Brian Houston’s $5m Aussie property sell-off for new luxe life

Brian Houston has sold his multimillion dollar properties in Australia as he plans a new life overseas, just days after fronting court.

Hillsong founder Brian Houston has moved his dog Lido to California as he plans a new life overseas after liquidating more than $5 million of Australian property.

The Hillsong founder has sold his family compound in the leafy Hills shire in north western Sydney and a two-bedroom apartment less than 500m from the sands of Bondi Beach.

He was found not guilty this week of concealing child abuse crimes committed by his father Frank, clearing the way for him to make a permanent break to the Golden State.

Mr Houston said he had been “persecuted”.

Brian Houston previously owned this property which was sold for $4.15m .

“I genuinely believe that if I wasn’t Brian Houston from Hillsong Church, this charge would never have happened,” he told Sky News presenter Andrew Bolt.

“There were many people who were aware of the accusations about my father before I was, and none of them did anything in fact, about it.”

Mr Houston compared himself to the late Cardinal George Pell, whose conviction on child abuse charges was quashed after an appeal.

“I always felt very sad for George Pell because of my own experiences,” he said.

Brian Houston was found not guilty of covering up his father’s sexual abuse of a young boy. Picture: Nikki Short

Mr Houston was already spending time in Newport Beach, Los Angeles, in the lead up to this week’s verdict in the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney.

He was also seen enjoying the sun around Santa Catalina island, an hour’s boat ride away from the California coast, where millionaires moor their yachts.

Mr Houston, 69, was snapped with his dog Lido in front of the Santa Catalina island’s sign on one of his friend’s Instagram pages.

Australia has strict rules about bringing dogs into the country, suggesting Lido was there to stay.

Brian Houston, top right, Bobbie Houston, centre, with friends at Santa Catalina island. Picture: Instagram

Bobbie Houston, right, with a friend at Santa Catalina Island, off the coast of Los Angeles. Picture: Instagram

Hollywood star Johnny Depp famously discovered the restrictions when Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce threatened to euthanise his dogs Pistol and Boo when the actor smuggled them into the Gold Coast in 2015.

Mr Houston, who wrote a book titled “You Need More Money”, also posted a picture of himself on a stylish speed boat this month.

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Mr Houston and his wife Bobbie, were likely to move near his Newport Beach based son Ben, who leapt to his defence earlier this week describing his father as a hero.

“Bobbie and I, we both love Australia, but Australia in many ways hasn’t loved us and that makes me very sad,” he said.

“We will be spending more time overseas where potentially there’s a lot more opportunity for us.”

Bondi Beach NSW real estate.

Hillsong, which turned 40 this week, started in Sydney’s Baulkham Hills, an outer western suburb.

Mr Houston was once known as a rock star pastor who filled stadium sized churches in western Sydney every week, with his sermons also broadcast on Sunday mornings on Channel 10.

Hillsong had become an international phenomenon, with its catchy music being sung by millions of Christians across the globe.

Brian Houston previously owned this property at Glenhaven which sold for $4.15m.

Mr Houston had been at the centre of the megachurch, promised to be paid a $350,000 a year pension on his retirement.

But he stepped down from Hillsong in March last year after an inquiry into a complaint about his behaviour at the Pullman Hotel in 2019 when he spent 40 minutes in a woman’s hotel room.

Mr Houston said that was a “night of shame that I’m very embarrassed about”.

“I knocked on the wrong door. In fact, I knocked on the door next to our door,” he said.

“And I thought that person was in our room in the state of confusion that I was in. But that’s a story for another day.”

Mr Houston has also been before the courts in the United States. He pleaded guilty to drink driving in Orange County, California, in April this year.

*Brian Houston and his dog Lido, along with a friend at the sign for Santa Catalina island, an hour's boat ride from Los Angeles.

His blood alcohol reading was 0.23 or “blackout drunk”.

Mr Houston was given a three-year probation and ordered to do an Alcoholics Anonymous course.

Former Hillsong Los Angeles member Bri Austen said Mr Houston was now likely to start again as a speaker on the pentecostal pastor preaching circuit in the United States.

“He has enough support with some of these old school pastors that he’ll be able to kind of sustain,” she said.

“There’s a lot of churches that really don’t seem to care what’s gone on.”

Some had undying support for Mr Houston, she added.

The Houstons move to the United States comes after documents released under parliamentary privilege earlier this year detailed claims that Hillsong had hidden $80 million a year in income from the Australian Taxation Office.

Brian Houston, right, with a friend on Santa Catalina Island, an hour's boat ride from Los Angeles.

The documents also revealed that Mr Houston had been on a $150,000 luxury retreat in Cancun, Mexico, along with his wife Bobbie and members of his family during Sydney’s lockdown.

And the church paid for a $6,500 Cartier watch as a gift for Mrs Houston.

The Australian Charities and Not For Profits Commission confirmed after the documents were released that it was investigating Hillsong.

Andrew Wilkie, an independent Federal MP who has raised concerns about Hillsong, said the watchdog was a “toothless tiger”.

“When it comes to the allegations about Hillsong or the conduct of Hillsong and now the allegations, it seems to me that the ACNC has failed all along,” he said.

The ACNC said this week that it could not comment on investigations.