Point Piper is a small, affluent harbourside eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 6 kilometres (4 mi) east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area known as the Municipality of Woollahra.
Point Piper is regarded as Australia's most expensive suburb. It's also the second richest suburb (taxable income) behind Melbourne's Toorak. In 2011, Wolseley Road was ranked as the ninth most expensive street in the world, at $38,900 per square metre.
Location
The suburb of Point Piper sits on Sydney Harbour, beside the suburbs of Rose Bay, Bellevue Hill and Double Bay. The streets in Point Piper are: Buckhurst Avenue, Longworth Avenue, New South Head Road, Redvers Street, St. Mervyns Avenue Wolseley Road, Wolseley Crescent, Wingadal Place, Wentworth Place, Wentworth Street, Wunulla Road, Wyuna Road.
History
Point Piper was named after Captain John Piper , Piper attempted to drown himself in Sydney Harbour. He subsequently sold his holdings at Point Piper, Rose Bay, Neutral Bay, and Petersham, for £5,000 and moved to the country.
In 1834, Piper's former residence was leased by Colonel John George Nathaniel Gibbes (1787-1873), the newly arrived Collector of Customs for New South Wales and a Crown appointee to the colony's Legislative Council. Colonel Gibbes and his family resided at Point Piper House (also known as Henrietta, or Naval, Villa) until 1844, when they moved to "Wotonga" on Kirribilli Point. Wotonga now forms part of Admiralty House. Unfortunately, Point Piper House was torn down in the 1850s and the site redeveloped.
Commercial area
Point Piper does not have a commercial area, and has few amenities or public facilities. The closest commercial areas are in nearby suburbs such as Rose Bay and Double Bay.
Beaches and reserves
Point Piper, in combination with Darling Point, Edgecliff and Rushcutters Bay was named as the wealthiest area in Australia according to information with the Australian Tax Office in 2013.
Housing
Point Piper is home to some of the most expensive and exclusive homes in Australia. There are only eleven streets in Point Piper; the main road is Wolseley Road. The price per sqm of real estate in Point Piper is one of the most expensive in the world; property writer Cindy Martin calculated in 2002 that the total value of the properties on the 1 km waterfront section of Wolseley Road was $720 million.
John Symond's mansion on Wingadal Place, reportedly cost over $70 million to build (excluding land), easily making it Australia's most expensive, privately owned residential home. In 2007, Altona, located in Wunulla Road and Australia's second most expensive house, was listed for more than A$50 million. It was sold in 2013 for a price thought to be more than $50 million, which was a Sydney record.
Craig-y-Mor is a non-waterfront house on Wolseley Road. Australia's second most expensive residential property, it was sold in 2008 for $32.4 million to the Chinese buyers Zeng Wei and Jiang Mei. It was previously owned by Rene Rivkin, who sold it to businessman Ben Tilley in 2004 for $16.15 million. The house has six bedrooms and a nine-car garage. The property was demolished in 2014 after the decision by the local municipality to deny this was overturned by a state judge.
Wolseley Road is the world's 9th most expensive residential street at up to $38,000 a square metre.