The Sell: Steve Smith and Dani Willis pull up stumps in Vaucluse

Test cricketer Steve Smith and his wife Dani Willis have listed their lavishly renovated eastern suburbs home for auction.

Fresh prestige listings are down for June, but motivated buyers in the winter market will find some great opportunities.

Test cricketer Steve Smith, currently on the T20I tour, and his wife Dani Willis are first to step up, quick to list their recently completed, lavishly renovated Vaucluse home for June 21 auction.

Its listing has kicked off what seems set to be limited winter offerings as leading eastern suburbs estate agents, and buyers’ agents, will be heading off on luxury overseas holidays instead.

There’s been no formal asking price declaration on the Smith property, but comparables have been ­initially referenced as upwards of $11 million, and then $12 million plus.

The house has been renovated, with the help of Willis’s dad, after being bought in May 2020 for $6.6 million.

Aussie cricketer Steve Smith and wife Dani Willis. Picture: Michael Klein

The redesign into a luxurious Kings Rd residence was by McKim Design, with a state-of-the-art kitchen that includes Casa marble benchtops, premium Gaggenau appliances and a butler’s pantry. The kitchen flows to an entertainers’ terrace with pool.

Kings Rd saw a $17.5 million sale last month.

There’s a possibility Vaucluse could see another prestige listing from former Real Housewives of Sydney star Krissy Marsh and her property developer husband John Marsh.

They are upgrading to Double Bay following their $30 million mansion purchase of the long-held family home of siblings, former Magellan boss Hamish Douglass and jewellery designer Sybella Morris.

The winter selling season is unlikely to see a repeat of the elevated 2021 sales when NSW estate agents sec­ured around 66,000 sales across the three months, acc­ording to NSW Office of State Revenue data.

It had been 44,000 in the first lockdown pandemic winter in 2020, up slightly from the 43,000 sales in the pre-pandemic 2019 winter months.

Smith and Willis are selling their Vaucluse home.

The Kings Road home was bought in 2020 and has been lavishly renovated.

Notwithstanding the limited flight capacity and costly airfares, stand by for the exodus of ­estate agents given the opening of international borders.

It will be wise for potential sellers to check whether their desired listing agent has scheduled an overseas break so they can decide whether the listing can possibly proceed with the junior team who stay ­behind.

In the past, agents regularly posted Instagram photos of their glamorous travel exploits, but this big-noting has mostly stopped because it tipped off their rival agents back home to their ­absence, which they used to their advantage in securing listings and sales.

Smith retains the Coogee penthouse bought for $1.75 million 11 years ago, in an ­extensive property portfolio centred on the Balmain peninsula and the coastal eastern suburbs.

WILKINS OFFLOADS MOSMAN UNIT

Veteran showbiz reporter Richard Wilkins, who has been overlooked in the 2022 Logie nominations, has sold a Mosman investment apartment.

There’s been no price reveal, but it hit the market last month at $920,000.

The top-floor, north-facing Moruben Rd two-bedroom apartment, that comes with water views, was snapped up before its scheduled auction.

Channel 9 showbiz reporter Richard Wilkins. Picture: Supplied

It had cost $600,000 in 2013 and was a $650-a-week rental in 2020, having been previously available at $620 in 2018 and $590 in 2016.

It is in a block of 12 around 600m from the beach.

The unit has 80sqm on title, with undercover car space accessible off Punch Lane.

The investment is just one of Wilkins’ lower north shore portfolio. He owns elsewhere in ­Mosman, with an apartment on Punch St that cost $591,000 in 2013.

There’s also a one-bedroom Ellalong Rd, Cremorne, apartment that cost $530,000 in 2013, when he also spent $664,000 on a two-bedroom apartment that cost $664,000 on Fernhurst Ave.

The top-floor, north-facing Mosman apartment has sold.

The veteran presenter lives in the Cremorne neighbourhood, having spent $2 million in 2004, with $50,000 spent on the pool and spa in 2015.

The Sell’s recall of the many Wilkins homes dates back to his 1980s ownership on Kissing Point Rd, South Turramurra, with his first wife, fitness instructor Lyn after his move from New Zealand, then his Wahroonga home with then-wife, flight attendant, ­Michelle.

Wilkins, who hit the screens on the MTV top 40 hits show, celebrated 35 years with Nine last month.

FOLAU MANSION UNDER CONTRACT

Expatriate rugby star Israel Folau and wife Maria have snappily seen their 2ha Kenthurst estate go under contract.

It had been listed with $3.5 million to $3.85 million price guidance through Jensen Bella Vista agent Lucy Jensen.

The home had cost $2.1 million in 2015 when Folau was playing for the NSW Waratahs.

Israel Folau and his wife Maria. Picture: Aaron Francis

The Folaus’ 2ha Kenthurst estate is under contract.

The listing followed his decision to play rugby union in Japan, and their ­recent residential acquisitions in Queensland.

The Kenthurst home was listed early last month, marketed as one of the best blocks in the area. Its two storey, four bedroom home is located at the end of a circular driveway.

