THE EXCLUSIVE harbour enclaves of the super-rich are no exception to the Sydney property downturn, with up to $500,000 being knocked off the value of homes.

While these drops in value may be good news for first-home buyers who have struggled to get a foot on the property ladder, for those at the top end of the market it is leading to eye-watering losses.

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Last week, the Daily Telegraph reported prices across the city plummeted by as much as 14 per cent in the past year — the biggest annual drop in almost 30 years.

And it seems the luxury market might just be the hardest hit.

There are two unfortunate sellers who share the dubious honour of taking the biggest hit to their bank balances — bankrupt former oil and gas magnate Jerry Ren and restaurateur Kai Meng.

Mr Ren, once dubbed the Northern Territory’s only billionaire, was forced to wave goodbye to $500,000 when he sold his Warrawee mansion for the still princely sum of $11 million.

He had bought the vast home, dubbed the Chilton Hilton, for $11.5 million eight years ago.

And Mr Meng, director of the collapsed high-end Waitan restaurant in China Town, also lost half a million dollars when he sold his Castle Cove home off-market for $5.5 million.

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The grand six-bedroom residence had cost a little more than $6 million in 2011 and after adding in costs such as stamp duty on the purchase and estate agent commissions, Mr Meng’s losses would have been close to $1 million.

CoreLogic first calculated Sydney prices would fall in September last year and the recorded losses soon followed. The downturn in the Sydney market follows a five-year boom in which some properties increased in value by a staggering 78 per cent.

“Sellers who are motivated and willing to meet the market essentially reset price points. So even if you’re a little stubborn as a seller and want to hold onto your price, unfortunately you are now at the mercy of others who are dropping prices to meet buyer demand,” inner-west agent Matt Hayson said.

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“The market has certainly slipped faster than most forecast. It hasn’t been just the speed of the decline but also how far it has moved too.”

Agents in all parts of Sydney have witnessed huge drops in value — and it seems few places are immune.

In pricey Palm Beach, Christian Ainsworth whose family owns pokies giant Aristocrat — lost $400,000 on his beachside retreat.

He paid $3,425,000 for the four-bedroom Ocean Rd property in 2013 and recently sold it for $3,025,000.

“The vendor was very happy with the price achieved and the time frame,” BresicWhitney agent Adrian Oddi said. “Remember 50 per cent of Sydney properties have no buyers. The other 50 per cent might have one buyer. That’s the reality.”

Indeed, Mr Ainsworth had been told to expect bigger losses, with a $2.9 million price guide for the 1960s home.

In nearby Whale Beach, retiring Dow Chemicals chief Andrew Liveris also took a big hit — losing $345,000 on his 110sqm property that slopes down to the ocean.

Off-the-plan exuberance during the boom times has now begun to explode in the faces of those who looked to cash in.

Last month online publisher Jackie Maxted lost $200,000 on the resale of a penthouse in the warehouse conversion of the Griffiths Tea building in Surry Hills.

Maxted, who founded the Beauty Heaven website, paid $4 million off the plan in 2015 for the New York-style Federation apartment but quietly sold it for $3.8 million.

Even property experts have found themselves on the wrong side of transactions.

The Block judge Neale Whitaker lost $170,000 on his stylish Alexandria apartment when selling for $1,535,000 earlier this year.

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“Disappointed of course but market forces are market forces,” Whitaker said.

And those who bought fixer-uppers with the intention of selling them on are far from immune to the losses.

Fitness entrepreneur Jacinta McDonell sold her Clovelly project for a $350,000 loss last month. The Anytime Fitness co-founder never got around to developing the duplex-style Federation that was made up of two two-bedroom apartments.

She just sold for $3.12 million, having paid $3.47 million a year earlier.

“The price change was in line with the 10 per cent change we are seeing in the eastern suburbs,” agent David Tyrrell said. “The vendor was OK with the result as we actually feared the final price could have been lower.”

BresicWhitney director Shannan Whitney said the idea of “list it and they will come” has evolved into a new dynamic: “Now it’s about finding a price that ensures you will engage a reluctant buying market.”