PRD Newcastle and Lake Macquarie marketed the contemporary beachfront residence overlooking Merewether beach at 38 John Parade, which was secured by a local family.

The result has surpassed the previous highest mark of $7 million, paid for historic Jesmond House at 10 Barker Street on The Hill in 2008.

PRD founding director Mark Kentwell said the sale "shines the spotlight on the entire region" and predicted more big results to follow.

PRD held a pre-market showing to buyers from their database on September 18 before online marketing launched on Tuesday. By Wednesday, the tri-level property, which was collaboratively designed by Chris Mury Architects and Shane Blue of Bourne + Blue, had sold unconditionally.

"The purchasers are a local family who have been watching this strip of the market - the salty end of Bar Beach Avenue, Parkway Avenue, Memorial Drive and John Parade - for probably five years waiting for the right opportunity," Mr Kentwell said.

"We had 17 private, qualified inspections teed up. They were people who could purchase. It demonstrates that there's a depth in this elite end of the market in our region and it's getting deeper."

The record result follows a string of new price highs for the region this year and Mr Kentwell said it was "a golden time" for the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie real estate market.

"We saw confidence build in a major way in 2016 when we sold 6 Parkway Avenue for $4.7 million, which at the time was a record for Bar Beach," he said.

"That was quite an important time for Newcastle because the university, the light rail and the law courts were all happening at once."

Since then there has been a series of sales over $5 million and $6 million.

"It's reaffirming the message of what anecdotal evidence has been pointing to - that Newcastle is a great place to live and work," Mr Kentwell said.

"It also shows that even if people can afford prestige property in capital cities, they are now choosing to purchase property here in our state's second largest city instead.

"I believe more will follow. Whether they'll eclipse this one, we don't know but there's potential for it to be eclipsed a lot sooner. It's not likely that it's going to be 12 years like the last record."

When the property launched to the market on Tuesday, Mr Kentwell described it as "the most exclusive Merewether residence ever to be offered".

The John Parade residence featured four bedrooms, including a hotel-style master suite on the top level and a self-contained apartment on the ground floor, wall-to-wall glass, a triple garage, an outdoor terrace with heated pool and a nine-metre void with gallery as the centrepiece.

A $6 million off-the-plan sale for the entire top floor of Washington House in Iris Capital's East End development on Hunter Street in 2017 was the second-highest result for the city until what the Herald believes was a sale over $6 million in Merewether this month. Robinson Property's Mike Flook sold a seven-bedroom, six-bathroom residence at 10 Ocean Street for an undisclosed price one day after its for sale sign went up.

This year there has been record results for Port Stephens with the $4.775 million off-market sale of a waterfront residence at 191 Soldiers Point Road in Salamander Bay and Lake Macquarie, when an estate at 7 Foreshore Street in Eraring sold at auction for $6 million.

A record was also set for Newcastle's highest sale for an apartment in an existing building when PRD sold a three-bedroom, three-bathroom penthouse on the top floor of The York apartments overlooking Newcastle beach for $5.45 million in July.

As well as Merewether, Salamander Bay and Eraring, there have been suburb records in Adamstown ($1.61 million), Tighes Hill ($1.5 million), Bar Beach (believed to be over $5.525 million), Warners Bay (believed to be over $3 million), Speers Point ($2.75 million), Murrays Beach ($1.63 million), Islington ($1.41 million), New Lambton ($3.86 million), Lambton (believed to be over $3 million), Cardiff Heights ($1.63 million) and Elermore Vale ($2.45 million) this year.

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