The Qld properties bought and sold by celebs in 2023
Celebrities of all stripes, from international sports stars to social media influencers, Olympians and business successes, turned to Queensland to not just find a home but make solid gains.
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Celebrities of all stripes, from international sports stars to social media influencers, Olympians and business successes, have turned to Queensland to not just find a home but make financial gains.
Businesswoman Kayla Boyd – wife of rugby league legend Darius Boyd – said they were thrilled to be among those who’ve made it into their new homes before Christmas. The Boyds moved in fully just days ago to a Christmas-ready home in Brisbane northside suburb Grange, complete with a Balsam Hill Vermont White Spruce Tree that “lights you up even when it doesn’t have the lights on”.
“It’s been a nine month build process and we’re extremely grateful to our incredible builder CHS Building for the most seamless build experience we’ve ever had., Mrs Boyd told The Sunday-Mail. “I also couldn’t be more appreciative to be in before Christmas.”
The Boyds plan to go even bigger next year, looking to get into real estate developments if the numbers work.
“I would love to transition into the development space,” said Mrs Boyd who has worked within the real estate industry since she was 17.
“In the past seven years since doing our first build both Darius and I have grown a collective passion for it. Building/renovations is something I not only have a simple love for but I believe I’m really good at, and I want to be able to provide that offering to other people and not just to our own family.”
Among celebrity property sales and purchases this year were the last remaining north Queensland properties of Maroons assistant coach NRL great Nate Myles, including his childhood home in Gordonvale. He sold that house for $360,000 in October, closely followed by the family beach retreat in East Trinity – half an hour north of Cairns.
Mr Myles and wife actor Tessa James decided to accept an offer of $750,000 for the beach property in late November, just weeks before Cyclone Jasper came through the region.
Mr Myles’ mum Janet Evans – a local Cairns region legend who has trained tens of thousands of people to swim since she first began coaching at 18 years of age – now has her swim school up for grabs. The property at 110 Pease Street, Manoora, is the perfect work-from-home solution for the right person, with Ms Evans having set up the pool in the backyard of the property for her legions of students to learn to swim in. It is set to go to auction via Harcourts Property Centre real estate agent Tony Williamson in January.
Dual code footy starIsileli (Israel) Folau showed how well he’s used payouts granted to him by Rugby Australia in the past few years, adding another major profit to his tally off the sale of his Pullenvale property in Brisbane.
Folau – who invested heavily into the property sector after settling a case against Rugby Australia over his dismissal from the Wallabies in December 2019 – had paid $1.5m for the 4ha estate which was once owned by former mining billionaire Nathan Tinkler. Mr Folau sold it for $1.9m this year, a rise of $400,000 in two years of owning it.
He and wife Maria Folau, an international netball star player, then went on to buy the designer rebuild of odiatrist turned shoe entrepreneur Caroline McCulloch of cult footwear label Frankie4. The stunningly transformed Brookfield home sold to the Folaus for $6.75m – complete with a pool that has a quirky ‘heel tab’ feature, a model rhino in the garden and designer touches by three of Queensland’s best operators: Shaun Lockyer Architects, construction by Black Developments with Claire Stevens Interior Design.
Chloe Szepanowski who has almost 600,000 fans on Instagram alone, sold her two bed, two bath level six apartment fully furnished in late November, located smack bang in the Broadbeach cafe and shopping precinct and steps from a patrolled surf beach. The apartment was snapped up for $1.22m, giving Ms Szepanowski a cool $310,000 gain in sales price in just over two years of owning it.
Aussie golf superstar Adam Scott also put his stunning Sanctuary Cove home up for grabs over Easter 2023 – which he’d bought for $2,749,500 off his father Philip in 2006. A golfer’s dream, the home now has its own private putting green tailored for the star player as well as double buggy parking, a gym, rooftop spa and championship courses a short buggy ride away. The home was taken off the market later in the year.
Gold Coast born star singer-songwriter Amy Shark put her $2.25m Broadbeach house up for rent for the first time this year, asking $2,300 a week amid greater career commitments in Sydney. She and her manager husband Shane Billings then bought a home on the Qld-NSW border at Casuarina – a $2.1m property on the Tweed Coast.
Melbourne-based Olympic 400m gold medallist Debbie Flintoff-King (Seoul 1998) and her coach husband Phil King were also keen to put more money into Queensland this year – putting three properties on the market, including a three bedroom Maroochydore apartment they sold for $3.75m, to upsize to a bigger home close by on the Sunshine Coast.
“We have adult children with grandchildren on the way so we’d like to have some more space,” Mrs Flintoff-King said. “We will go from three-bedroom to five-bedroom with plenty of entertainment rooms, so there will be plenty of room for the growing family.”
“We’re also selling the two development sites in order to bridge the gap between what we anticipate the apartment will bring and what’s required for the new place.”
Popular Brisbane radio host Robin Bailey – who currently hosts a show on KIIS 97.3FM – sold her five bedroom, four bathroom, triple garage home in Fig Tree Pocket for an undisclosed sum in November. She had bought the property in March 2015 for $1.15m, to give her family a fresh start after the death of her first husband Tony Smart.
For ex-Brisbane Lion and Gold Coast Sun player Michael Rischitelli it was the end of an era when the 243-game AFL star put the first home he ever bought for sale – bought as a 21-year-old for $515,000 in Cannon Hill just 12 minutes drive from The Gabba. He sold the property for $1.105m in November.
One of the biggest prices fetched this year thought was by award-winning celebrity house designer Chris Clout who let his jawdropping “forever home” in Castaways Beach go for a whopping $13.3m. He followed that up by selling off a block of four flats for $3.5m in Sunshine Beach – all part of a grand scheme that will see he and wife Dani roll out several more stunners in 2024.
Originally published as The Qld properties bought and sold by celebs in 2023
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