Inside Melbourne’s elite homes: What the young and rich want

Swish entertainers’ setups, plenty of car storage space and wellness centres are among the cool home features sought after by Melbourne’s well-off home buyers.

From hyperbaric chambers to golf studios and nightclub-style setups, Melbourne’s young rich listers are seeking jaw-dropping features in their multimillion-dollar homes

Apart from top-tier entertainment, fitness and security attributes, storage for large car collections, art gallery-esque display areas and technologically-savvy mansions are also in demand, according to industry experts.

A new report from top-end agency Marshall White covering the 2024-25 financial year stated young wealthy buyers, often in tech and finance, are becoming a major force in Victoria’s affluent property scene.

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The Marshall White Prestige Property Index mentioned tennis courts and swimming pools remain attractive for most buyers, though are generally viewed as desirable luxuries rather than essential inclusions.

However, secure underground carparking is increasingly in demand, especially by vehicle collectors.

For sale with a $33m-$36m price tag, this double-storey St Kilda penthouse in the Saint Moritz complex features an outdoor heated, glass-walled pool, a barbecue and built-in seating …

… in addition to a private eight-car garage …

… that even has lift access.

On the Mornington Peninsula, demand is particularly shifting toward wellness features such as saunas, home gyms, and yoga studios.

Marshall White director Marcus Chiminello said many young buyers aged in their 30s and 40s wanted homes to perform “much greater tasks” than the previous generation of well-to-do buyers.

“We’re seeing fully customised bars, we’re seeing sort-of speak-easies and also setups like nightclubs within homes, through to pickleball courts,” Mr Chiminello said.

He said many of the younger buyers wanted to be able to entertain friends in the privacy of their own residences, rather than going out in public.

This six-bedrooom mansion at 42 St Georges Rd, Toorak, has a glass-walled six-car garage, gym, home theatre with a bar, and temperature-controlled wine cellar on its lower level. It’s for sale with a $19m-$20.5m asking range.

The wine cellar makes is an ideal space for intimate gatherings.

With home invasions and other crimes very much in the news across Melbourne, homeowners are also seeking to prioritise the safety of themselves and their families.

Panic rooms, safe rooms, walk-in safes and panic buttons, a device designed to summon help by triggering an alarm to emergency or security services, are helping them to do this.

Mr Chiminello said while some homes might not have a panic room, a room that could provide a similar level of safety – if needed – was often viewed as a bonus among buyers.

“Where the rooms shut down, there’s steel-plated doors, there’s security in there, there’s phone lines in there, there’s a safe or people just use them for very valuable items,” he said.

Set on 666sq m, this five-bedroom townhouse at 10A Lucas St, Brighton East, offers a lift, basement office and gym and home theatre.

The six-car basement garage with polished concrete floor boasts a turntable and is pre-wired for electric vehicle charging. The home is for sale with $5.7m-$6m price hopes.

Storage space for between eight to 10 cars is another increasingly popular feature across suburbs such as Toorak, South Yarra, Albert Park, Hawthorn and Kew.

Mr Chiminello has met owners of collectable cars such as older Jaguar E-Type cars and rare Ferraris seeking an area, such as a basement garage, for their valuable vehicles.

“They want them stored in a safe, secure environment, and people go out of their way at length to ensure that they find a home that can store them,” he said.

“There’s certainly an increase from a design perspective, where there are living areas in the lower levels, bars and entertainment rooms that have a glazed interface between them and the best cars in the basement.”

A house at 123 Roslyn St, Brighton, is on the market for $7.5m-$8m. It features a cinema room, mirrored gym and pilates studio, and a steam room.

Inside the steam room. Such rooms are designed to provide wellness benefits through exposure to moist heat, including relaxation, muscle and joint relief, and boosted skin health.

He’s also encountered clients with “phenomenal art collections” who want space to store and display their paintings and sculptures.

When it comes to fitness, he is seeing hot and cold plungers, infra-red and traditional saunas and even hyperbaric chambers in houses.

Mr Chiminello said the wellness trend had been popularised by figures including luxury property developer Tim Gurner, whose wellness chain Saint Haven offers services like infra-red saunas and anti-ageing treatments.

Priced at $27m-$29.5m, the house at 47 Murphy St, South Yarra, has a sauna, steam room, gym, and plunge pool and spa.

The five-bedrooom home also has a pool table and arcade-style games inside.

“And people want an element of that in their home, as well as elsewhere,” Mr Chiminello said.

“People are looking to spend upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars in fitting out a fully equipped gym, which takes up it can take up 800, 100, 150s m of floor space to ensure they have the best exercise facilities, for those that maybe are a bit more impartial to privacy than a public gym.”

A six-bedroom house, 31-33 Sackville St, Kew, features a six-car basement, a billiard room with a kitchenette, and a sauna. It has a $15m price tag.

The house’s wine cellar is another highlight.

Morrell and Koren buyer’s advocate to Melbourne’s top end, Matthew Cleverdon, said he was seeing a lot of newer homes with cinemas and gymnasiums, while basement carparking “has always been a must for multiple cars”.

“There’s an emergence of wellness products, saunas, ice baths, things like that, being an inclusion in homes whether they’re retrofitted in or designed from the start,” Mr Cleverdon said.

“Some homes even have golf simulators, things like that – and I’m awaiting the emergence of the pickleball courts.”

20 Kinkora Rd, Hawthornis for sale with an $8.5m-$9m asking range.

The living room has a home theatre and golf simulator.

Brighton-based Fredman director Joel Fredman, said many young buyers opted for beautifully-finished properties with stylish, sharp-looking interiors.

Aside from wellness, they often liked technologically advanced properties with solar energy and smart home systems, Mr Fredman added.

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