$40 million for a patch of grass: Why buyers are spending big on vacant lots

A patch of grass in Toorak has quietly hit the market for $40 million. 

The one-acre block at 16 St Georges Road has no house – there isn’t even a garden shed. 

But that did not stop wealthy entrepreneur Xiaoyan ‘Kylie’ Bao listing the property with an eight-figure price tag in 2019 – and rumour has it she wants more this time round. 

The Toorak block’s turbulent, on-again off-again relationship with the property market may be an anomaly. 

But it is not uncommon for vacant lots to command ultra-high prices in wealthy enclaves around the world. 

In Florida, a bare patch of grass next door to Jeff Bezos sold this week for $169 million. 

Even tiny slivers of land are asking high prices in Sydney’s hottest inner city suburbs.

Auction Guide $1,000,000

8 Goodsell Street, St Peters NSW 2044

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A narrow strip of dirt in St Peters is seeing “moderate interest” from buyers, despite measuring just 1.5 metres wide at its narrowest point. 

“It’s a unique offering for the area,” agent Anthony Tripodi from Highland Inner West said. 

“I can’t remember the last time I sold a vacant block of land – it would have been 15 years ago in my 23-year career in Newtown and the Inner West.” 

The block of land – recently inherited by a local investor – will go to auction with a $1 million guide price. 

“People are cautious with the level of offers that they have been putting forward,” Tripodi said. 

“But there’s people out there that are certainly business-savvy to understand that the long-term gain is where it stands.”

Auction On Site | 7th June 2025

10 Chamberlain Avenue, Rose Bay NSW 2029

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In Rose Bay, a grass plot about the size of a netball court is heading to auction this morning with price hopes around $1.5 million. 

“As it stands at the moment we’ve had a range of different people looking. We’ve had neighbours looking just so they can increase their lot size, as well as people that would look to potentially put a small house there,” Samuel Schumann from Raine & Horne Unlimited said. 

“I think we’ll have a decent turnout – we’re hoping for a few registrations and I know that every intention is to sell, so we’re hoping for a good result.”