This Rose Bay home sold for $85m, the top sale in Sydney over 2025.
Billionaires Alex and Vanessa Birkenstock, of the German leather sandal-family, are the buyers of an $85m Rose Bay mansion that sold in the days leading up to Christmas.
The last-minute purchase was the highest residential sale for 2025.
The couple, who were living in Melbourne, have been looking to buy in Sydney for several years with a budget of up to $200m.
Alex has long dreamt of sailing on Sydney Harbour. And with their daughters starting at the exclusive Rose Bay school Kambala this year, the search via top buyer’s agent Simon Cohen gathered pace in the last months of 2025.
With Cohen last spotted in the Maldives and the sales agents, Brad Pillinger of Pillinger and Steven Chen of The Agency, remaining tightlipped on their purchasers it was left to other sources to spill the beans exclusively to News Corp.
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Vanessa Cush Birkenstock models some of Myer’s winter fashion range in 2006.
Iconic views.
An infinity pool, naturally.
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They’d had their eye on the five-bedroom residence known as Bayview Hill House in Bayview Hill Rd since its May listing with a $90m guide.
Vanessa Cush Birkenstock, a British-German model who had lived in Australia between 2002 and 2012 before she met her German husband, appeared in campaigns for Kenzo, Myer and Bettina Liano.
She was seen viewing the property late last year with Cohen and loved it so much that she asked her husband to jump on a plane and take a look.
The luxury home was owned by Lawrence Myers, chief executive of James Packer’s family office Consolidated Press Holdings, and his wife, Sylvia.
In a bizarre twist, the Myers are moving to the $80m Barangaroo penthouse that the Birkenstocks had also considered.
On a 1039sqm block, the grand property, designed by David Walker and Peter Janks, has incredible views of the Harbour Bridge from nearly every room — even the bathtub and gym.
There’s also a spectacular wet-edge pool with spa and cabana.
The Myers had bought it from retailer Brett Blundy for $43m in 2018.
The property had been for sale since last May.
There’d been hopes of $90m, but still a nice profit for the vendors who paid $43m in 2018.
The sale slotted in at No.2 in the top 20 sales across the country for the year, with Pillinger having been behind this top Sydney sale at $85m. The next highest was $82.5m, also in Rose Bay, via Ken Jacobs of Forbes with Simon Cohen representing the undisclosed buyer.
Michael Pallier, of Sotheby’s, who had $1bn in sales last year, was the agent for six of the top sales.
Vanessa Birkenstock pictured in her modelling days.
Alex and his brother Christian were reported as having been worth US$3.4bn in 2023 after they sold a majority of their stake in the family business in a $4.7bn deal two years before.
The footwear company dates from 1774, with Alex, Christian and their brother Stephan taking control from their father, Karl, in 2002.
Stephan sold his share in 2013.
Alex, 57, reportedly also owns property in New York, Miami and southern Germany.
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