The Sell: Benji and Zoe Marshall list their Canada Bay home for sale
Ex-NRL player Benji Marshall is selling the family’s inner west home, with his award-winning podcaster wife Zoe humorously posting about the move on social media.
NSW
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Retired NRL legend Benji Marshall and his wife, award-winning podcaster Zoe Marshall, have listed in Canada Bay.
The listing comes just eight months after the birth of their second child, Ever, sister to older brother Fox.
Their renovated 1940s family home, which has four bedrooms — three of them double — and three bathrooms, has been listed by Ben Horwood at Horwood Nolan. It goes to March 19 auction.
The median house price in Canada Bay last year was $2,285,000, according to realestate.com.au. Based on five years of sales, Canada Bay has seen a compound growth rate of 7.5 per cent for houses.
It has been their home base since 2014, when they paid $1,535,000, a year after their marriage.
The Marshalls, who were spotted at The Sell’s local streetside diner, Fei Jai in Potts Point over the summer, revealed their pending house move in a recent social media posting.
“How fun is moving house?” Zoe told her 61,000 Instagram followers. “Said no one ever!!!!!!!!”
“I’ve already booked therapy because we all know moving is one of the greatest stresses in life!”
She’s recommended muval.com.au for the packing of their clutter ahead of this weekend’s first open for inspection.
“I wanted our home to be beautiful but still really liveable,” Zoe told Home Beautiful in a 2019 feature after she had worked with architect and interior designer Laura Stanton, of Stanton Architects, to give the Californian bungalow a makeover.
No word yet on their next home.
Unlike many other footballers, the couple’s property dealings have been few and far between. Marshall had a Westmead apartment that was sold in 2012 for $430,000, having paid $380,000 in 2004.
Taking his NRL first grade games tally to 346, Marshall played 22 games for South Sydney in the 2021 NRL season, including the club’s NRL Grand Final defeat against Penrith, after which he announced his retirement.
He then signed a two-year contract with Fox Sports to work as an analyst and pundit ahead of the 2022 season.
“I could’ve easily kept on playing, but the way I’m feeling now, I’m very happy with my decision,” he said recently.
Marshall brings his knowledge of the game and relaxed presentation style to Benji, a new half-hour show airing on Monday nights on Fox League during the NRL season.
As host of the studio show, he will chat to current players, each Monday night after NRL 360. Tuesday night he will be back on NRL 360 and then the Fox League panel on the weekends.
COUPLE HAPPY TO STAY IN THE SHIRE
Model and entrepreneur Nikki Phillips and her husband, former musician-turned-luxury watchmaker Dane Rumble, have secured their next home in the Sutherland Shire.
The couple are expecting a third child this year, a daughter joining siblings Jett and Luca.
They left the inner city for the Shire in early 2019, taking a $1400-a-week rental of a near-new duplex with pool.
They have now spent $2,275,000 on a 2015-built home in Caringbah South.
They went off-market to secure the four-bedroom duplex, which last traded new for $1.51 million seven years ago.
Set in 390sqm of gardens landscaped by Site Design, the home has a rear alfresco dining area, which meets a lawn and a pool surrounded by tropical gardens. There are four bedrooms, or three bedrooms and a downstairs media room.
Ray White Caringbah agent Wendy Samrani handled the off-market sale, with Rumble and Phillips having been on their database.
There are currently 38 houses and townhouses for sale with realestate.com.au putting the median price at $2.18 million. There were 257 house sales last year, the biggest volume for at least a decade.
Based on five years of sales, Caringbah South has seen a compound growth rate of 7.1 per cent for houses.
Last year Phillips and Rumble, who turned 40 earlier this month, sold their former Enmore home for $1,725,000 at an online auction during lockdown.
The three-bedroom home, bought for $1.05 million in 2015, a year after they had wed in Bali, had been a $1050 a week rental following their move south.
WRIGHT MOVE FOR BEACH HOUSES
Surfer Owen Wright and his wife, singer Kita Alexander, are seeking buyers for two of their four approved beach houses in Byron Bay, just 250 metres from Clarkes Beach.
The couple bought the 1605sqm Daniels St property in 2018, paying $5.1 million before demolishing an original timber beach house built in the 1970s.
The Brisbane-based architecture firm Hogg & Lamb drew up plans for the four homes, which have yet to be built.
“Inspired by Byron Bay’s unique beachside location and casual outdoor lifestyle, the scheme provides a refined way of living and a genuine connection to nature,” the team at Hogg & Lamb note on their website.
