It was 1992 when the computer executive Graham Pickles and wife Katrina purchased Sir Peter Finley’s Lindfield wonderful late 1920s house.

It was bought for $1.31 million having been secured by after another long-term owner, Sir Peter in 1959 for £14,250. There is no current price guide from mcconnell bourn.

The house was inspired by classic Italian villas designed by architect John Shirley in the Mediterranean style. The house is set around a sunny central courtyard, on its blue ribbon east-side setting with 2,473 square metres of private established Annie Wilkes gardens, with pool, lawn tennis and walk to rail conveniencem meeting many of the requisites of an upper north shore trophy home.

It is also located within Lindfield Public and Killara High zones as well as being close to Holy Family, Highfields and Newington Prep.

Sir Peter Finley, who was one of Australia’s most respected and long-serving company directors, died aged 74 in 1994.

He was best known for the 27 year directorship and 18 year chairmanship of Email, the whitegoods and building materials manufacturer, as well as chairman of Boral, Hygienic Lily Ltd and Avery Australia Ltd as well as serving as deputy chairman of National Australia Bank and Cadbury Schweppes.

The Australian Shareholders Association has listed the current record holders of ASX 200 directorships as:

Of course the length of time home owners held on to their properties plays a major role in the windfall gains.

“Of those homes sold throughout the December 2013 quarter, those held for a short period of time have been much more susceptible to loss,” CoreLogic RP Data has previously stated in Sydney, homes re-sold between one and three years after their initial purchase had the highest proportion of loss.

On the other hand, the vast majority (95.1%) of re-sales taking place after 15 years of their initial purchase more than doubled their original purchase price.

The average length of ownership for residential properties is continuing to increase indicating that home owners are moving less frequently.

An important figure to be aware of is the average length of property ownership, or the ‘hold period’ of a property. The typical hold period provides one of the best indicators about the likelihood as to whether a property will be brought to the market in the near future. CoreloGic RP Data measures the average hold period by looking at sales over the past year and determining the length of time each of those properties had been owned (ie the most recent contract date minus the previous purchase date).

Across the combined capital cities, the average hold period for houses was recorded at 10.1 years at the end of 2013 and for units it was 8.4 years. In regional markets, the average hold period was slightly shorter for houses at 9.5 years and slightly longer for units at 8.6 years. The first chart highlights what has been a consistent increase in the average hold period since about 2004/05. The rise coincides with the national surge in home values from 2001 to 2004 and the subsequent fall in sales volumes thereafter.

Across the individual capital city housing markets you can see that the average hold period has trended higher across each market over the past decade. The data also shows that houses in particular tend to be held for much longer in Sydney and Melbourne than they do elsewhere.

At the end of 2013, Melbourne had the longest average hold period for houses and units recorded at 11.4 years and 9.4 years respectively. Sydney houses had the second longest average hold period at 11.0 years whilst for units Hobart units were second longest on average at 8.5 years. Each capital city has recorded an increase in the average hold period for houses and units over the past year.