Toorak land now asking $40m with no permit
A vacant block on Toorak's most exclusive street is being quietly offered to a select pool of buyers, with expectations it could fetch more than $40m, despite having nothing built on it.
The cleared site at 16 St Georges Rd was once home to the grand Edwardian villa Idylwilde, controversially demolished in 2015 after a failed bid by Stonnington Council to save it.
Now, a decade on, the block is back in play via an off-market campaign that could set a new benchmark for undeveloped land in Victoria's priciest postcode.
Overseas buyers eye St Kilda pad near Luna Park
It's not the first time the land has been offered.
The site was publicly listed in June 2020, also through RT Edgar, with a multimillion-dollar price tag, but after 243 days on the market and no sale, it was quietly withdrawn.
RT Edgar auctioneer Jack Edgar, who is handling the off-market listing, said buyer appetite for prestige sites had reached new heights.
'The demand for A-grade land in Toorak is as strong as I've ever seen it,' Mr Edgar said.
'Buyers are increasingly confident in building luxury homes, and they're looking for elite positions like this.'
While the $40m+ figure won't top Toorak's all-time record, believed to be the $80m off-market deal for 17 St Georges Rd in 2022, it would rank among the suburb's most valuable bare blocks, with no planning permits or house to speak of.
Prominent Melbourne buyers' advocate Cate Bakos said price at this level was driven by scarcity, not square-metre rates.
'To most people, $40m sounds astronomical — and it is — but buyers operating in this space aren't shocked by the figure,' Ms Bakos said.
'They're focused on the opportunity to create something iconic.'
Ms Bakos said prestige buyers often prioritised vision and legacy over resale.
'They're not worried about holding costs or land tax,' she said.
'These are long-term plays.'
The site's past still lingers in local memory.
It was bought in 2013 by Chinese businessman Wang Hua and then-wife Xiao 'Kylie' Yan Bao for $18.5m, before their demolition of Idylwilde sparked public backlash.
Stonnington Council tried to block it, but the state ultimately ruled the home lacked enough architectural significance.
The land has sat empty ever since.
Now, with no house and no permit, the $40m block could finally get its next chapter, and become one of Toorak's most valuable blank canvases yet.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Young Aussie ditches Sydney, moves to outback Queensland for ‘financial gap year'
A young Australian has revealed the moment he decided to embark on a 'financial gap year', leaving behind his corporate job in Sydney and moving to outback Queensland. A month ago, Tim Abbott was living a life many young professionals could relate to. He had built a career in the digital marketing space, having worked his way up in the industry over the past 10 years, and was earning what many would consider 'good money'. He was renting a room in a share house and even managed to break into the property market, buying an apartment that he leased out. The 31-year-old had no credit card debt, no car loan and no student debt. On paper, Mr Abbott should have been well on his way to financial freedom. But the reality was quite different. While he was earning a six-figure salary, his wage was not growing fast enough to keep up with the rising cost of living. He got to the point where he realised his money 'used to go so much further', but things had started to stall. 'I just feel like everyone is feeling a pinch, and everyone's tightening up in order to either save for their future or just to get by,' he told 'It's a conversation that's being had by everyone. I don't know anyone who's not talking about this at the moment.' Over a three-year period, his rent had doubled, seeing him fork out $600 a week, not including energy, water or internet bills. Mr Abbott calculated that he was spending close to $40,000 a year on rent. Even his investment property, which he thought would be his 'golden ticket' to growing his finances, wasn't turning out the way he envisioned. He was being stung with brutal strata fees and the money he was receiving in rent wasn't enough to cover his mortgage repayments. Eventually, Mr Abbott asked himself, 'why am I putting all this time and energy into a life I ultimately don't want?' So, he decided to make a change. His friend lives and works on a property in rural Queensland and mentioned there was a position available helping out on the farm. The 31-year-old quit his job, packed up his life and moved almost 13 hours away, going from the hustle and bustle of city life to living and working on a farm about 570km west of Brisbane, where the closest town has 500 residents. Mr Abbott is just over a month in to his new life and he is already shocked by how much money he has saved. He is working more and, as a result, his salary is slightly higher than what he was earning in Sydney, but he says the real game changer has been his cost of living expenses, which he estimates have decreased by 75 to 80 per cent. 'It's a very different lifestyle. It's not so much the money you make, but also the money you save, because there's nowhere to spend it,' he said. 'You're not getting two coffees a day, you're not going out for lunch, you're not ordering Uber Eats, so the money that comes into my account stays there. 'It just feels like a bit of a parallel universe. It feels like a cheat code, almost.' His accommodation costs are all baked into his work contract, so last month he spent a total of $220, which was the cost of his groceries. 'It costs that much to breathe (in Sydney). It's crazy,' Mr Abbott said. For anyone considering a sea change, the young Aussie can't recommend rural living enough, noting 'there's a lot of work out here'. 'If you don't mind peace and quiet, or that sort of living, I highly endorse it,' he said. Mr Abbott's goal for his financial gap year is to save $100,000, which he feels confident he will be able to achieve. Eventually, he hopes to be able to buy his own home with a hobby farm 'somewhere warm', but, at the moment, he isn't in a huge rush. 'I could have never imagined in my wildest dreams that I'd be driving a tractor or living where I'm living. So, who knows what the future holds?' he said. 'But I do know that I wasn't going to be able to achieve this if the money that was coming in was going immediately out.'
ABC News
3 hours ago
- ABC News
Reserve Bank cuts cash rate to 3.6 per cent
The Reserve Bank has delivered its third interest rate cut of 2025, with a 0.25 percentage point reduction. Political editor Jacob Greber speaks to Sarah Ferguson.
ABC News
3 hours ago
- ABC News
Could Australia benefit from the revolution in AI?
The chair of the Tech Council of Australia, Scott Farquhar, speaks to Sarah Ferguson about the benefits of AI and the possible opportunities for Australia.
