Nova FM's Michael 'Wippa' Wipfli sells Queens Park house for $2.4m to chef Nigel Ward

Nova radio star Michael “Wippa” Wipfli and wife Lisa sold their Queens Park house on Monday, pocketing $2.4 million from high-profile chef Nigel Ward.

It was a post-auction sale of the 1920s semi six weeks after it was listed by Nick Quilkey, of Phillips Pantzer Donnelley, and is hoped to be a small fillip to the market on the back of last weekend’s strong auction clearance rate.

Domain data shows of the low number of auctions on Saturday — 471 scheduled compared with 598 of a year ago — the preliminary clearance rate of 71 per cent was one of the best results of the year.

The sale by the breakfast presenter is expected to fuel a property upgrade to a larger home in the eastern suburbs, given inquiries on property from Paddington to Vaucluse.

Wipfli renovated the Queens Park property after he bought it in 2014 for $1.87 million, a year after he and Lisa, co-owner of the baby health food company Nourishing Bubs, married.

The buyer, Nigel Ward, is the former owner and head chef of Sagra restaurant in Darlinghurst, and previously of Sean’s Panaroma and Lucio’s in Paddington.

Ward’s purchase is also a property upgrade. He sold his Victorian terrace in nearby Paddington in February for $2.04 million, having bought it for $1.27 million in 2014.

Meanwhile, a $6 million street record was set on nearby Moncur Street in Woollahra on Monday night when Clayton Utz partner Scott Grahame sold his Victorian terrace.

Bought in 2012 for $2.7 million, it was listed earlier this month for $5.5 million ahead of a June 29 auction by The Agency’s Ben Collier.

Mr Collier declined to reveal the buyer.