The Sell: Sydney house hunt no joke for comedian Dave Hughes
Moving to Sydney has been an eye-opener for comedian Dave Hughes, who has discovered what local buyers already knew — house hunting in the NSW capital is no laughing matter.
NSW
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Comedian Dave Hughes has called in a dynamic buyers’ agency duo to find a Sydney home for his family.
Hughesy had been forlornly looking since he moved to Sydney in January following his appointment to headline the new 2DayFM breakfast radio show with Channel 9 sports news personality Erin Molan and fellow comic Ed Kavalee.
His Box Hill-born wife Holly Ife and their three children under 12 — Tess, Sadie, and Rafferty — had expected to make the move by Easter, but the bumper autumn sales season has come and gone without any acquisition.
Hughes’ latest house-hunting exploits in the eastern coastal suburbs was posted this week on the Instagram account of Sydney buyers’ agents Jack Henderson and Sam Black, from Henderson Advocacy.
Hughes, who reckons he’s met every real estate agent in Sydney, appointed Henderson four weeks ago to assist his search.
“I have always wanted to live in Sydney, and to be able to work and live there will be an absolute treat,” he told the Mediaweek website on his arrival, adding Holly had “a hankering for an adventure”.
His 2DayFM radio boss Grant Blackley has assured Hughes that Southern Cross Media was backing the show and expected it to take years to succeed in its aim of knocking Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O off their perch.
The same ambition is held by Triple M breakfast rival Lawrence “Moonman” Mooney, whose move to Sydney came after he secured $2.48m last June for a four-bedroom Edwardian Elsternwick home which had cost $2.5 million in 2018.
Hughes, who takes his property very seriously, hasn’t sold any of his extensive Melbourne property holdings, which include the Spanish Mission family home secured in 2010 for $1.8 million.
His last big investment splash was 2017 when he bought the Elsternwick cottage renovated by model Elyse Knowles and her tradie partner, Josh Barker. The comedian bought the young couple’s renovated five-bedroom house for $3.067 million, some $447,000 over reserve.
The Henderson website indicates it has assisted Babak Moini, who co-founded Laser Clinics Australia, to secure his purchase at the One Barangaroo apartment tower.
Their other clients have included winemaker Richie Harkham, along with Alison Egan, who heads Sparkling White Smile, the cosmetic teeth whitening company.
CRICKETER EXITS FROM CHATSWOOD
Cricketer Ellyse Perry, who is the world’s equal top-ranked women’s all-rounder, and rugby star Matt To’omua have quietly offloaded their matrimonial Chatswood home.
The Wahroonga-born Perry and To’omua, who hails from Melbourne, bought the modernised 1920s Californian bungalow for $1,737,000 in 2014.
They sold the four-bedroom, three-bathroom home off-market for $2.7 million last month.
The former couple had moved to Melbourne in late-2019 after To’omua signed with the Melbourne Rebels, and the Royal St home promptly became a rental.
Married in 2015, the couple went their separate ways last July after seven years together.
Still set behind its traditional Californian facade on its 365sqm block, the home had a modern extension, including an entertainer’s deck with vergola, outdoor kitchen and spa.
Chatswood’s median house price sits at $2,497,500, according to realestate.com.au, after 101 sales last year. Based on five years of sales, Chatswood has seen a 3.5 per cent compound growth rate.
On Saturday, Chiltern, a grand four-bedroom 1912 Federation home on a 581sqm corner block sold.
Shead’s agent Tony Walker secured slightly higher than its $3.65 million price guide.
A hasty resale was also secured last week at $3.28 million pre-auction, with a four-bedroom home on 1500sqm in Greville St, having sold for $3 million last December. Possibly a break-even scenario given the costs including $150,000 stamp duty.
BUYERS SNAP UP ONE BARANGAROO
Off-the-plan apartment settlements continue at One Barangaroo, but there’s no formal paperwork yet for the $60 million acquisition by James Packer, the brains behind the landmark project.
His recent focus has been on deciding where his yacht, the IJE, will sail the northern hemisphere this summer. Santorini will be the starting point, it seems.
Presumably Packer’s decorator Blainey North continues apace with Packer’s apartment fit-out, buoyed that her endeavours at the Boyd penthouse helped yield a $60 million sale last Saturday night when John and Marly Boyd sold their ANZ tower apartment to Ian and Larissa Malouf.
The word is that Packer has long instructed North to ensure his two-storey One Barangaroo apartment is “better than Boydie’s”.
