Ex-Melbourne Rebels Rugby Club Owner Puts 19th-Century Mansion Back up for Sale
The Italianate Victorian-era home, with six bedrooms and renovated interiors, is now asking A$13.5 million to A$14.3 million
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Former Melbourne Rebels rugby club owner Andrew Cox has put his notable 19th-century house in the Australian city’s Brighton suburb back on the market with a multimillion-dollar price cut.
The grand dame, a rare Italianate mansion called Narellan, was last on the market in April 2021—amid Melbourne’s on again off again series of strict pandemic-induced lockdowns. At the time, the 1880s residence had an ambitious asking price of A$18 million to A$19 million (US$11.88 million to US$12.54 million) but failed to sell. Now, with new listing agents, Gowan Stubbings and Will Maxted of Kay & Burton Stonnington, the house has a revised price guide of A$13.5 million to A$14.3 million.
Stubbings said the expansive six-bedroom house on 1,389 square meters on Moule Avenue, just streets from Brighton Beach, is priced to sell.
Courtesy Kay & Burton Stonnington
“It’s certainly in very good company in the caliber of A$10 million up to A$50 million homes,” Stubbings said. “Brighton, like many of Melbourne’s elite suburbs, has seen several of its historic homes modernised and changed over the years, but Narellan is an icon for the area,”.
The home’s white Italianate Victorian facade is eye-catching, Stubbings said.
“It has such a majestic nature. You can see it being one of the original Brighton landmark homes,” he said. “When I walk up to the top of the turret and take in the views over Port Phillip Bay, it takes me back to another time and I can imagine the ships coming back towards the city.”
Cox, the former Melbourne Rebels Super Rugby club owner ,paid A$5.71 million for the estate in 2006, according to CoreLogic records.
New Zealand-born Cox now runs private equity fund Imperium Capital Group, a diversified investment company that acquires small and medium enterprises mainly in the tourism, hospitality and sports management sectors.
The house also belonged at one point to powerhouse employment website seek.com.au’s co-founder Andrew Bassat.
Cox declined to comment on the sale of the property, but it is understood that during his ownership the vast two-story house has been completely updated.“It’s been very sympathetically redone for its era,” Stubbings said. “People love the big ceiling heights, the large rooms and the natural light, but it’s the kitchens and bathrooms that give it a more modern feel. It all works incredibly well together, especially when you’ve got bathrooms spilling out onto the upstairs terrace, it’s just like a luxury hotel.”
“This home has been designed so that someone can just move in and enjoy it. There’s nothing more to do. They’ve modernised it beautifully to the way we live today. I just think they’ve nailed it,” Stubbings added.
The home features a long list of ground floor entertainment spaces including an elegant entry porch and foyer leading to a large study or library, a sitting room, formal dining room, an elaborate billiard room with bar, a combined living area and a contemporary kitchen. There is also a sunroom, gym, sauna and self-contained two-bedroom guest wing with a commercial-grade kitchen.
Upstairs are six spacious bedrooms, including a main suite with bay window, private balcony, walk-in wardrobe and ensuite plus access to the unique turret with sweeping views of Port Phillip Bay and city skyline. The upper floor also houses two additional living rooms and two more balconies.
Outdoors, the home is surrounded by landscaped grounds with manicured hedges, rose bushes, level lawns, an alfresco barbecue terrace with fireplace as well as a pool house with a bathroom and kitchen and pool.
The period home is a short walk from the beach with sought-after schools, popular boutiques and eateries nearby.
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As interest rates, inflation and market sentiment fluctuate, investors are being urged to focus on data, not panic.
Australia’s housing affordability crisis is being fuelled by chronic undersupply, planning delays and rising development costs, as politicians continue to focus on the wrong solutions.
3 min
Australia’s housing crisis will not be solved by first-home buyer incentives or tax changes alone, with leading property figures warning governments must tackle supply constraints if affordability is to improve.
Speaking at the Kanebridge Quarterly Property Leadership Summit in Sydney last week, expert project marketing specialist Sam Elbanna, property investor and fund manager Paul Miron and property consultant Karla McNeice said that a lack of housing supply remained the central issue facing the market.
Elbanna, Director of CPM Realty with more than 30 years’ experience in project sales, argued that successive governments had focused too heavily on stimulating demand rather than addressing the barriers preventing new housing from being delivered.
“The misconception is that politicians think the way to solve the housing crisis is to drive demand,” he said.
“The reality is that’s not the way. This is a supply-side problem, and it needs to be solved on the supply side.”
Drawing on his experience in project sales, Elbanna said policies designed to help first-home buyers often had unintended consequences, pointing to previous grants that ultimately flowed through to higher property prices.
Instead, he said developers were facing increasing red tape, approval delays and rising costs, which were discouraging new housing supply.
“In the absence of stock, demand exceeds supply,” he said.
Miron, a Co-Founder and Fund Manager of Msquared Capital, said the housing debate had become overly focused on tax policy while overlooking broader structural issues.
He argued that affordability challenges stemmed from a combination of factors, including planning constraints, supply shortages, migration levels and interest rates.
“No-one can be 100 per cent certain on the real reason for property prices is going up,” he said.
“The reason why property prices are higher is a combination of interest rates, lack of supply, migration, vacancy rates and maybe taxes play a role.”
Miron was critical of recent federal housing policy changes, warning they could reduce the number of new homes being built and further constrain supply that was even highlighted in the budget.
He also highlighted the importance of the property sector to the broader economy, noting that residential real estate and related industries employed more than one million Australians.
McNeice, who advises developers on sales strategy and market intelligence, said understanding buyers had become increasingly important as affordability pressures intensified.
While affordability remained a major consideration, she said today’s buyers were focused on value rather than simply price.
“People are looking for value for money,” she said.
She said buyers were increasingly evaluating factors such as transport connections, walkability, nearby amenities and flexible living spaces that could accommodate changing family needs.
“What infrastructure is going on? Can I walk to the shops? Can I meet people at the local cafe?” she said.
The panel also discussed the mounting pressures facing developers, with Elbanna arguing that many projects become financially unviable from the moment a site is purchased.
“The viability of a development happens at the moment the site is bought,” he said.
He said rising construction costs, higher interest rates and overly optimistic feasibility assumptions had left some developers exposed as market conditions changed.
While acknowledging the growing number of smaller and first-time developers entering the market, Elbanna said property development required expertise across finance, construction, marketing and legal disciplines.
“It is actually a business that requires a level of expertise,” he said.
Looking ahead, the panel agreed opportunities remained in the market despite current challenges.
Miron said property should continue to be viewed as a long-term investment and cautioned against trying to time short-term market movements.
McNeice said success would increasingly depend on identifying projects that genuinely met changing buyer expectations.
Elbanna said affordable housing remained achievable, but developers needed to deliver more than just homes.
“We can provide affordable housing in this country,” he said.
“But we’ve got to wrap that affordable housing with the things that people want.”
As Australia’s housing affordability debate intensifies, the panellists agreed on one point: without a meaningful increase in housing supply, demand-side measures alone are unlikely to solve the nation’s property challenges.
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