A deep waterfront home on Arabella St set a new record for the suburb when it sold for more than $22 million before the closing date for expressions of interest.
Tavis Standen of Standen Estate Agents, which sold the Arabella St home, said Longville had long been seen as the Point Piper of the north, but he was now seeing buyers from up and down the North Shore and the eastern suburbs. They all have budgets of $10 million or more and are looking for convenience and views of the Harbour Bridge.
We've never had so many buyers who are cashing out and ready to buy, trading large tracts of land for convenience, and we're seeing them come from non-traditional areas like the upper North Shore," he says.
Tavis even has a condo coming up that he expects to sell for more than $10 million, such is the demand. there are fewer than 750 houses and 15 units in Longueville.
Longueville's suburban record is $13.5 million, and it wasn't until 22 Kenneth Street sold for $19.25 million in May of this year that it caught the attention of locals.
According to PropTrack, the median home price in the suburb is $5.31 million, and the average homeowner has held onto their property for 18.5 years, longer than anywhere else on the North Shore.
In the past four weeks, properties ranging from close to $13 million to more than $22 million have sold. 83 Kenneth St sold for about $13 million, a deep-sea home at 62a Lucretia Ave sold for about $18 million, and a renovated historic home on Poole St on 2,061 square metres sold for about $19 million. All were sold through McGrath Lane Cove.
McGrath's Sam Lloyd declined to disclose or confirm the sales figures, but he did say that Longueville is undervalued and that there are many valuable properties on the peninsula that would fetch well over $10 million if they were to go under the hammer.
It's a very quiet central suburb with city views and we're seeing buyers from Killara and even Strathfield looking, he said.
28 Lucretia Avenue has a guide price of between $20 million and $22 million and will go to auction in October. Broker Simon Harrison of Belle Property Lane Cove said it was the most stunning house he had ever seen, with breathtaking space, floor plan and four-car garage.
Longueville is becoming a real choice for buyers in the lower North Shore, he says: It's not as busy as Mosman, has a harbourside lifestyle and Lane Cove's new shops and restaurants have upgraded the area.
Then there's Otahki, a 4,400 square metre, nine-bedroom waterfront estate with a price tag of around $50 million. At that price, it would be the most expensive property west of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Christie's International's Ken Jacobs says Longueville is catching up and its property values are being readjusted. Buyers from overseas, the lower North Shore and eastern suburbs are eyeing Otahki on Poole St, with its swimming pool, breakwater, boathouse and world-class design, he added.
It's going to set a new benchmark for Longueville, it's an extraordinary building, he said.
The median home price in Longueville is $5,292,500, according to PropTrack. Over the past 12 months, 18 homes have sold, a 21.4 per cent drop in price.
According to the 2016 census, just 2,020 people live in Longueville, which is within the Lane Cove local government area, 8 kilometres north-west of Sydney's CBD.
