13 per cent since January, with more growth expected in coming months.

While residential house prices gathered pace during the year, so did other property types, including commercial, rural and marine. There was certainly no shortage of money targeting houses, offices, farms and yachts in 2021.

With so much momentum and so much money, this year was certainly the year of the super deal across the Ray White Group.

These are our biggest deals of 2021.

Top Residential Sale
96 Victoria Road, Bellevue Hill, NSW
$30 million
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Luxury is currently having its moment with this particularly apparent in the Sydney market.

At the end of the year, there were 14 suburbs with medians over $4 million. Most recently that has increased to 23 with more expected in the remaining months of 2021.

While Sydney has the most $4 million plus suburbs, the place we saw the most sales of ultra luxury was not surprisingly the eastern suburbs.

It is therefore no surprise that the top residential sale by the Ray White Group was in Bellevue Hill, a suburb that has seen its median increase to $7.1 million in 2021.

Sold by Ashley Bierman from Ray White Double Bay for $30 million, 96 Victoria Road in Bellevue Hill was our top residential sale for the year.

On a large parcel of land with incredible views, the historic home is fully renovated and not surprisingly attracted a lot of interest to hit over four times the suburb median.

Top Land Sale
177ha Waterlea Estate in Walloon, QLD
Circa $70 million
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With population growth in south-east Queensland the fastest in the country, there is going to need to be more houses developed in the region.

In preparation to ride the wave of prosperity currently driving Queensland, Melbourne developer ID Land purchased our biggest land sale for the year at Walloon, near Ipswich.

The 177 hectare existing estate was sold with a balance of 1393 lots remaining, a future school, existing childcare centre and 30 hectares of green space which is plenty of room to house all those currently partaking in the northern shift from Sydney and Melbourne.

The property was sold by Mark Creevey, Andrew Burke and Matthew Fritzsche of Ray White Special Projects for circa $70 million.

On completion, the project is set to be worth $300 million however this estimate may be undercooked given how quickly the Brisbane market continues to move.

Top Marine Sale
SL44 tri deck superyacht
$50 million
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You could have bought the most expensive house from Ashley Bierman at Ray White Double Bay or if you had an extra $20 million spare, you could instead have purchased a 44 metre tri deck superyacht for $50 million.

While I am unsure if anyone was making a choice between the two, it certainly was a big sale for Brock Rodwell and in fact, the biggest sale ever recorded by Ray White Marine.

While high end property is having its moment, so are superyacht sales.

With overseas travel restricted, some of our wealthiest residents have splashed out on on-water sanctuaries.

We can of course expect even more activity in 2022 with an order of a very nice, but much cheaper than the superyacht, Pershing luxury sports cruiser on its way.

Top Rural Sale
Miranda Downs, QLD
$215 million
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Rural property is hot right now, not just for lifestyle properties but also for anything producing beef or wheat which are both seeing strong production and pricing as a result of the pandemic.

The sale of Miranda Downs was not just a record breaker for Ray White Rural this year, but was in fact an industry record breaker.

The Menegazzo family's Stanbroke Pastoral Company sold the property in the Gulf of Carpentaria for $215 million to another prominent Queensland grazing family, Peter and Jane Hughes.

Bruce Douglas of Ray White Rural Queensland’s record breaking sale will go down in history and it has reset pricing for cattle grazing properties.

Top Commercial Sale
Jandakot Airport, WA
$1.3 billion
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Industrial remains the hottest commercial sector and although airports are currently not operating at capacity, the biggest sale for Ray White Commercial this year shows that there is still a lot of confidence that we will begin flying more very soon.

In terms of pricing, no deal this year compares to what Brett Wilkins of Ray White Commercial WA achieved, selling Perth’s Jandakot Airport for $1.3 billion.

The sale was off market with the property being purchased for $1.3 billion by Dexus and APN Industria REIT.

The sale didn’t just include the airport but also the Jandakot City industrial estate, along with considerable potential for further development.

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