RUMAH: BRIGHTON’S MODERN $11M MARVEL
Blending brutalist strength with warm, refined interiors, Rumah is a bold architectural statement in Brighton’s coastal enclave — a designer family home where luxury meets liveability.
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Rumah means “home” in Indonesian and Malay, and it’s clear this designer property in Melbourne’s coveted beachside enclave of Brighton is a dream house in any language.
The uber-contemporary residence is a collaboration between builders Belot Property, Seidler Group architects, and the interiors team at Golden.
The result is a modern marvel that combines a brutalist concrete exterior ready to weather its coastal setting with inviting interiors using a mix of textures, from French oak to metal and brick finishes.
Just listed with Kay & Burton Bayside agents, Rae Mano, Matthew Pillios and Jamie Mi, the prestige property is on the market via a private treaty campaign with price expectations of between $10.5 million and $11.5 million.
Created to be a great entertainer while maintaining a level of discreet privacy, Rumah is, at its heart, a warm, family-friendly home that ticks all the boxes for detail-oriented design connoisseurs.
A palette of contradictions, Rumah blends angular and rounded forms, features hard steel and glass, and effortlessly incorporates the earthy finishes of brick and timber for a holistic sensory experience.
Beyond the oversized pivot door sits a large structural column wrapped in gold leaf, setting the tone for the rest of the residence. The three-storey layout offers a choice of multigenerational spaces, from the ground-floor everyday living level to the accommodation wing on the top floor and the large basement “clubhouse.”
At the heart of the home, a gourmet kitchen features a dramatic island bench, high-end appliances, and a full butler’s pantry. Multiple spaces feed off the kitchen, including a vast dining area and a large living room, which both spill out through full-height glazed doors to either a side barbecue terrace or the poolside deck to the rear.
Even the downstairs entertainer’s room – also known as the club – is effectively poolside thanks to an innovative glass viewing window framing swimmers and cleverly connecting the subterranean level to the rest of the home. This games room also houses a sophisticated bar, a wine cellar, integrated night club style lounge seating and a full bathroom.
Additionally, the lower floor features a hidden laundry room, two store rooms, direct access to a huge five-car garage with a convenient turning circle, and an extra bedroom or home office.
Via the private elevator, the top floor is dedicated to after-hours living. It has four spacious bedrooms, each with its own ensuite and walk-in wardrobes. In the luxurious primary suite, there is a hotel-inspired ensuite with a unique kidney-shaped freestanding bath and a dressing room.
Rumah’s added extras include warming indoor and outdoor fireplaces, automatic blinds, feature lighting, marble accents, bespoke wallpaper, built-in bedheads, an external spa and low-maintenance landscaped gardens.
Positioned on the corner of William and Halifax Sts, the 21st-century beach house is opposite William St Reserve, close to Brighton Primary School.
Rumah at 91 William St, Brighton is on the market via private sale with Kay & Burton Bayside and has a sales guide of $10.5 million and $11.5 million.
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The US housing market remains under pressure as high mortgage rates continue to weigh on affordability and demand. Industry leaders say 2026 has been one of the toughest years for home sales, with slower price growth, weaker mortgage activity, and fewer buyers entering the market. However, experts say reduced competition and more price cuts could create opportunities for well-prepared buyers.
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The typically busy spring season for the housing market was a dud, and the summer isn’t looking much brighter.
Housing services companies like Zillow Group and Rocket RKT +3.78% were loud and clear last week on earnings calls: Rocket CEO Varun Krishna called the quarter through June “one of the toughest spring housing markets in years.”
Jeremy Hofmann, Zillow’s chief financial officer, said on a conference call that the company predicted earlier this year that the market for mortgages would be flat. “We actually now think it’s going to be down low-to-mid-single digits,” he said.
The rest of 2026 will remain challenging for mortgage origination volume, says KBW analyst Bose George. The question now is what happens in 2027. “If mortgage rates remain [around] 6.75%, I think that’s going to be challenging even for next year,” he says.
But what’s bad news for mortgage companies could be a positive for bargain hunters. Buyers can expect prices to grow more slowly—or mildly decline—with less competition as long as mortgage rates remain unpredictable.
Mortgage rates at the beginning of the year were solidly below year-ago levels, notes Zillow senior economist Kara Ng. But they surpassed last year’s levels recently, she adds, referencing Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of 30-year fixed mortgage rates. Last week’s reading, at 6.69%, was higher than year-ago levels for the first time in 2026.
“From the affordability point of view, it’s going to get more challenging in the second half of the year,” she says. “And when affordability gets more challenging, that impacts sales and home price appreciation.”
Mortgage application data tracked by the Mortgage Bankers Association has cooled since the beginning of the year. The trade group expects that the number of mortgage originations in the remaining two quarters will lag behind last year’s levels, after exceeding 2025 levels in the first half.
Rocket’s early-stage data—which the company told Barron’s it derives from its brokerage Redfin, demand for its mortgage products, and signs in its servicing portfolio that a homeowner is preparing to refinance or move—“leads us to expect the third quarter mortgage market to be smaller than the second,” Chief Financial Officer Brian Brown, said on the company’s call. He added that such an occurrence is “something the industry has not seen since 2022.”
Prices will be about flat nationally, Ng says. Zillow’s most recent forecast, which shows how values are expected to change in the year ending June 2027, show them dropping in roughly half of the 100 largest U.S. metros for which data is available.
Buyers aren’t rushing in at a time when mortgage costs are rising and unpredictable. But those with the right combination of patience and cash could stand to benefit. “If you are financially qualified to buy a starter home, you are facing less competition and you’re more likely to get a price cut,” Ng says.
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