The Sell: Why Great White Shark is circling Byron Bay properties
Sightings of golf’s “Great White Shark”, Greg Norman, around Byron Bay have been confirmed – and his interest while staying at an Airbnb in the town was firmly on property acquisitions.
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Sightings of golf’s “Great White Shark”, Greg Norman, around Byron Bay have been confirmed – and his interest while staying at an Airbnb in the town was firmly on property acquisitions.
After being away for decades, Norman and his wife, Kiki, have been longtime potential buyers.
It arose every time they sold another property in the US.
Indeed, Kiki posted in 2021, after selling their longtime Florida home, “Shark Shack”: “Boy will we miss it. Hope to re-create it some day soon in Oz.”
In a Stellar magazine article in 2021, Norman also explained how he was ready to head back to his home.
“I miss Australia. I miss the way it sounds,” he said.
“Not long ago, I was on the phone with my parents and the sounds of the birdlife in the background was something else.
“And the smell of Australia, it’s so clean and fresh. I love the coffee, and I miss the people. They’re so easy going. I want to get back to Australia as soon as I can. To tell you the truth, I think about coming home every second day.”
Norman, who spent 331 weeks as the world’s No.1 in the 1980s and 1990s, has plenty of pricey options listed around Byron Bay.
It is not known whether the couple still intends to build or whether to take up something completed like “Ohana”, the 9ha retreat at Broken Bay, at a mooted $50m-plus, with interconnecting pavilions on almost half a kilometre of beach.
There is also the $30m “Hercules”, the Coopers Shoot hinterland retreat.
“Copperstone”, the Bangalow retreat of entrepreneurs Tom and Emma Lane, is listed at $35m through Kim Jones of Kim Jones + Co.
The Lanes also have their 2.75ha “Newrybar” hinterland estate, “High View”, with concept renders by the architects MORQ, priced at $10m through Ruth Gotterson.
FANNING SELLING COAST HOME – SO GET ON BOARD
Surf legend Mick Fanning, who recently sold his first-ever property, at Tweeds Heads, has now decided to sell his nearby Bilinga beachfront investment, “Rolling Seas”.
The open-for-inspection campaign has been delayed due to ex-Cyclone Alfred hitting southern Queensland but, when its doors are open, it will be worth the wait for aspiring buyers.
What they’ll see is a striking home on the dress circle Golden Four Drive, complete with a makeover by the Sydney-based Three Birds Renovations trio of Lana Taylor, Erin Cayless and Bonnie Hindmarsh.
It is scheduled to go to auction on April 24 through Troy Dowker at Kollosche Prestige.
Fanning lived in the home before converting it into a holiday rental. The three-time world champion, who has two children with partner Breanna Randall, bought the home for $3.25m in 2011 on its prized 1030 sq m block facing the sand.
Back then, the dress circle was just a handful of old beach shacks.
“As soon as I saw the view, I was instantly sold,” Fanning recalled of the purchase.
The three-level, whitewash home has five bedrooms, with an infinity pool, a master suite with open ensuite and balcony, a yoga studio with sauna, a media room, a wine cellar and a lift. There is also a self-contained guesthouse.
“There’s nothing else like it,” Dowker said. “The asset is now surplus to his needs and he’s ready to divest.”
The Bilinga price record stands at $14.5m, when “Lazy Days” sold last June on Pacific Pde.
Fanning has been in a selling mood of late. He recently offloaded his first property, just south of the Queensland border in Tweeds Heads.
The two-bedroom Hill St apartment was bought by Fanning for $170,000 in 1999, when he was just 18. It recently sold after 25 years of ownership for $765,000 to a syndicate from the Sophie Carter Real Estate Agency.
The syndicate included Carter herself, who owns 1 per cent. Her sister, Cara, owns 49 per cent, with the other half owned by Emily Archdeacon, another agent, and Cameron Sharpes.
It was put up for rent recently at $850 a week.
Last year, Fanning also sold an investment at Tugun.
PIERPONT MAKES A TIDY LITTLE PROFIT – AS YOU WOULD EXPECT
The Double Bay apartment of retired finance journalist Trevor Sykes has sold for $5.225m.
Michael Pallier and Mary Lin, at Sotheby’s International, had given a $4.5m guidance for the home of the acclaimed Pierpont columnist.
The three-bedroom, two-bathroom Manning Rd apartment – a level walk to the village shops – is in a pet-friendly complex with a shared pool.
Sykes had downsized when paying $3.2m in 2016 with Daya, his wife of six decades.
They had pocketed $2.8m for their Woollahra house, which came with a decent cellar.
The Bathurst St Victorian Gothic-style home, which cost $1.33m in 2001, even had decorative old share scrip as office wallpaper.
