Facebook Australia boss sells stylish northern beaches house for $5m plus

Facebook Australia boss Will Easton and his wife Joanna have sold their beautiful Balgowlah Heights house, above its price guide of $5 million, local sources say.

The five-bedroom, three-bathroom house has been renovated into a modern coastal home since the Eastons purchased it for $2.19 million in 2013.

The Balgowlah Heights home of the Eastons.Credit:

Set on 834 square metres, the light-filled property is a short drive to local amenities, including Balgowlah Heights Village shops, cafes, restaurants and schools.

It is also surrounded by beautiful harbour reserves, including Forty Baskets, Dobroyd Head and the renowned Manly to Spit walk.

Easton returned to Australia to take on the role of heading Facebook Australia in 2017, nearly two years after he left the same role to run the social media giant’s emerging markets for Asia Pacific.

Will Easton, the managing director of Meta Australia.Credit: Louie Douvis.

The former Google and Microsoft executive, who is now one of Australian media’s most powerful people, was at the helm of Facebook Australia when Meta (Facebook’s parent company) decided to abandon a deal struck under Australia’s landmark News Media Bargaining Code. The code, which was introduced in 2021, had transferred $600 million into local media companies over that time for sharing Australian journalism on the digital giant’s platform, a government committee had found.

Meta’s withdrawal from the code contributed to outlets shedding jobs, including at Nine Entertainment, publisher of this masthead. Meta has since criticised the Australian government’s proposal to tax tech giants to fund journalism.

The Eastons’ home was scheduled to go under the hammer on Saturday, May 10, and was sold through James Haywood of Cunninghams Real Estate, who could not be contacted for comment.

Bronte beachfront sells again

In Bronte, Chemist Warehouse managing partner Tony Bassaly and his partner Angela Ocariz have emerged as the $22.65 million buyers of the luxury beachfront home of Vanessa Crown, wife of embattled tech entrepreneur Peter Crown.

It will be a paper loss for the Crowns given they paid the same price plus $1.6 million stamp duty in July 2023.

The Bronte beachfront has changed hands for a third time in as many years.Credit:

Bassaly and Ocariz will be returning to where they once lived, in one of the most coveted beachfront addresses that thousands of walkers pass by along the popular coastal walk from Bondi.

It’s an upgrade of sorts for the pair. They first bought in Bronte on the same block but further up the hill, next door to the former home of the late actor Heath Ledger, in 2017 for $9.4 million from French expat Michael Trocherie-Rey, founder of the food and beverage chain Wine Connection.

The prestige home has clocked quite a bit of turnover, changing hands three times in as many years.

While its unclear whether Bassaly and Ocariz will reside in their new Bronte digs, they still claim a stake in Bellevue Hill, where they bought a mansion for $23.5 million from property developer “MJ” Martono Jaya Kusuma, founder of Indonesian mobile telco Nexian, and his wife Rosana.

Proceeds of crime penthouse sells

A penthouse apartment in The Rocks that was part of proceeds of crime forfeiture sold under the hammer for $15 million on Thursday night.

Four of the seven registered bidders pushed up the price on the four-bedroom, four-bathroom unit atop The Harrington.

The property was seized under Operation Cabestro – a joint operation led by the Australian Border Force and Australian Federal Police, which is tackling a large-scale excise fraud matter concerning unlawful importation of alcohol.

It did sell for a $2.5 million loss given it last traded for $17.5 million in 2018.

But selling agent Daniel Baran of Highland Double Bay said the case managers were happy with the result.

Bellevue Hill stunner listed

Coolabah Capital founder Christopher Joye, who is also a columnist for The Australian Financial Review, and his wife Nicole have relaunched their architectural masterpiece in Bellevue Hill with a price guide of $45 million plus.

No expenses have been spared on the esteemed Walter Barda-designed luxury home known as Barda House.

The Bellevue Hill home was designed by esteemed architect Walter Barda.Credit:

Built by BAU Group, which won NSW Master Builders of the Year in 2024, the recently finished five-bedroom, five-bathroom property was meant to be the Joyes’ forever home before they relocated to Queensland. The Joyes purchased the property for $7.6 million in 2018.

The home is listed with Ben Collier of The Agency in an expressions of interest campaign.

Cronulla cracks record

In Cronulla, developer Allen Sammut, of Sammut Group, and his wife Nicole have cracked a new suburb record of $22.5 million for their beachfront house at Gunnamatta Bay.

The Sammuts rebuilt the Cronulla property, which cracked a suburb record.Credit:

The three-bedroom, four-bathroom house was rebuilt by the Sammuts in 2014 after they purchased the block for $4.4 million three years earlier.

Complete with a custom-design boathouse, the property sold within seven days of being listed on the market for auction as the Sammuts look to downsize.

It sold through Mitchell Wynn and David Highland of Highland Property Group.