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Bitcoin boss’ Woollahra mansion loses $500k in a year
Bitcoin boss James Manning and his wife, Louise, have offloaded their six-bedroom Woollahra mansion for $500,000 less than they paid for it just over a year ago.
The Mannings purchased the 1960s-designed home for $16 million in July last year, and quietly offloaded the property this week for $15.5 million.
Although the half-a-million-dollar drop is just a 3 per cent price cut, the additional $1 million-odd in stamp duty, agent’s fees and relocation costs make their 15-month tenure an expensive stint for the family of six.
Records show the distinctive, curved, white structure complete with guest house was bought last year in Louise Manning’s name.
Mr Manning is the founder of Cosmos Asset Management, the fund management arm of bitcoin miner Mawson Infrastructure Group. Mawson, which mines bitcoin in the US, has invested in a 300-hectare, hydropower bitcoin mining facility in Tasmania’s Que River through its 33 per cent stake in Tasmania Data Infrastructure.
The mansion on Rosemont Avenue was once part of the Packer dynasty’s extensive property portfolio, until billionaire James Packer offloaded it in 2018 for $8.38 million at the same time as the $29 million sale of his famed Bondi Beach bachelor pad.
The 1960s Woollahra house was once owned by the Packer family.
The 1017-square-metre compound was sold by Highland Double Bay’s Will Manning, whose recent sales also include an $11 million Tamarama clifftop semi snapped up by Caledonia’s co-chief investment officer, and property collector, Will Vicars.
It is a rare price drop in the blue-ribbon street that is also home to the nearby Woollahra estate, Rosemont, the former home of Margot, Lady Burrell, and her late husband, Sir Raymond Burrell.
Widely regarded as Woollahra’s grandest residence on more than 3000 square metres, Rosemont set the suburb record of $45 million when it sold through The Agency’s Ben Collier to commercial property finance company Balmain chief Andrew Griffin and his wife, Yelena Alpatova.
The Mannings’ Woollahra transaction times with the completion of Nasdaq-listed Mawson’s sale of one of its US bitcoin mines to US giant CleanSpark for $40 million, in part to “reduce overall debt”.
While bitcoin’s failing fortunes have been well-documented, optimistic agents believe the prestige property market will experience a less-dramatic price correction.
Gavin Rubinstein, founder of real estate agency TRG, said a small drop off the back of a sizzling market combined with interest rates creep was hardly surprising.
“Prices we’re seeing are not 2021 prices, they’ve come off somewhere 10 to 15 per cent, but having said that, particular properties that tick every box are doing extraordinarily well, and across the board for luxury property values have been underpinned by the lack of choice,” Mr Rubinstein said.
While the Mannings are vacating the exclusive Rosemont enclave, they have not cut ties with the leafy suburb, keeping a house on nearby Edgecliff Road. The couple purchased the freestanding villa in 2017 for $3.5 million.
Louise, who has a passion for interior design, oversaw an extensive renovation by in-vogue architect James Garvan and interior queen Tamsin Johnson