62-62A Clendon Rd, Toorak, has been on the market for more than 400 days after seeking to become Melbourne’s first $100m address.
The $105m most expensive home to ever openly test Melbourne’s market has been waiting more than 400 days for a sale amid suggestions state government meddling in the market is scaring off buyers.
In October last year the Myer family made history as they put their Toorak mansion, Cranlana, up for sale at $96m-$105m.
More than 13 months later the 62 Clendon Rd property is still for sale, despite another Melbourne home widely believed to have become the first in the city to sell for more than $100m — with former Essendon boss Paul Little’s Coonac estate sold off market a few months later.
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Now agents and buyers representatives that specialise in the city’s most-well heeled neighbourhood have revealed they believe a raft of government changes, and a much maligned increase in land tax costs, were behind a significant slow down delaying major transactions across Melbourne’s priciest postcodes.
Prominent Toorak buyer’s agent David Morrell said the city’s top end was “really going through an interesting period”, and that there had been more activity above $20m last spring than so far in 2025.
“Melbourne’s top end has just stopped, compared to Sydney and elsewhere,” Mr Morrell said.
“There’s a degree of caution and I think it’s a lot to do with the state government.”
The heritage facade of 62 Clendon Rd, Toorak, as it stands today.
A render showing how the Toorak mansion might look once it is expanded and upgraded.
Premier Jacinta Allan and the wider Victorian parliament have this year announced an array of policies, many likely to lead to more development in affluent neighbourhoods.
They also follow an increase to land tax, which Mr Morrell said had eroded confidence among even wealthy homebuyers.
It would be an ironic twist, with the land tax expansion for secondary properties that commenced early last year intended to help recoup Covid-era spending and balance the budget.
State Revenue Office estimates show the stamp duty on an about $105m transaction, the price Cranlana is seeking, would be in the vicinity of $6.805m.
“There’s no urgency,” Mr Morrell said.
“And Cranlana is very unique, it will need someone with the appetite for heritage. But how many $100m buyers are out there?
“Things do take time at that level.”
He added that even after it sold, the next owner would likely spend $30m on an upgrade that would need to embrace the home’s heritage aspects.
Inside the impressive mansion that has been in the Myer family for more than a century.
Another render showing how the heritage-listed property could be reconfigured internally.
A handful of major property transactions for homes that have lingered for sale for extended periods suggest the Myer family might yet have to consider a discount for the eight-bedroom, 1.14ha Toorak landmark purchased by Sidney who founded the Myer retail empire, and his wife Merlyn Myer.
While the property still has the Edwardian home built in about 1900 and remodelled in 1921, Marshall White’s Marcus Chiminello has it advertised with renders suggesting what could be done with an overhaul of the property sympathetic to its heritage.
Mr Chiminello could not be reached for comment.
Other long-term sales in Melbourne’s $20m-plus market this year have included Brighton’s Teychel estate, sold in July for more than $30m to a neighbour living a few doors down.
But it was initially listed for $46m-$50m in 2022.
The recently sold 6-10 Marne St, South Yarra, was listed for sale in August 2024 for $29m-$31m, and sold recently for an undisclosed sum via Sotheby’s International Realty’s Antoinette Nido.
The estate’s impressive gardens have been regularly used to host events for Melbourne’s social elite, though the residence has not been home to anyone for years.
A pool at the property is separated from the wider gardens by impressive hedges.
With the sale taking more than a year to emerge, Ms Nido said she certainly felt land tax changes had been “detrimental” to top end home sales that either had development potential, or needed work done to them.
“The holding costs are really draconian relative to other states, and it seems to be ever ratcheting up,” Ms Nido said.
“Marne was on the market for a while, but in the end I had about three buyers chasing it.”
Other long-term sales include 56-58 Hopetoun Rd, Toorak, which records show was advertised for sale in October last year with a $59.5m-$64m asking price, and is currently seeking a $55m-$59m sale.
Forbes Global Properties Michael Gibson is selling the home and said it was also likely to have tens of millions more spent on it by the next owner.
Mr Gibson noted the top end of Melbourne’s market was “taking a little bit longer than in the past”, something being experienced in other price brackets as well.
However, he added that for Cranlana it was worth noting the home was “one of the top two or three properties in Victoria of its kind”, and would need just the right buyer — which would take some time.
While Sydney was “bubbling along nicely”, he noted he didn’t see Melbourne following suit even in 2026 — though he hoped it would.
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