The Sell: Krystal from 2006 series of Big Brother buys Byron property from Delvene Delaney

FutureFlip property developer entrepreneur Neil Hipwell and his wife, Krystal, a former lads’ magazine model who appeared on Big Brother in 2006, have secured their latest Byron Bay project.

FutureFlip property developer entrepreneur Neil Hipwell and his wife, Krystal, a former lads’ magazine model who appeared on Big Brother in 2006, have secured their latest Byron Bay project.

It is a 4093sq m rural building block at Ewingsdale on Byron Bay’s outskirts which was purchased for $1.1m.

Property developer Neil Hipwell and his wife, Big Brother star Krystal Hipwell, have bought their next Byron Bay project site. Picture: realestate.com.au

The deal represents the continued generational baton change as it was bought from Cornell Holdings, the pioneering Byron investment company of actor Delvene Delaney and her late husband John “Strop” Cornell, who died in 2021. Glen Irwin of Byron Bay Real Estate Agency sold the Wallaby Close block.

Ewingsdale is popular with the influencer set.

Neil and Krystal Hipwell. Picture: Instagram

Model Olive Cooke and her builder husband, Henry Tervenski, from Morada Build, constructed a luxe Instagram-worthy retreat which sold for $6.3m in 2022.

It was on a 4053sq m building block that had been sold by Cornell Holdings in 2016 for $605,000.

Delany released a documentary in March dedicated to John’s role in the making of the box-office-record-breaking classic, Crocodile Dundee, starring their friend Paul Hogan.

Hogan co-wrote the script for Crocodile Dundee in 1985.

Delaney, who is still based in the Byron area, had married Cornell in 1977.

It was 1983 when the trio first homed in on the Byron district to spend $265,000 on an 8ha oceanfront holding, just south of the town, on Seven Mile Beach. It was sold for $5.02m to the Smorgon family from Melbourne in 2005.

They also separately owned large holdings on Belongil Beach, which was been carved up and sold.

The Hipwell couple have a property portfolio with an estimated $25m worth, including luxury holiday homes under their business Bunker Escapes in the Snowy Mountains, the Shoalhaven and Byron Bay.

AMY SHARK SELLS GOLD COAST RETREAT

Singer-songwriter Amy Shark and her husband and business manager Shane Billings have sold their retreat at Casuarina on the Tweed Coast.

It comes as the eight-time ARIA Award-winner posted earlier this week that she was “heading away to write an album”, telling her 247,000 Instagram followers she would see them “soon”.

The couple have been Sydney-based in recent times, having relocated from the Gold Coast.

The single-level contemporary home with four bedrooms and three bathrooms cost $2.1m just over 18 months ago.

Singer songwriter Amy Shark and her husband and manager Shane Billings have sold their Casuarina retreat. Picture: realestate.com.au

The four-bedroom, three-bathroom single-level contemporary home secured $2.25m. Picture: realestate.com.au

After 45 days on market, they secured $2.25m for the cool entertainer home set on 540sq m, just 200m from Casuarina Beach.

It was sold by the Witheriff Group’s Brian and Denise Dangerfield, who had given a $2.2m to $2.4m price guide.

Amy Shark and Shane Billings. Picture: Supplied

The home, located between Kingscliff and Cabarita Beach, was built in 2017 with its layout designed to bring the outdoors inside. The open-plan kitchen, living and dining spaces open through custom sliding doors to a lawn, with a covered barbecue area, plus pool and an in-ground fire pit.

Before moving to Sydney the couple had been living in the Gold Coast, where Amy was born. They had a Broadbeach Waters home, a four-bedroom riverfront bought for $2.25m in 2018 and sold last year for $3.65m.

It was briefly offered for rental at $2300 a week.

Shark and Billings met in 2007 when they were both working at the Gold Coast Titans.

Shark was the video editor and Billings was a financial manager.

Shark, who recently concluded a regional tour, will make her acting debut this year, appearing alongside Russell Crowe in the Stan film, Beast In Me.

MITCH OFFERS RANDWICK FLAT

Retired NRL star Mitchell Pearce is seeking tenants for his furnished two-bedroom, two-bathroom Randwick investment apartment.

He is seeking $1600 per week for nine months through Tanya Hatton of Bentley Estate Agents.

He previously offered the Carrington Rd garden apartment at $1450 per week in March 2023 and at $1050 in 2018. The 82sq m space was purchased for $1.665m in 2016.

PAT’S PAD AT THE ROCKS

Hotelier Patrick Gallagher, who recently paid $20m for the up-market hospitality venue Jacksons on George, has emerged as the mystery $15m buyer of a nearby penthouse at The Rocks.

Its 2018 off-the-plan sale settled at $17.5m in 2021.

The auction had come with an initial $17.5m guidance, but the four-bedroom, four-bathroom Harrington penthouse was announced on the market at $14.5m.

LUXE LISTING AS NO LOVE LOST

Jeweller Giovanni D’Ercole, the Love & Hatred boutique founder, has listed at Wategos Beach with $19.25m hopes.

The listing comes just weeks after reports of a serious squabble between D’Ercole and his neighbour, entrepreneurial property developer Anthony Catalano at the coffee cart outside nearby Raes.

The hillside Christine Vadasz-designed home cost $4.3m in 2017.

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