Tech billionaire Scott Farquhar and his wife, investment banker Kim Jackson are known for having a somewhat low-key approach to their discretionary property purchases – at least among Australia’s billionaire class.
That said, the couple’s principal property investment is the $71 million Elaine estate in Point Piper (a doer-upperer at that), so it’s all relative.
Scott Farquhar and Kim Jackson are known for their low-key discretionary property portfolio.Credit:
But as Gina Rinehart stakes her claim to Noosa, Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest to the late Olivia Newton-John’s Gaia Retreat in Byron Bay, and Mike Cannon-Brookes claims a good part of Palm Beach, the Southern Highlands and now Dunk Island, the Farquhar-Jackson family are doubling down on the Central Coast.
Records show the co-chief executive and co-founder of software giant Atlassian has set a record for Avoca Beach of $10.85 million, which in billionaire terms could be seen as a bargain, given it was discounted from an original guide of $13 million in February .
Local values have come a long way since Farquhar first bought into the market in 2010. At the time the then 30-year-old, who was living in a two-bedroom apartment in Pyrmont, bought an architect-designed house with five bedrooms on 556 square meters for $3.57 million.
The five-bedroom house sets a beachfront record for the Central Coast of $10.85 million.Credit:
Fast-forward to 2022 and the couple’s new digs – a kicked-football distance away – is another designer home with the same number of bedrooms and on the same land size, but for the marked-up price of 200 per cent more.
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Not that rising values are an issue. Farquhar ranked fourth of this year’s AFR Rich List 200worth an estimated $26.4 billion, and his wealth has only improved since: the share price in the Nasdaq-listed Atlassian has soared 56 per cent to $US279.35 in the six weeks since he exchanged on the beachfront digs.