A Mona Vale beachfront house, once owned by Australia’s McDonald’s boss, has sold for $29 million in an off-market deal. The sale has set a new property record for the Northern Beaches suburb, more than doubling its previous benchmark of $13.5 million, set in October 2025. The sprawling beach house was bought by poker player Tom Rafferty and his wife, Milly.
An off-market deal
Pic credit: Million Dollar Listing Sydney
The home at 27–29 Surfview Road was sold off-market. It never went to a public auction or an open listing. Joshua Perry of Bell Property Dee Why, who handled the deal, said the owners did not want strangers walking through the house. “It was really a one-on-one discreet buyer process. The owner didn’t want the home marketed to the masses. They simply wanted one particular buyer who was well-suited to the property – so that’s what we did. We approached the vendor with the purchaser,” Perry told the outlet. While homes of this calibre are typically marketed widely, this sale was handled privately.
Setting a new record
Until this month, the record for the most expensive home sale in Mona Vale was held by the mansion at 1 Bruce Street, which sold for $13.5 million in October 2025, Mona Vale News reported. It was a five-bedroom residence overlooking Warriewood Beach on a 657-square-metre block. Joshua Perry himself handled the sale and listing.This Surfview Road sale nearly doubles that figure in one deal. The land covers 2,056 square metres, and the house was designed by Peter Burford in a pavilion style, with level lawns running down to the sand. “It’s good to see that record jump from $13.5m up to nearly $30m,” Perry told the outlet. This jump is significant given that Sydney’s property market has depreciated in recent years.A single sale does not prove that prices across the suburb are climbing. However, it shows how much a rare beachfront property can fetch when the right buyer comes along.“I think once you get up to that echelon of people, they’re not holding back when everyone else is scared. When they find the property they want, they’re happy to pay for it and even pay what a lot of people would deem above market value if they feel it’s a rare offering,” he added.
Previous owners
The property belonged to Leigh and Peter Ritchie, the former chief executive of McDonald’s Australia. A listing record shows they sold it through a private treaty in December 2014 to former Goodman and BlackRock executive James Quille and his wife, Gillian, for $7.65 million. The Quilles lived in the mansion for more than a decade before handing over the keys. The couple are moving to Mosman, where they reportedly paid about $30 million for a Coronation Avenue mansion. That house, too, has a famous history. It was once used by Justin Bieber and Adele during their separate Australian tours.