Kevin Rudd and Therese Rein ‘bring it back home’ with Pat Rafter’s former Noosa pad

The Sunshine Beach mansion that once belonged to Pat Rafter has sold to Therese Rein and Kevin Rudd for a motza.

The Sunshine Beach mansion contains seven bedrooms.

The beachfront Noosa mansion that once belonged to Australian tennis great Pat Rafter has sold to Therese Rein and her husband, former prime minister Kevin Rudd, in a deal worth $17m.

The identity of the purchasers of the Sunshine Beach property was shrouded in secrecy when the deal was struck in May. But with the ink on the deal now dry, Ms Rein has emerged as the new key holder of the waterfront property.

New Noosa locals Kevin Rudd and Therese Rein.

“We’ve made a conscious decis­ion to bring our investments home to Australia,” she said. “While Kevin was in office, we had to invest overseas to avoid conflict­s of interest. We’ve now mostly brought those investments back home to Australia.”

The jetsetting couple have been stuck in Australia because of coronavirus, finding themselves spending more time on the Sunshine Coast instead of New York, where Mr Rudd spends time as president of the Asia Society Policy­ Institute.

The price paid for the property fell $3m short of what entrepreneurs David Hales and wife Louise — the founders of the Betty’s Burger­s & Concrete Co — had hoped for when they listed the home with Dowling Neylan agent Karen Harman last November.

The view of Sunshine Beach.

Designed by architect John Burgess, the Mediterranean-styled mansion has panoramic views of the seas from the northern end of Sunshine Beach.

The unusual H-shaped house has seven bedrooms, a 12m pool, home theatre, study, media room and wine room with climate-­controlled cellar.

The breezy lounge room.

Ms Harman said the sale helped reignite confidence in the Sunshine Coast marketplace after many vendors were shaken by the pandemic. “This has helped put confidence back into local property values and, at this time when the local economy is under such pressure, we are delighted by this decision. That leadership helps create jobs,” the agent said.

A perfect sunrise from the mansion on Sunshine Beach.

Despite the property’s good reputation, it struggled to sell on both its outings on the market.

When Rafter and wife Lara first tried to sell the home, in August 2016, it languished on the market for 580 days.

The Hales eventually bought it in January 2018 for $15.2m, well below the $20m price tag the tennis­ great was hoping for. Two years later, it took the Hales 5½ months to find a buyers.

The home boasts a kitchen with a view.

The eye-watering price falls just shy of Noosa’s record, taken by the seven-bedroom beachfront property at 21-23 Webb Road, which sold for $18m in 2018.

Ms Rein and Mr Rudd bought a posh penthouse in 2016 in the heart of the Brisbane CBD for $8.2m.

The Rafters have moved to the Byron Bay hinterland.