There’s also a freestanding studio in the grounds along with a pool and shedding.

The listing comes after Folau made another Queensland purchase, a Hamptons-inspired home in New Beith, in the Logan area south of Brisbane paying $1.28 million earlier this year. There’s also a $1.5 million acreage at Brookfield, west of Brisbane, which was secured when he was playing for the Southport Tigers.

HIGHLANDERS ON THE MOVE

Long-time NSW Southern Highlands residents, comedian and actor Noeline Brown and her Kingswood Country scriptwriter husband Tony Sattler, have moved homes again.

They have sold and bought back in Mittagong.

The couple, who have called the region home for some four decades, have paid $2.45 million for the 1600sqm estate Red Door, which was billed as “Mount Gibraltar sophistication”.

It’s a double-glazed home facing due north, marketed as the warmest house in the highlands by Greg Segal at Smyth Property Group.

Actor Noeline Brown and her scriptwriter husband Tony Sattler are on the move.

Their new Mittagong home was marketed as being the warmest house in the Southern Highlands.

They sold their redundant Mittagong home on an acre of land for $3.5 million. It had been bought for $1.717 million in 2020 shortly after they sold a 2ha Mount Murray property, Beaumont.

One of their homes in the Highlands was an 1800s cottage built by an English stonemason, another was Bidri Park, which was a 6ha Berrima estate boasting 1km of frontage to the Wingecarribee River, and at one stage they had the 40ha Carcoola Park.

The couple were regulars on the television game show Blankety Blanks hosted by their late friend and Highlands neighbour Graham Kennedy.

They also worked on The Naked Vicar Show in 1977.

Brown rose to fame in The Mavis Bramston Show in the ’60s, having started with the local drama group Marrick Players in Sydney’s inner west.

SEIDLER APARTMENT TOPS $1M

The Harry Seidler-designed Potts Point apartment complex Gemini saw its first studio sale over $1 million last year, when the estate of the late Joan Fitzgerald offloaded an investment apartment for $1.04 million.

She was the widow of lobbyist and AJC board member Arthur Fitzgerald.

The unit was purchased in 1977, four years after its construction, for $34,200.

Set with westerly views of the city skyline over Woolloomooloo Bay at the leafy cul-de-sac end of Victoria St, the Gemini has now seen even higher prices.

The studio, in the Gemini building, has sold for $1.12 million.

The space, reinvented by Anthony Gill Architects, has fetched $1.12 million through Sotheby’s agent Harriet France.

It was the much-­acclaimed first-floor 38sqm layout which featured a “living wall” of custom-designed joinery creating a striking storage and display space.

There was also new Marmoleum flooring that gives the look of concrete but in a warm tone. Husband-and-wife team Gill and Sarah McSpadden bought for $350,000 in 2004 and sold in 2015 at $725,000 through the Modern House estate agency.

An investment company of wealthy philanthropist siblings Robert and Sandra Purves were the recent buyers, and it has also picked up the adjoining space for $1.02 million.

Harry Seidler designed the Potts Point building.

The twin towers were designed for Stanley Horwitz, a developer who built them in stages in 1961 and 1969 initially running them as serviced apartments. The first tower has 28 studio apartments of 28sqm each – four to a floor. The 1969 tower is all one-bedroom apartments of 38sqm each.

Realestate.com.au puts the median apartment price at $875,000. Based on five years of sales, Potts Point has seen a compound growth rate of 3.6 per cent for apartments.

KNOCKOUT OFFER FOR BRONTE HOME

A company directed by the managing partner of investments at White & Partners, George Ajaka, has em­erged as the mystery $17.7 million buyer of the Bronte offering of Rob Deutsche, the F45 gym founder.

The opening bid for the Bronte Marine Dr home had been $14 million, and he secured it at the end with a $150,000 knockout bid.

White & Partners is a real estate investment and advisory firm, part of the White Family Group of companies which includes Ray White, Loan Market and Apmasphere.

It invests on behalf of the White Family and investors, from family­ ­offices, high-net worth individuals, and development partners.

Ajaka became managing partner of White & Partners in 2016 having joined in 2007 following time at Towers Watson and KPMG Actuaries.

His former home has been put up for $3750 per week rental through Laing+Simmons.

ECONOMIST SELLS

Economist Tim Murray, Labor’s candidate for Wentworth in the federal election, put his Californian bungalow at Bronte to auction yesterday, where it was passed in at $4.95 million through McGrath agent Simon Exelton.

Murray and his wife, teacher Pauline Vaughan, parents of three, bought the house close to Tamarama Gully for $3 million in 2016.

They are seeking to stay local, but with more space and off-street parking.

The four-bedroom Birrell St home with ocean views sold in post-auction negotiations at $4.975 million.

Murray was up against fallen Liberal MP Dave Sharma and the victorious independent ­Allegra Spender, who’s tipped to move into the former Woollahra home of her mother, the late fashion designer Carla Zampatti.