“Natural timber, muted tones, timeless finishes, and lush landscaping form a sophisticated yet casual response to Byron’s unique natural setting and easygoing way of life.”
Pacifico Property’s Brad Cranfield and Christian Sergiacomi are asking $6 million for each of the off-the-plan houses, which will have four bedrooms, three bathrooms, two living areas, and a pool, set in landscaped gardens.
They each have parking for four cars, and will be equipped with Tesla battery power.
Wright has recently sought approval for another Byron Bay holding. He wants to build two houses on Shirley St, near the Beach Hotel.
Wright grew up at Culburra Beach on the NSW south coast.
SALE BID’S BLINK AND MISS
Jason Laufer, the recently appointed global chief operating officer at WithYouWithMe, and Robbie Robertson, of Deloitte Digital, put their Woollahra abode to the briefest of auctions on Saturday through Ballard agent Mark Lowe with $7.85 million guidance.
It was an interesting test of the market, since they only moved in last March after the three-bedroom View St terrace was extensively renovated after being bought for $5 million from Sunrise executive producer Michael Pell.
The auction was only open to registered bidders, but The Sell, disguised as a drowned rat from nearby Cooper Park, gleaned there were no bids sought or received.
Meanwhile, mystery still surrounds the $17 million paid for three amalgamated terraces on Rush St, Woollahra.
The 325sqm home came with two wings in a “warm Mediterranean palette” conceived by architect Renato D’Ettorre for his nephew, Jason Camuglia.
Its marketing by The Agency’s Ben Collier advised it had been a five-year construction process.
There’s speculation strong interest came from ragtrader Susan Kelly.
The last big sale on Rush St fetched $16 million in 2008 when another three-terrace amalgamation, spread over 588sqm, was sold by the Pagent family to Rosanne Williams, partner of John Grill, from the oil and gas engineering firm Worley Parsons.
Last year saw Darleen Bungey, the author, sell her Rush St investment terrace. It was bought in 2014 at $1.52 million, with its last known asking rental as $1500 a week in 2018. With three levels on 101sqm, it was sold for $2.9 million.
PENTHOUSE-STYLE APARTMENT LISTED
Christine Gee, the widow of novelist Bryce Courtenay, has listed her Point Piper apartment.
It has been listed for expressions of interest through Sotheby’s International Michael Pallier, who describes the 1930s apartment as a grand penthouse-style with house-size proportions.
Spanning 175sqm, the apartment has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a separate study area.
The apartment with harbour views from the top floor in the Longworth House block of just six was bought for $1,675,000 in 2006 by Gee, a pioneer in adventure travel and co-founder of Australian Himalayan Expeditions (now World Expeditions).
The last sale in the block came just before Christmas, when a renovated apartment with Nellie Tilley interiors sold for $3,825,000.
Point Piper’s three-bedroom apartment median sits at $4.73 million, according to realestate.com.au, with the 33 apartment sales last year, the busiest since 2016.
Gee was the second wife of Courtenay. He died in 2012.
The South African-Australian advertising director became one of Australia’s best-selling authors, most notably for his 1989 book The Power of One.
PANEL BEATERS BUY UP AT BONDI
David Marr and Emilie Marr, of the East Sydney panel beaters Domain Motors, have emerged as the $22 million buyers of the Bondi Beach offering which has approval as a six storey beachside abode.
It was offered late last year by race car driver and property developer Ash Samadi through Raine & Horne agents Ric Serrao and Albert Sassoon.
The longtime guesthouse on Campbell Parade came with an in initial $20 million price guide. It also came with approved plans by Red Blue Architecture + Design.
It features four bedrooms, four bathrooms, rooftop terrace and basement parking, with 586sqm of internal space, 147sqm of outdoor space, and a 94sqm retail area. The retail is the Bondi Beach Burrito restaurant.
RECORDS TUMBLE IN STREET BUY-UP
It has been an extraordinary month for West Pennant Hills, with back-to-back record sales.
It started off when $7.8 million was paid for a vast home, $2.3 million above the previous record.
The 1200sqm Governor Phillip Place house in relatively original condition sold within 24 hours of its first open home to a local upsizing family when offered by the original owners. They had paid $380,000 in 1990.
The 2054sqm property sold through Jennifer Carr and William Carr at Louis Carr Real Estate.
Then, in post-auction negotiations, $9.95 million was secured for a two-house compound just a few doors away, with the 4755sqm selling through Joseph Tan and Jane Yong at Century 21. The 58-minute auction saw it passed in at $9,175,000 after 18 bids.
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