Why old Bellevue Hill house doubled in value in two years
The five-bedroom house on a 536sqm block at 20 Rosslyn Ave fetched $7.4m in February, 2023 at a competitive auction.
And now, a buyer with a mainland Chinese background has shelled out $13m off-market via TRG founder Gavin Rubinstein in conjunction with colleague Evan Cheung.
Rubinstein says the big price was down to two factors.
The buyers were firstly impressed by the vendor's recently approved DA for a three-level home with lift gliding between the basement, entertainment level and four bedrooms upstairs.
But the second factor was Cheung was able to overcome the language barrier — he's fluent in both Mandarin and Cantonese.
'He was able to explain to the buyers the benefits of the proximity to private schools in the east and the planned new home, which will offer direct views of the Harbour Bridge,' Rubinstein said.
It was a similar story with a five-bedroom house at 167 O'Sullivan Rd, Bellevue Hill on a 560 sqm block, that the pair have recently sold for $8.5m to an overseas family relocating to Australia and purchasing their first home.
Multiple agents had previously attempted to sell the property, but after Rubinstein and Cheung took it over they sold it off-market in April after just one inspection.
'The relationship had been nurtured well in advance,' Rubinstein said.
'It helps a lot having Evan fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese — which is something we genuinely excel at — in this case both buyers came from an overseas background.'
He added that The Rubinstein Group team excels at connecting with buyers with overseas backgrounds, mainly due to social and digital marketing and an exclusive referral network that both Gavin and Evan work with.
The big results follow the TRG duo achieving the record price for a semi in Bellevue Rd, Bellevue Hill on April 15.
'We've sold the most properties in Bellevue Hill over the past 12 months,' Rubinstein added.
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Sky News AU
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- Sky News AU
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BHP's recent partnership should concern every Australian who cares about national security. The country's largest company has chosen to align itself with CATL, a Chinese battery giant blacklisted by the Pentagon in January. The ban targeted companies that actively support Beijing's military industry. CATL says that it has never engaged in any military-related business or activities. And yet BHP presses ahead, as if none of it matters. This isn't just another business deal. Australia's mining sector is the backbone of its economy and a pillar of national sovereignty. By allowing companies like CATL access to critical systems, Australia risks handing Beijing control over its most vital resource operations. This is about dependency. It's about surveillance. It's about forfeiting sovereignty in exchange for short-term convenience. For those rolling their eyes and brushing this off as overblown Sinophobia, take a closer look at what BHP has actually done. They've invited an alleged Chinese military-linked contractor into the heart of Australia's most strategic economic sector. CATL operates at the murky intersection of energy and surveillance. In recent years, the company has expanded into smart battery systems, units that come embedded with advanced sensors, data collection tools, GPS modules, and remote connectivity features under the banner of efficiency and monitoring. On the surface, it's marketed as innovation. However, in practice, these features enable constant data harvesting—location tracking, usage patterns, and environmental metrics—all of which can be remotely accessed or transferred, often without oversight. In other words, the technology powering your grid could also be watching it. The timing makes this betrayal all the more unforgivable. China has spent years weaponising trade against Australia, banning coal imports, slapping punitive tariffs on wine, and disrupting the barley market. 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In a future trade war - or worse, an armed conflict - China wouldn't need to fire a shot. It could simply turn off the lights. Battery-integrated infrastructure allows for remote interference: causing breakdowns, blackouts, or 'accidental' failures with plausible deniability. BHP may be installing remote kill switches across Australia's most strategic sector, and pretending it's just business. Australia's mining sector is a geopolitical asset. It powers industries, allies and defense capabilities. Once compromised, everything downstream is at risk: agriculture, transport, telecommunications, even defense manufacturing. It won't stop with lithium. It never does. And where, I ask, is the outrage? Intelligence agencies spend billions trying to keep foreign threats out of critical infrastructure. Meanwhile, BHP is voluntarily rolling out the welcome mat for a firm flagged by the US Department of Defense as a security risk. It's like hiring a burglar as your home security consultant, except the home is the nation. The justification, as always, is economic. CATL offers cheaper technology, supposedly more efficient systems, and bulk capacity. But Australia doesn't lack domestic alternatives. The lithium exists, as does the engineering talent. What is lacking is corporate courage. BHP didn't choose CATL because it was the only option - it chose CATL because it was the cheapest. This is the price of short-term thinking: a few dollars saved today, sovereignty possibly sold tomorrow. Chinese companies don't underbid because they're efficient, they do it to drive competitors out, then control the market. Once they've embedded themselves in your infrastructure, they own you. BHP may have fallen for the oldest trick in the CCP's playbook. Parliament should be demanding answers. Who at BHP signed off on this deal? Were Chinese officials involved, either directly or through back channels? 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This is a potential national security breach, disguised as commerce, enabled by cowardice, and paid for by every Australian who thought the people in charge were looking out for them. Wake up, Australia. Your mining giant may just have invited enemy surveillance into your most critical industry. And no one in power seems willing to stop it. John Mac Ghlionn is a researcher and essayist who writes on psychology and social relations. He has a keen interest in social dysfunction and media manipulation.
The Advertiser
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US, China hold new talks on tariff truce in Sweden
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Without an agreement, global supply chains could face renewed turmoil from US duties snapping back to triple-digit levels that would amount to a bilateral trade embargo. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said he did not expect "some kind of enormous breakthrough today" at the talks in Stockholm that he was attending. "What I expect is continued monitoring and checking in on the implementation of our agreement thus far, making sure that key critical minerals are flowing between the parties and setting the groundwork for enhanced trade and balanced trade going forward," he told CNBC. The Stockholm talks follow Trump's biggest trade deal yet with the European Union on Sunday for a 15 per cent tariff on most EU goods exports to the United States. Trade analysts said another 90-day extension of a tariff and export control truce struck in mid-May between China and the United States was likely. 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Top United States and Chinese economic officials have resumed talks in Stockholm to resolve longstanding economic disputes at the centre of a trade war between the world's top two economies, aiming to extend a truce by three months. US Treasury Chief Scott Bessent was part of a negotiating team that arrived at Rosenbad, the Swedish prime minister's office in central Stockholm, in the early afternoon on Monday. China's Vice Premier He Lifeng was also seen at the venue on video footage. China is facing an August 12 deadline to reach a durable tariff agreement with US President Donald Trump's administration, after China and the US reached preliminary deals in May and June to end weeks of escalating tit-for-tat tariffs and a cut-off of rare earth minerals. Trump touched on the talks during a wide-ranging press conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland. "I'd love to see China open up their country. So we're dealing with China right now as we speak," Trump said. Without an agreement, global supply chains could face renewed turmoil from US duties snapping back to triple-digit levels that would amount to a bilateral trade embargo. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said he did not expect "some kind of enormous breakthrough today" at the talks in Stockholm that he was attending. "What I expect is continued monitoring and checking in on the implementation of our agreement thus far, making sure that key critical minerals are flowing between the parties and setting the groundwork for enhanced trade and balanced trade going forward," he told CNBC. The Stockholm talks follow Trump's biggest trade deal yet with the European Union on Sunday for a 15 per cent tariff on most EU goods exports to the United States. Trade analysts said another 90-day extension of a tariff and export control truce struck in mid-May between China and the United States was likely. 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Perth Now
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US, China hold new talks on tariff truce in Sweden
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