Surf champ Mick Fanning gets his skates on at home with $3m Tugun buy

Surfing champion Mick Fanning has spent $3m on a contemporary Tugun home built around an indoor skate ramp.

A 1m skate ramp was a big part of the attraction for Mick Fanning of the contemporary Tugun home he bought for $3m.

Surfing champion Mick Fanning has spent $3m on a contemporary Tugun home built around an indoor skate ramp.

It was snapped up nine days into its recent marketing after more than 115 groups “dropped in” on the home’s open for inspection. Mishy Canning of LJ Hooker marketed the home as being set in one of the most-sought-after pockets on the Southern Gold Coast.

Mick Fanning at Snapper Rocks earlier this year. Picture: Steve Pohlner

The three-bedroom, single-level home is located 400m from the beach, and not far from the Currumbin Alley surf break.

It sits on a 1269sq m block with 49m of creek frontage backing onto Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary.

The listing, with hi-tech home automation, ranked among the most viewed listings on realestate.com.au.

Back in June Canning said the then mystery buyers “loved” the 1m mini skate ramp that had been installed by vendors Luke and Bec Conforti, who built the home in 2018.

Fanning, who is ranked as one of the richest surfers in the world after winning the world championship three times, and his partner Breeana Randall become parents last August to Xander Dean Fanning.

The family have been living in a two storey abode.

Proceeds of crime

The Gold Coast mansion seized by the commonwealth government as proceeds of crime after the conviction of tax fraudster Michael Issakidis has been listed for September 18 auction.

Professionals Vertullo Real Estate agent Chris Moyer has the luxury three-storey Sovereign Islands listing, showcasing European styling across its 826sq m space.

Donrecka Issakidis, who lodged a last ditch caveat over the title of the four-bedroom mansion in December, has lost her court bid to remain in residence in a battle against the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.

Mrs Issakidis, who was not charged with any offence and is not accused of wrongdoing, had bought the Royal Albert Crescent abode, with 21m of water frontage, for $3.8m in 2006 in her own name.

The former Issakidis home in Sovereign Islands.

It was, however, listed among the AFP’s seizure of $55m of assets, including several Rolls-Royces, a Lamborghini, an Aston Martin and two yachts, after Mr Issakidis, 76, was sentenced in 2018 to seven and a half years’ jail for his role in the largest tax fraud case ever successfully prosecuted in Australia.

He was arrested in 2016 after a seven-month investigation under Project Wickenby – the federal government’s pursuit of wealthy alleged tax evaders.

The scheme saw $450m fraudulent claims for depreciation deductions filed with the ATO between 2006 and 2009, managing to avoid $135m in tax.

Police found the businessman and his wife unconscious in a luxury vehicle at their home in 2017.

After moving from Sydney in the 1980s, Mrs Issakidis, a Gold Coast socialite dripping with jewels, once starred in a 60 Minutes segment on the A-list on the Gold Coast in the 1990s.

With a downward sweep of her hand, she indicated she was dressed in “Chanel, Chanel, Chanel”.

Because it’s being sold by auction no price guide can be provided under Queensland law.

The home does, however, sit at the lower end of the island’s 40 website listings, filtered by prices from $3m plus.

Divine inspiration

A former Anglican church in Vaucluse, built in the mid-1960s to an adventurous design by Don Gazzard, has been listed for September 18 auction.

Ray White TRG agents Sebastian Fernandez and Oliver Lavers are advising buyers it has $10m hopes.

Its owners, locals John and Phillip Townsend, have lodged yet to be approved residential conversion plans with Woollahra Council.

The former Anglican church in Vaucluse that is listed for auction on September 18.

The brothers paid $5.8m in late 2018 for the whitewashed brick church, designed to seat 350 people, but decommissioned after weekly attendances dropped to just 13.

The heritage-listed church, which adjoins William Wentworth’s mausoleum, features loft interiors with ceiling heights up to 40 feet (12m).

The $5.3m plans are for a three-level addition at the rear of the 1975sq m Fitzwilliam Road block, along with an underground car park, lap pool and gymnasium.

It was sold by the church for $5.6m in 2017 to funeral parlour operator David Walker.

The building is considered one of the most significant ecclesiastical examples by the 1960s Sydney School style of architecture, inspired by architect Le Corbusier’s Notre-Dame du Haut chapel in Ronchamp, France.

Gazzard, who died in 2017, described the church as “my most important building” in his 1960s book, Sydneysider: An Optimistic Life in Architecture.

Auction pick-up

There was a slight pick-up to 1977 homes taken to auction across the combined capital cities over the past week, although down from the 2106 originally expected as vendors in lockdown rescheduled to a later date.

Of the 1525 results collected so far by CoreLogic, 63 per cent were sold, the lowest preliminary clearance rate since July 2020. The previous week’s preliminary clearance rate came in at 72 per cent, revising down to 70 per cent at final figures.

Sydney’s 81 per cent preliminary success rate sat above 80 per cent for the fourth consecutive week.

The drop in the national clearance rate is largely attributed to the surge in withdrawals in Melbourne, with its stricter lockdown laws. Of the 792 results collected so far, 50 per cent were withdrawn, weighing heavily on the preliminary clearance rate which came in at 48 per cent. Of the solds, some 70 per cent were done prior to auction.

“Clearly we are seeing a remarkably different outcome in auction results across Australia’s two largest auction markets, which can be explained by the fact that properties can still be physically inspected in Sydney (although a private inspection is limited to one person at a time), but not in Melbourne,” Tim Lawless at CoreLogic said.

Zero no hero

Sydney saw the nation’s top sale when $6.25m was paid pre-auction for a Tennyson Point riverfront through Ward Partners agents Matthew and Claire Ward.

There was, however, accidental $18m-plus online bidding for an early Saturday morning auction at Eskineville, which highlighted the perils of online auctions.

There was high drama as an exasperated Ray White auctioneer James Keenan oversaw a disorderly bidder who repeatedly added “a couple of extra noughts” to their bidding on a two-storey 1880s terrace.

“You’ve got to be very careful with the noughts,” Keenan implored.

“I know its stressful.

“I will give you three chances to type the bid again.

“But don’t take too long.

“I am not going to hang and dwell,” he warned, while adding, of course, that he would not let any of the three bidders miss out.

The madcap tone of the auction continued after the hammer fell, with the selling price for the Rochfort St terrace withheld from sales websites. For the record, and an informed market, it fetched $1.835m.