Nick and Camilla Speer farewell $15m Toorak home before Sydney move – The Australian Financial Review

Melbourne society couple Nick and Camilla Speer have sold their Toorak home to move to Sydney, while Goldman Sachs’ MD lists $15m Woollahra abode.
Melbourne society couple Nick and Camilla Speer have sold their Toorak home in an off-market deal understood to be worth around $15 million, as they prepare to move to Sydney.
The sale follows news Nick has been anointed the head of Affinity Equity Partners, based in Barangaroo, after nine years helming the Australian operations at American private equity manager, The Riverside Company.
The Speers have sold their Toorak home on St Georges Road to move to Sydney.  
The couple – who have three young children – offloaded their distinctive pink pad on St Georges Road eight years after purchasing it for $7.635 million in 2015.
The high-profile pair broke up their Melbourne-to-Sydney move with a stint in Europe, where they celebrated the Paris nuptials of celebrity chef Guillaume Brahimi and heiress Tamie Ingham.
The event was a who’s who of Australian society heavyweights, emceed by Nine’s Karl Stefanovic, with News Corp chairman Lachlan Murdoch and outgoing AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan attending as groomsmen.
Camilla – who is a member of Melbourne’s Deague developer family and runs luxury travel outfit Carte Blanche Travel – confirmed the property sale to her Instagram followers, captioning a photo of their Toorak home: “Nearly 8 years in our beautiful pink home. Speers are off.”
The five-bedroom, four-bathroom home last traded for $7.635 million in 2015.  
The post was followed by welcoming comments from the likes of Sydney social queen Nadia Fairfax and in-vogue Sydney-based designer Tamsin Johnson.
Whether the freshly minted Sydneysiders will retain their Portsea clifftop weekender, prized Rovina estate – which they bought for $13.48 million in 2020 – remains to be seen.
The Toorak deal was brokered by selling agents Marshall White’s Marcus Chiminello and Forbes’ Rob Fletcher. The unidentified buyers were represented by buyer’s agent Mal James.
Now the Speers’ Toorak pad has been snapped up, Melbourne’s trophy offerings are few and far between, according to buyer’s advocate Emma Bloom, who says there is a severe lack of stock at the top end.
“It’s slim pickings, so the agents have got to roll their sleeves up and get their stock on the market,” Ms Bloom said.
Nick and Camilla Speer have sold in Toorak before moving to Sydney.  
Unlike the Queensland’s Gold Coast, where a high volume of trophy stock is changing hands despite the usual seasonal downturn, Ms Bloom said the Melbourne market had virtually ground to a halt.
“Crossing fingers and toes that things are going to open up in spring because it’s certainly a stalemate between agents and vendors,” she said. “Agents can’t convince vendors to list as there’s nowhere to go, and they’re promising the world because they need stock.”
Ms Bloom said the usual drivers of sales – the Three Ds of debt, death and divorce – were not enough to feed buyer demand.
“It’s not like the GFC because there’s no debt, we’re still not seeing it,” she said. “There’s not much downsizing because there’s nowhere to buy, so agents are effectively relying on divorce and death.” Or in the Speers’ case, an interstate job promotion.
In Sydney’s eastern suburbs Goldman Sachs managing director Marissa Freund and husband, Next Capital’s James Murphy, have listed their designer Woollahra home for $15 million, after spending around $25 million on a Bellevue Hill property last month.
Goldman Sachs’ Marissa Freund is swapping Woollahra for Bellevue Hill. Daniel Munoz
The Goldman Sachs’ local head of M&A and her husband, a partner at the mid-market private equity firm, purchased the Wallaroy Crescent property in 2013 for $5 million, and have transformed it alongside prominent architect Michael Suttor.
The five-bedroom, 1920-built home features Herringbone parquetry, chef’s gourmet marble kitchen, heated swimming pool, custom cabinetry and underfloor bathroom heating.
The couple appear to have developed a taste for renovating, considering their recent buy in Bellevue Hill requires a little TLC, with the rundown home requiring either an extensive upgrade or a knock-down rebuild, according to local real estate sources.
This Woollahra home has hit Sydney’s prestige market with a $14 million to $15 million guide.  
The move is an upsize for the pair, who are swapping their 580-square-metre Woollahra landholding for a 1500 sq m harbour-view block on Victoria Road, formerly owned by British global conglomerate, The Swire Group.
The Woollahra listing agent, Raine & Horne Double Bay’s Alex Lyons, is guiding $14 million to $15 million before an August 15 auction and says the fully renovated home will appeal to certain buyers.
The Wallaroy Crescent home has been overhauled by acclaimed architect Michael Suttor.  
“It’s a stunning renovation, it’s an expansive family home which is low maintenance and a short stroll to Double Bay, so it ticks a lot of boxes for a lot of people,” he said.
Mr Lyons, who is also handling the $55 million listing of freight boss Arthur Tzaneros’ Vaucluse home, said Sydney was also experiencing a chronic shortage of luxury stock that will be snapped up over the next five months.
“Between now and the end of the year we’ll probably see a high volume of prestige stock trade, and anything on the market with get wrapped up,” the prestige agent said.
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