Their modern apartment had a 390sq m layout with a wraparound garden. It came with a home office that had been stripped of its library before its recent marketing.
Born in 1937, Sykes wrote eight books covering everything from the Poseidon nickel boom to the global financial crisis. There was also his 1988 book, Two Centuries of Panic: A History of Corporate Collapses, starting with the first bank closure in the 1820s.
Sykes started work in 1952 as a 16-year-old copyboy with The Advertiser, in Adelaide, and became a finance journalist at the Melbourne Sun News-Pictorial in the 1960s.
He created Pierpont in 1972, and had a legal win against Fairfax Media in 1977 when he sought to take the Pierpont column title name across to Kerry Packer’s The Bulletin.
With him went the Croesus Club, formed in Sykes’ mind, which featured the mythical company Blue Sky Mines, figurehead company chairman Sir Mark Time, Spender the accountant, geologist Bottle and the dishonest company secretary Penwiper.
When back at Fairfax Media, his last regular Pierpont column was published in 2005 with a few periodic forays until 2014.
DINNIGAN WAREHOUSE IS HAUTE PROPERTY
Designer Collette Dinnigan has sold her Paddington warehouse ahead of its scheduled weekend auction.
It was bought in her fashion industry heyday, in 2003, for $2.4m from businessmen Neville Miles and Simon Tripp.
The 360sq m Caledonia St property was listed as suitable for residential conversion, with its guidance advised as $9m to $10m by Ben Collier, at The Agency.
The 288sq m internal space is currently configured as a reception, showroom and office space for The Mint Partners, the creative communications agency founded by Genevieve Taubman.
It is leased until May 31 at $231,189 a year plus GST. It was 1992 when, in her mid-20s and living above the shop, that Dinnigan opened her business on the William St, Paddington, retail strip.
It wasn’t long before her lingerie collection had its pret-a-porter baptism in Paris, with her designs then sold to New York and London department stores.
Dinnigan went on to buy the boutique William St space for $625,000 in 1998, vacating it when she relocated to a Queen St site, which was closed in 2014.
This was due to her yearning desire to seek new adventures outside fashion, including international property accommodation ventures with her husband, Bradley Cocks.
“One door closes, another opens – my heart has always been in Paddington,” Dinnigan told The Sell on its listing.
COUPLE SELL BEAUTY SPOT – FINALLY!
Anna and Kieran Lahey, who created the beauty brand Vida Glow a decade ago, have finally sold their Bellevue Hill resort-style home that features a poolside pavilion with bar.
The four-bedroom Cranbrook Rd home was listed last November, with PropTrack putting the Bellevue Hill house median time on the market at 34 days.
The property was bought, according to the few in the know, by AirTrunk’s chief development officer Paul Slaven, who paid well in excess of its $18m guidance.
Slaven will joins other Cranbrook Rd newcomers Stephanie Conley-Buhre and venture capitalist husband Oskar Buhre, who spent $43.5m on “Monkton”.
Brazilian-born Lahey launched her business aged 25 in 2014 after being inspired by an collagen product on a trip to Japan.
The couple is rumoured to be moving overseas.
Their house was purchased in 2019 for $8.37m from Mercury Capital’s Clark Perkins, who upsized to the Vaucluse harbourside trophy home, “Loch Maree”.
The Bellevue Hill home was constructed in 2007 by builder Peter Dunkley, and recently reinvented in a $4m renovation with input from Poco Designs.
The tri-level, lift-connected residence features a master suite with honey onyx marble ensuite.
CHANGING TIDES IN BONDI SALE
The Block judge Darren Palmer and his cosmetics industry operative husband Olivier Duvillard pulled their Bondi Beach home from its scheduled weekend auction.
They initially listed last September with a guide of $9.5 million, which was revised to $8.5 million.
Its 2025 listing agency PPD had slashed the price guidance to $7.8 million, which was then raised to $7.95 million during the recent marketing.
NEW KNIGHT HAS TO LEAVE CASTLE
Chris James, who has just taken a role as head of football at the Newcastle Knights, and wife Nicole have listed their Banksia house.
Matthew Laface and Trent Tarbey at McGrath Revesby have the Bowmer St offering scheduled for a March 29 auction with $1.7 million guidance.
The three-bedroom, one-bathroom property has an extension behind its character facade with pool. There is an under-house 750-bottle cellar.
PRICES ON ONE LONG ASCENT
The founder of Australian Himalayan Expeditions, Christine Gee, and Duncan Thomas have sold their three-level Cremorne Point abode.
The four-bedroom, two-bathroom Federation home cost $4.56 million in 2022.
The Cremorne Rd house sits on just 324sq m, with rear access via Kareela Lane.
PropTrack has the median price in the area at $6.28 million, up 16 per cent in a year.
Got a property news tip? Email jonathan.chancellor@news.com.au
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