Ray Hadley moves on from the Hills, puts Dural home on market

Radio broadcaster Ray Hadley is moving from ‘unrivalled acreage’ in Sydney’s dress circle Hills district to smaller digs.

Ray Hadley’s home at Dural in Sydney’s The Hills Shire.

Tireless top-rating mornings broadcaster Ray Hadley is at the downsizing stage in life.

He is listing his long-time abode in Sydney’s dress circle Hills district as he intends to head to a new home with partner Sophie Baird.

He won’t be saying goodbye to the Hills, having secured a four-bedroom townhome which they will move into mid-year following their marriage.

“I have decided to put my home at Dural on the market,” Hadley advised.

“My children have moved on and the property deserves to have family living there, not just two people.”

It has been the family compound since the 1990s.

He’s now hoping for a sale above $7m, given other Dural acreages have been fetching in the mid $8m range.

The houses sit on more than 2ha.

Peter Collusso at LJ Hooker Dural kicked off the marketing on Friday, describing the home as a picturesque semi-rural escape only 10 minutes from Castle Towers and the Sydney Metro.

“This is a rare opportunity to secure an unrivalled acreage in Dural’s blue ribbon precinct.”

The two-home, 2.2ha listing comes at a time of heightened interest for big homes on big blocks in the aftermath of the pandemic. Collusso anticipates strong interest from multi-generational families.

It has a 1115sq m, five-bedroom Denton Homes-built house set amid gardens by Rolling Stone Landscapes with two-street ­access. Hadley had it built in 2006.

The property also comes with a fully restored farmhouse, which dates to 1919 when it was built by the Sagars family, who owned all the surrounding farmland. It was extended in the 1970s and renovated by Gremmo Homes 12 months ago.

The grounds have two pools, one with water cascading down stone feature walls. There is 10-car accommodation — four in the garage and six in the car barn. The paddocks will appeal to those wanting to keep horses or alpacas.

One of the spacious living rooms.

According to CoreLogic, there were only seven significant sales last year in the neighbourhood with three being likely townhouse development sites.

The top known house price was $8.4m through Collusso on Cranstons Road in Middle Dural which was bought by racehorse owner Adam Carney and wife Tayla.

There’s talk of a property on Uralla Road Dural selling for $8m last month. There was the $5.2m sale in November on Wyoming Road, Dural, where an 11-bed mansion sold, plus an early 2020 settlement on Wyoming Road which sold for $5.08m.

Other big sales in The Hills Shire, the municipality which stretches from Baulkham Hills and West Pennant Hills in the south to Wisemans Ferry, and up on the Hawkesbury, included two sales at Kenthurst. There was a sale at Annangrove Road, Kenthurst, for $6.5m to horse trainer Chris Waller then a $7.2m sale of the 2ha Gone With The Wind-style estate, Longuevue, which has appeared in MKR and The Bachelorette.

Dural saw buyer demand soar last year, according to REA Group chief economist Nerida Conisbee.

“It appears that during COVID-19, affordability may be of less importance to property buyers in regional areas and that lifestyle factors are becoming more important,” Ms Conisbee said last year, pointing to a Dural property which received almost 300,000 views on its realestate.com.au ­listing.

Time to get cooking in the kitchen.

Hadley now divides his time between Sydney and the Gold Coast where he has had a Main Beach bolthole apartment since 2004. He’s recently purchased a nearby off-the-plan apartment which has a scheduled 2023 completion date.

With nearly 130 consecutive rating wins, Hadley, who started part-time on 2UE while he was working as a cab driver, has led Sydney mornings in the ratings since 2004, having been at 2GB since 2001.

He now also broadcasts into Brisbane.

Hadley is marrying Sophie in late March after four COVID false starts last year — he proposed in late 2019, as he left home to call the Grand Final.

“As we head towards the next stage of our lives we’ll divide our time between Sydney and the Gold Coast, although my three grandchildren will see me concentrate on Sydney for the time being,” Hadley said.