Meanwhile Anton Tagliaferro, investment director at Investors Mutual, which owns close to 2 per cent of Crown shares, has emerged as buying a 62nd-floor 199sqm apartment for $10.5 million.
For a while Tagliaferro resided in the Bradleys Head Rd, Mosman, trophy home, Eurambie, but he had lived in recent years at a smaller Mosman abode.
There are now about 30 settlements in the tower, including two by the Cheng family, who run NGI Investments property investment company, from Repulse Bay, Hong Kong.
ART AND SOUL AT RAUCOUS SALE
Art dealer Denis Savill secured $5.3 million when his longtime Paddington gallery space sold at a lively onsite auction on Saturday.
The Hargrave St terrace was up for sale through Ben Collier at The Agency, in what became the rowdiest auction in living memory for auctioneer Damien Cooley. But it was all in good spirits.
There was the octogenarian excitable vendor, plus Savill’s no-nonsense solicitor Nicholas Eddy, and the hard-nosed first and final top bidder, John Symond, who was bidding on behalf of his wife Amber, who appears keen on building up a portfolio of neglected A-grade properties needing improvement.
The auction noise spilt across to the Bellevue Hotel, which was recently sold by the Malouf brothers to publican Peter Calligeros, with the land transfer going through at $7,299,999.
Out the back of the pub were six Test cricketers, including Steve Smith, having a quiet counter lunch, watching the sports channels, oblivious to the chance of enhancing their own portfolios.
Savill paid $275,000 on September 4, 1985, just 16 days before the start of the Hawke/Keating government’s enduring capital gains tax regimen.
During his 40-plus years there, Savill has bought and sold the biggest names in Australian art, including Sidney Nolan, Jeffrey Smart and Brett Whiteley.
While the gallery officially closed four years ago, Savill and partner Anne Clarke invited clients and artists to an auction eve soiree, where he had paintings for sale lining the walls.
While he won’t have the gallery Savill will continue to trade — just last month he spent $140,000 on a 1929 Margaret Preston painting.
GEOFF AND DAWN SWAP BAY VIEWS
Former Qantas chief Geoff Dixon and his wife Dawn have swapped bay views with their latest Darling Point apartment acquisition
The downsizers paid $6,005,000 to buy high in a block of 12 Eastbourne Rd apartments.
Having traded in 2015 at $2,801,000, the price assists The Sell’s appraisal that prices are often doubling every five years or so.
The couple have swapped views over Rushcutters Bay for Double Bay after they pocketed more than $11 million on New Beach Rd. Their abode cost $8.65 million in 2016, so doubling isn’t across the board.
Another strong sale took place on New Beach Rd midweek, the fifth above $6 million in as many weeks.
It saw $7.3 million paid for the apartment of the late Alf Barrett, son of legendary race car driver Alf Sr and art bon vivant Allie. The family wealth comes from their malt supplier business Barrett Burston.
Designers Nick Tobias and Neil Bradford were awaiting the auction outcome, but the price soared beyond initial estimates, and neither of their clients secured the apartment when offered by Bradfield Cleary’s Georgie Cleary in conjunction with Tim Pockley at Pockley & Roderick.
RECORD SPEND ON COASTAL ESCAPE
Microsoft Australia managing director Steven Worrall has spent $6.31 million on a coastal weekender.
Worrall, who has been in the top job since 2017, snapped the Wombarra beachfront pre-auction for a suburb record.
It was marketed as a one of, if not the most desirable, true beachfront homes of the northern Illawarra by its Ray White Helensburgh selling agent Simon Beaufils.
The Lawrence Hargrave Dr home with direct access to the beach was built in the late-1980s with five bedrooms, a study, two separate living areas and an infinity pool.
It last sold at $3 million in 2010. Wombarra’s prior record was the $4.1 million secured in 2019 for the late Harry M Miller’s weekender.
Worrall resides in a $6.1 million Cammeray waterfront.
FASHIONABLE MOVE
Model manager Priscilla Leighton-Clark kicked off Fashion Week by securing $4 million for her freestanding 1890s Rozelle home last weekend.
Cobden & Hayson had a $3.2 million guide for the home of Leighton-Clark, who appeared on Australia’s Next Top Model, having founded Priscillas Model Management three decades ago.
She has managed models including Lara Bingle, Erica Baxter and Jodhi Meares.
The single-storey home on a 406sqm block comes with a northeast facing garden with a pool and studio.
The double-fronted home was bought for $780,000 in 2005 with her antique dealer partner Patrick Robinson.
Their previous house was another worker’s cottage on the other side of Percy St.
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