A Newcastle business family is understood to have bought a state-of-the-art residence at 96 Memorial Drive that was built four years ago by Chris and Tracey Whitehead, of Whitehead Property Group.

The luxurious five-bedroom, three-bathroom home with ocean views was marketed by Street Property's Andrew Walker and exchanged for an undisclosed sum last Saturday. The Newcastle Herald understands it surpassed the $5.525 million suburb record paid in October last year for 16 Bar Beach Avenue, according to Australian Property Monitors data.

It is the biggest house sale in Newcastle since $7 million was paid for Jesmond House in The Hill's Barker Street in 2008. The only other sale higher was in 2017 when $6 million was paid off the plan for the entire top floor of Washington House in Iris Capital's East End apartment development.

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The Bar Beach result was not the only significant sale for Newcastle in the past week. Walkom Real Estate sold heritage-listed Marlborough House at 49 Church Street on The Hill for an undisclosed sum on Tuesday.

Believed to have been built around 1870 for the shipping master of Newcastle harbour, it had been on the market with the agency since September and had a guide of $3.6 million.

PRD Newcastle and Lake Macquarie are believed to have set a new record for the City Extra Apartments at 21 Newcomen Street with the sale of a penthouse on May 21. It was marketed with a guide of $2.3 million and is understood to be the complex's first sale over the $2 million mark.

PRD agent Jesse Wilton said sales at the top end of the market brought positivity.

"The under $1 million properties will generally sell in any market," Mr Wilton said.

"When they start trading for the big prices, it gives confidence throughout the whole market."

The CoreLogic April 2020 Home Value Index, released on May 1, showed an annual increase of 6.4 per cent for dwellings in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie. The quarterly change was an increase of 2.5 per cent and one-month change of 0.5 per cent.