REA chair Hamish McLennan to sell Sydney home for $36 million-plus

Businessman and media heavyweight Hamish McLennan and his wife, Lucinda, have put their Darling Point mansion on the market with a price guide of $36 million-plus, local sources have revealed.

The couple paid $29.25 million in 2023 for the four-bedroom, five-bathroom designer digs which was bought from Olympic gold medallist-turned-recruitment boss Mark Kerry, and his interior designer wife, Lynda, records show. It’s understood the McLennans are downsizing.

Hamish McLennan is the chairman of KIIS FM’s owner ARN, the chairman of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp’s majority-owned REA Group, and the incoming chairman of defence company DroneShield. Previous roles include Rugby Australia chairman and the chief executive officer of Network Ten.

The residence underwent a major renovation by Lynda Kerry and architect Andrew Barnyak, after the Kerrys bought it for $11 million in 2020. The result is a stunning California Mission estate with northerly harbour views stretching to Manly and the Heads.

Alison Coopes, of her eponymous agency, who listed the property in 2023 on behalf of the Kerrys with a guide of $35 million, told this masthead at the time that the rebuild took three years at a cost of some $7 million.

The Kerrys are well known for their lucrative home flips. Their former home a few doors away was purchased for $8.5 million in 2015 and sold five years later for $18 million, and a house on the Rose Bay beachfront they bought in 2012 for $5.2 million sold four years later for $13.8 million.

The McLennan home has three levels with about 687 square metres of internal living space, coffered ceilings, a pavilion-style layout, polished floorboards and lift access.

Leisure and entertainment zones include sun-drenched terraces, a second kitchen, wine cellar, heated pool and spa, cabana and fire pit.

The McLennans had moved from Lavender Bay where they sold a five-bedroom, three-bathroom abode for $16.85 million in 2023.

Elliott Placks and Ashley Bierman of Ray White Double Bay are accepting expressions of interest for the Darling Point mansion, but declined to comment on any aspect of the listing when contacted by this masthead.