Media power couple: Spotify boss selling stylish $5m inner west house

Spotify Australia boss Mikaela Lancaster and her husband Mark Britt, former chief executive of iflix, are moving on from their Croydon home with a $5 million price guide.

Built in circa 1910, Kaleena has been beautifully updated, while retaining its original craftsmanship and ornate features.

Set on 1286 square metres, the five-bedroom, two-bathroom home has multiple outdoor entertaining zones, pool and poolside terrace, gym, studio and basketball court.

It is selling through Chris Nunn of BresicWhitney, who declined to comment. The home is scheduled to go under the hammer on 13 September.

The media power couple, who met in the Daily Mail Australia chapter of their careers, only purchased the grand inner-west Federation bungalow for $4.75 million in 2021.

Lancaster was general manager of Daily Mail and Britt was Channel Nine’s head of digital division (then known as Mi9) when the two media organisations entered a joint venture in 2014. That corporate partnership broke up two years later, but not the lovebirds. Nine is the owner of this masthead.

They’ve moved onto bigger and better things, professionally and in the property world. Lancaster has since become Spotify Australia’s managing director, while Britt went on to head up streaming service iflix. Former media executive Britt has since co-founded AI-driven preventative health platform TMRW.

In that time, the couple bought and sold their Clareville home on the northern beaches, almost doubling their money in about five years. After that $10.25 million sale, they took the keys to their $9.5 million holiday home in Byron Bay. The 10-hectare getaway in Federal, known as Amileka, starred as the backdrop to last year’s reality TV show Love Island Australia.

New neighbours for power couple

Lachlan Murdoch has a new neighbour as of Wednesday, after a nearby home sold for $21.075 million in a competitive mid-week auction.

Nineteen buyers – across Paddington, Point Piper, Rhodes, Brisbane city, Melbourne’s Thornbury, Double Bay and Woollahra – registered to bid on the deceased estate neighbouring the media mogul’s grand estate in Bellevue Hill.

All but two were owner-occupiers with a keen interest to renovate the five-bedroom, three-bathroom house. The others were developers hoping to knock down and rebuild.

An opening bid of $16 million – bang on the reserve – had Fernlee on the market from the get-go.

Set on 930 square metres, the property was on the market for the first time since Hong Kong doctors Robert and Katherine Yiu bought the three-level house for $2.3 million in 1990.

The sell-off was quick to reach $20 million as the initial bids rose in $500,000 increments before slowing down towards the end when the hammer fell.

It sold to Australian expats who plan to live in the property on their return, local sources say. They were represented by buyer’s agent Simon Cohen of Cohen Handler who was unavailable for comment. The direct underbidders were a Bellevue Hill family.

The home sold through Steven Zoellner of Laing+Simmons, who said there were no comparable homes, which is why its price soared above expectations on the night of the auction.

Or the successful purchaser had deep pockets. While the ultimate buyer’s identity will be revealed upon settlement, they’ve taken the keys to a home where they have the opportunity to rub shoulders with one of the world’s most powerful media figures given Lachlan and his wife Sarah live nearby, where they have amassed a sprawling landholding to the tune of $30 million. Two of those homes were to protect their views.

Locals downsizing

It was a busy week for property hunters in Bellevue Hill given the nearby home of anaesthetist Henry Liberman and his wife, retired school teacher Gilla sold for $11 million under the hammer straight after the

Yiu family’s auction.

After almost four decades of ownership, the Libermans decided to downsize from their well-kept five-bedroom, three-bathroom family home.

The two-storey house, which is set on 704 square metres, is minutes away from Rose Bay harbour foreshore.

With more than 40 years of experience, Dr Liberman has been a long-serving anaesthetist for a number of hospitals including Royal Hospital for Women, Sydney Children’s Hospital and Prince of Wales Hospital.

It sold through Michael Pallier of Sydney Sotheby’s International Realty.

Historic manor hits market

In Hunters Hill, the home of orthopaedic surgeon Dr Brett Fritsch and his architect wife Sarah has hit the market with $9 million price expectations.

Offered for only the second time in 80 years, Glenview is one of the landmark sandstone residences on the peninsula.

It was built by one of Hunters Hill’s most notable early residents, Charles Jeanneret, for his daughter, and later used as a Presbyterian manse during the 1920s.

Set on 1981 square metres with dual street frontage, the four-bedroom, two-bathroom home has been beautifully renovated, retaining its grandeur with rare development application approved to extend the property.

The Fritschs purchased the house for $4.85 million in 2015.

It is selling through Tracey Dixon of McGrath Hunters Hill and is scheduled to go to auction on September 13.