Glamorous home from House of Bond sells for $17m-$18m

The home of engineering boss Raymond Cavanagh and his wife Kerry has sold for between $17 million and $18 million, smashing Connells Point’s record.

It has more than doubled the suburb’s high, which was set at $8.3 million in 2023. Not only that, but the waterfront estate has also topped the Georges River record that was last set in Sylvania at $16.3 million in 2022.

Located on a 2168-square-metre block, the trophy home is one of the largest and most prestigious waterfront landholdings in the St George region.

The Cavanaghs purchased the level block in 1992 for $1.4 million and have turned it into the commanding four-bedroom, four-bathroom plantation-style estate it is today.

Designed for the boating enthusiast, the property features world-class facilities, including a full-length jetty, pontoon and a mooring pen, which can accommodate boats up to 60 feet.

The couple are directors of Caman Engineering, a major manufacturer and supplier of pipeline flanges, heat exchangers and pressure vessel components to the oil, gas, mining and petrochemical industries.

Their deep waterfront also featured on Channel Nine’s (the owner of this masthead) House of Bond drama miniseries about the life of business tycoon Alan Bond after the property caught the eye of the show’s producers, who approached the Cavanaghs to film there.

The British-born Australian Alan Bond, who made much of his fortune from property development, left a mixed legacy, which ended in the biggest corporate collapse in Australia’s history and serving time in jail. He also founded Bond University on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

The tightly held home sold through selling agent Mitchell Wynn of Highland Sutherland Shire and St George, who declined to comment when contacted.

Northern beaches underdog

The Ingleside trophy acreage of Narellan Pools co-founders Debbie Meyer and her late husband Chris has hit the market with a guide of $13.8 million.

At a whopping 18,489 square metres – or 1.84 hectares – Larapinta is a resort-style property that is set in an exclusive cul-de-sac just a short drive from Bayview and Mona Vale.

The Meyers purchased the property for $6.26 million in 2018 and a few years later built a two-bedroom guest house that includes a kitchen, living and dining spaces and a home office, in addition to the five-bedroom main residence that has underfloor heating in the bathrooms.

It also features a heated wet-edge infinity pool, a climate-controlled wine cellar, infrared sauna and an irrigation system with a 120,000-litre underground water tank.

The couple turned Narellan Pools into an iconic Australian brand before it was acquired in 2019 by private equity firm Pamplona Capital Management and Wynnchurch Capital. Debbie is also successful in her own right. The 49-year-old entrepreneur has continued involvement with the pool company, as well as consulting.

The home is selling through Shane Clinton of Forbes Global Properties, who said the suburb offered good buying opportunities given there is a $16.5 million gap between its suburb record and the more expensive neighbouring Terrey Hills, which is further back from the beach.

Clinton said much of that disparity stemmed from the NSW government’s now-abandoned 2016-2017 medium-density plan, which proposed 3400 new dwellings in Ingleside. With the plans now officially shelved, the suburb is playing catch-up, helped by its elevation, proximity to Mona Vale and a limited supply of premium acreage sites.

Namaste, Ewingsdale

One of Byron Bay’s leading wellness retreats, SOMA, created by meditation guru Gary Gorrow and his business partner Peter Ostick, has sold for circa $10 million to $12 million, local sources report.

The pair purchased the 8.59 hectares of land in Ewingsdale for just $1.8 million in 2016 and embarked on their business venture, creating one of the Shire’s most iconic and photographed properties.

Architecturally designed in 2018 by Rieky Sunur and George Gorrow (Gary’s brother), the 13-bedroom, 13-bathroom property is a modernist retreat that incorporates green design principles and draws on its surrounding environment.

With an open interior plan, the home is glass-wrapped, providing a seamless indoor-outdoor experience.

The property, which has a potential earning capacity of more than $1.8 million a year, features a heated infinity pool, a fire pit and a geodesic yoga dome. The home was also filmed as the primary location for Nicole Kidman’s Nine Perfect Strangers.

It sold through Will Phillips of Sotheby’s International Realty Byron Bay, who declined to comment when contacted.

The sale is just the latest in a busy couple of weeks for the Byron Shire despite the quiet winter period. Last week, luxury hospitality and accommodation venue Sun Ranch in Byron’s hinterland suburb of Coopers Shoot settled for $9.25 million to northern beaches couple Sophie and James Raper.

Earlier in the month, music engineer pioneer Tom Misner, of SAE Institute, emerged as the nearly $12.9 million buyer of Cedar Hill in Byron Bay’s hinterland, breaking the Newrybar record.