Last Friday's mystery buyer of the Woollahra trophy residence Icilus that sold for "well in excess of $13 million" has been revealed as young Rich Lister Alistair Champion and his wife Kate MacIvor.
Sources say the Bellevue Hill couple was forced to go well above the $13 million guide given strong interest in the Victorian Italianate residence thanks to a lavish renovation by the mining licence owners and restaurateurs Brendan and Rowena McPherson.
The couple are no strangers to Sydney's high-end market, and join an impressive line-up of fellow young Rich Listers who have dominated this year's trophy home sales.
Champion and MacIvor are are currently based at the Bellevue Hill home they bought in 2013 for $5.4 million, and added a beachfront weekender in Palm Beach two years ago for $7 million.
Champion was ranked 22nd on last year's BRW Young Rich List, then aged 39, with a worth of $103 million thanks in large part to the expansion across Australia of his Laser Clinics Australia.
Sources say the couple were forced to dig deep to secure the property given their plans to trade up to the Woollahra village from their Bellevue Hill home.
Ben Collier, of The Agency, was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.
Icilus has had a who's who of Sydney buyers over the years. The McPhersons, who own the Rose Bay restaurant Regatta, bought the Ocean Street property in 2010 for $8 million from the late media executive Ian Law and his widow Roslyn.
An extensive renovation followed, overseen by Rowena McPherson and interior designer Thomas Hamel that was documented over eight pages in the August 2015 issue of Vogue Living.
Before it was owned by the Laws, it was owned by former Goldman Sachs executive Dion Werbeloff and his wife Caroline.
Sydney's young rich set have dominated many of Sydney's biggest sales this year.
Tech entrepreneur Patrick Grove, who debuted on the BRW Young Rich List in 2011 aged 36 with a worth of $55 million, spent $28 million in August on a knock-down-rebuild house on the waterfront in Darling Point.
Billionaire top of the young rich list Scott Farquhar, who co-founded software giant Atlassian, set an Australian property house record in April when he paid $71 million for the Point Piper estate Elaine.
Woollahra's high-end market has proved one of the strongest in the eastern suburbs this year.
Earlier this month neuro-radiologist Jason Wenderoth??? beat off a handful of buyers to secure a 1930s-era mansion under the hammer for $10.1 million.
Long owned by Margaret Allsopp, of the Angus and Coote jewellery family, the result was well above the initial guide of $8.8 million.
The local trophy home Listowel set next door to the Allsopp home was sold a year ago for a suburb record of $16.5 million by businessman Costa Vrisakis.
Woollahra's median house price has soared in recent years, up from a median $2,575,000 in 2015 to $3,375,000 in September.
