The Sell: Tom Steinfort buys Bondi’s third-cheapest home of the year
Three years after predicting Sydney house prices would plummet, 60 Minutes journalist Tom Steinfort has taken the leap and bought a Bondi semi ripe for renovation.
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Sixty Minutes journalist Tom Steinfort and his fashion editor wife Claudia Jukic have bought into the booming Bondi market. But they’ve managed to buy the third cheapest house sold this year.
They have paid $2,712,000 for an original condition 1920s Bondi semi offered to the market for the first time in seven decades. The classic Federation semi had been held by the Hudson family since it was sold in 1952 for 1000 pounds.
“One week of renovating, am I Scott Cam yet?” Steinfort posted to his 15,000 Instagram followers, accompanied by an image of him with a spade over his shoulder while admiring the gutted fireplace.
No steel-cap boots — and the sticker still on the shovel — were noted by the followers.
Steinfort, who recently published Sins of the Sheikh, about the royal family of Dubai, was initially in the market for a home in 2018 but was spooked by what he thought was a falling market.
“I decided I was going to sit it out for a year or two and just see how far prices will fall,’ he wrote. He then did a 60 Minutes story featuring real estate forecasters who foolishly predicted property prices could fall by as much as 40 per cent.
Steinfort was next spotted turning up to an early-2021 auction, missing out on a Maroubra home in need of renovation that sold for $1.21 million over reserve at $3.760 million, with the three-bedroom house having been held by the same family since 1951.
Bondi’s recent buyers include Ben Scott, one of the 232 recruits at Barrenjoey Capital Partners, which reported a $114 million loss in its first full year.
Scott spent $10.1 million on a five-bedroom 1905 house on 1000sqm on Imperial Ave.
Realestate.com.au puts Bondi’s median house price at $3.5 million. It has seen 8.3 per cent annual compound growth during the past five years, compared to 9.4 per cent at North Bondi and 9.7 per cent at Bondi Beach.
EVANS BUYS IN BYRON — AGAIN
Former celebrity chef Pete Evans and his wife, Nicola Robinson, have expanded their Byron Bay hinterland holdings, spending $1.75 million at Byrill Creek.
The Gunjul estate, an ultra-private 72ha holding, is next door to their earlier acquisition.
Surrounded by the UNESCO-listed Gondwana Rainforests, it was bought from the Bush clan, who paid $1,205,000 two years ago.
It was marketed as offering “completely sustainable living”.
It was also marketed as a place of relaxation, providing a private oasis supporting better health and wellbeing, a tag line likely to have appealed to Evans.
Janis Perkins, of Real Estate of Distinction Byron Bay, sold the property, having also handled its 2019 sale.
The farm features two spring -fed dams, a water licence, 70,000 litre water tanks, and a 22-panel 4kw solar power system. There’s also an auto-irrigated orchard with 12 different cultivars, including lemon, lime, grapefruit, mandarin, orange and pomelo.
Set at the end of a 600m sealed drive, the five-bedroom homestead features a sun room with views of Mount Warning, Mount Uki and the Two Sisters.
The deck comes with a wooden hot tub.
Evan’s longtime 10ha Round Mountain abode was recently put up for lease at $900 a week. He and Robinson made the move to Byron last year, offloading two Malabar houses for a combined $6 million.
He fitted out a health lab business in Byron’s Habitat precinct, which was up for sale for $295,000, marketed as a below replacement cost, earlier this year.
CAMPION OUT
Acclaimed New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion secured $2.07 million when she auctioned her Hawkesbury River retreat.
There were 72 bids after the $1.3 million initial bid, with the opening bidder finally securing the Colo hideaway against competition from three others.
There were just the two bidders from $1.7 million onwards for what ranks as the highest sale at Colo since $1.7 million was paid in 2016 for the nearby 25ha estate Ossian Hall.
Campion’s Colo River getaway was listed because she’s spending more time in New Zealand.
She recently sold her art deco Darlinghurst bolthole for $1.74 million.
The three-bedroom riverside shack sits on 16ha, some 90 minutes from Sydney.
It was purchased for $650,000 in 2004 after she offloaded the beachside shack she had at Gerroa for $760,000.
The south coast fibro overlooking Crooked River had been bought in 1989 at $165,500.
