22 Victoria St, Watsons Bay sold for $14m, $6m above reserve, at a Double Bay auction last night.

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Bidders fought for a Watsons Bay duplex that sold for $14m, $6m above reserve at a hot auction last night — and there was speculation a certain billionaire was the successful purchaser.

Auctioneer Damien Cooley described it as the auction of the year. “I can’t recall any of my other auctions going $6m over reserve,” he said.

It certainly looked as though the winning bidder, buyer’s agent Simon Cohen, had a brief from his secret client to secure the rundown duplex of two whole-floor apartments with double garage on a 402 sqm corner block at 22 Victoria St “at any cost”, given his rapid-fire responses from the get-go.

The contest opened at $7m. And there were a whopping 209 bids before the gavel fell.

Neither Cohen nor sales agent Peter Anderson would comment on the buyer, citing confidentiality.

But likely candidates are Steven Lowy — the former Westfield Co-Chief Executive Officer — and his wife, Judy, who live across the road in a beachfront. The Lowy family is one of the most prominent business families in Australia with a reported net worth of more than $8 billion.

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The duplex consists of two whole-floor apartments.

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When the tired semi next door to their home came on the market in 2017 they snapped it up for $14.2m — $4.45m over reserve — taking Lowy’s properties to five blocks along the beachfront totalling more than 2500 sqm.

Last night, Anderson had seven registered bidders with four competing.

He’d been guiding $6.5m-$7.15m. “There’s nothing comparable to this — you’ve got a park either side; it’s a duplex and you don’t need to own shoes … it’s straight across the road and you’re on Camp Cove beach,” Anderson said.

Cooley knocked back the first two offers from the opening bidder at the back of the room, of $6.1m and $6.3m, finally accepting his $7m bid.

Cohen immediately countered with $7.15m; with the bidder at the back coming back with $7.2m and then Cohen $7.3m.

This set the scene for the rest of the auction, with cool-cat Cohen, standing front and centre, calmly delivering his carefully crafted manoeuvres — down to mostly $25,000 offers from $8.7m.

It’s just a hop, skip and jump to the water.

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In all, there were 209 bids. No wonder it lasted nearly 45 minutes, much to the frustration of buyers waiting to bid on the other homes up for auction.

The prominent architect Nick Tobias and cashed-up girlfriend Dana Lewis were the underbidders. Lewis and her ex, David Lewis, sold their Belleuve Hill mansion to F-45 co-founder Rob Deutsch and his new wife, model Nicole Perso, for $37m.

Tobias bought a four-bedroom home further along Victoria St for $5.1m in 2020 which he has since transformed. It’s understood Tobias was looking forward to having Lewis living close by, but it wasn’t to be.

Steven Lowy — the former Westfield Co-Chief Executive Officer — and his wife, Judy, who live across the road in a beachfront are rumoured to be the buyers. Picture: Jane Dempster/The Australian.

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Records show the vendor of the duplex sold for $14m last night was a Drummoyne-based Robert Button, who must be celebrating this morning. He’d bought it for $675,000 in 1998.

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