SYDNEY, Aug 6 — Mogul James Packer has sold his Sydney mansion for an Australian record price of A$70 million (RM202.8 million) to Chinese-based billionaire businessman Chau Chak Wing, a report said today.

The tycoon, who runs worldwide gambling empire Crown, paid A$30 million to acquire the three properties that were amalgamated for the site in 2009 and 2010.

He then spent millions renovating the sprawling six-level designer home in Sydney's exclusive Vaucluse suburb that he was going to live in with wife Erica Baxter. But the couple split and the house has barely been used for the past two years.

The Sydney Morning Herald said the home was sold off market, negotiated by Christie's International with co-agency Sotheby's International, for A$70 million, with Chau reportedly the buyer.

The Guangzhou-based Australian-Chinese businessman Chau is a property developer and investor, who the Herald said was well known in political circles as one of Australia's biggest overseas political donors.

The price tag set the record for the highest ever paid for a residential property in Australia, topping the previous A$52 million paid in 2013 for a mansion in nearby Point Piper, also by a Chinese businessman.

Packer, who is dating pop star Mariah Carey, also has a home at Sydney's Bondi Beach but is frequently overseas. — AFP