The Colo property was purchased because it was suitable to stable horses.
It came with a $1,375,000 price guide, and was sold furnished.
It took its name, River River, from a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
The Colo River, which runs through the Wollemi National Park, is often dubbed the cleanest tidal river in NSW.
Campion, who recently won the best director trophy at the Venice Film Festival for The Power of The Dog, joins other Kiwis returning home, including actor Sam Neill, who sold his longtime Double Bay abode for $3.61 million last year. He’d owned it since paying $839,000 in 1996.
LECKIE’S POTTS POINT PURCHASE
Charity fundraiser Skye Leckie has bought into the popular Potts Point apartment complex, Pomeroy. It was bought from Lisa Keighery, widow of Marcs founder Mark Keighery, who is upsizing in the Macleay St apartment block.
Keighery’s third-floor streetside apartment was snappily sold by McGrath agent William Manning after a stylish makeover by interior designer Marco Meneguzzi.
There’s been no price disclosure yet, having been bought last October for $4,295,000 following Keighery’s $16 million Palm Beach beachfront sale.
However Manning was looking for $6 million-plus for the 149sq m apartment that has harbour and city skyline views.
The space was turned from three bedrooms to two during an earlier ownership, after being first sold by Winten to wine entrepreneur Lisa McGuigan in 2003 for $1,865,000.
Leckie sold her Woollahra home recently for $17 million to the Pagent family, with settlement occurring after the death of her husband, David Leckie, the television industry boss, in July.
Potts Point’s latest prestige sale was on Wylde St, where the Duchen family sold to boutique hotel property developers, Paul and Hilarie Smith.
Their purchase of $7.05 million followed the recent sale of their Rose Bay waterfront for around $34 million after 11 years ownership.
NAUTIQUE UNITS SELL QUICKLY
Former Nationals leader John Barilaro secured the sale of his Rushcutters Bay apartment on auction eve. It was a busy weekend in the neighbourhood, given strong off-the-plan sales at the nearby Nautique project launch.
Close to half of the 123 apartments — totalling $140 million — found buyers on Saturday in what will be the $300 million six-level redevelopment of the Vibe Hotel by JDH Capital.
PTW Architects have designed the complex at 100 Bayswater Rd, which has a 2023 scheduled completion date.
Its one-bedders are priced through Ben Stewart at CBRE from $1.1 million, two-bedders from $1.7 million and three-bedders from $5 million.
The Vibe Hotel was sold for about $125 million in June, having been traded at $42.75 million in 2003 when bought by a partnership between Alan Vidor’s Toga Group and Greg Shand’s Barana Group.
Set opposite, Barilaro’s Bayswater Rd apartment had a $1.55 million guide having been bought for $1,335,000 five years ago in the company directed by his ex-wife, Deanna.
SHOE BOX QUEEN FLIPS
Sascha Griffin, the Pinklily shoe box queen who then worked wonders making wardrobes glamorous, has turned her love of interiors to flipping homes.
The first project of the new side hustle is at Summerland Point, where she and commercial builder husband Scott Feneck retreat to from Woolloomoolloo Wharf.
The S&S Design offering on Ginganup Rd has been listed through Gavin Schwebel at The Property Market Lake Macquarie for November 20 auction.
The four-bedroom two-bathroom house is close to the lake and has an open-plan design.
The bathrooms and kitchen are new, along with its outdoor dining space.
The home sits on 600sqm, with dual driveways providing access for caravans and boats. There’s potential for a granny flat.
TVSN presenter Griffin met Feneck when he was painting her late parents’, Judy and Barry’s property.
They married at their former Petersham fire station residence, which was their first luxury endeavour.
EX-WIGGLE BUYS IN SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS
Departing Yellow Wiggle Emma Watkins has spent $2.05 million on her Southern Highlands home, which was bought to be closer to her Kangaloon-based parents, Rick and Kathryn.
Watkins secured a two-storey, four-bedroom brick and timber Robertson home with district views from its 1500 sqm lot.
It was been bought independently of her fiance Oliver Brian.
Watkins pocketed a bullish $1.91 million when her East Ryde cottage sold in August, having come with a $1.6 million guide, before her shock announcement that she was leaving the children’s super-group.
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