In Sydney, preparations are made for the sale of Altona, a mansion in the renowned suburb of Point Piper. Many years ago she had hosted Frank Sinatra and more recently she had been rented by Bono. The intention is to snatch – with 45 million euros – the record of the most expensive Australian house at Villa Veneto, another mansion in Point Piper: built in 2004 in a style that the Australians call Italianate, and cost around 11 million euro, was sold in 2010 to a dentist for A$52 million (€39 million).
Anyone who has recently paid a dentist bill won't be surprised. But, for Italians who want to invest in Australia, a warning: the Australian real estate market is perhaps the most overvalued in the world, with the price/rent ratio at historic highs. The bubbles are making a comeback, as can also be seen in the IPOs of Linkedln and the Russian search engine, Yandex. Caveat emptor.
