The Sell: Aussie Test captain’s $16m Bronte purchase
Injured Aussie Test captain Pat Cummins and wife Becky have bought a two-storey Bronte home for $16 million.
The delayed-settlement Bronte upgrade by injured Australian cricket captain Pat Cummins and wife Becky has emerged on settlement records.
Their $16m purchase secured an 1888 two-storey home in need of renovation. The five-bedroom four-bathroom home on 730sq m was bought off market in November last year, and settled only recently.
It was bought from Keri Spooner, the Waverley councillor who’d paid $990,000 in 1996 with her late husband Brian O’Neill, the former secretary of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association-turned-NSW Industrial Relations Commissioner.
It was previously owned by the Ford family, stalwarts of the Bronte surf club.
The Waverley Council website celebrating local heritage has a 1970s photo of the imposing house, which is now screened by trees.
Cummins currently resides nearby at another five-bedroom Victorian manor, Figtree House, which was bought in 2021 for $9.3m.
The fast bowler simultaneously secured the 2021 sale of his redundant Beach St, Clovelly apartment for $3.7m. The three-bedroom, three-bathroom apartment had cost $1,362,500 in 2013.
He also owns a three- bedroom 1930s Moss Vale, Southern Highlands cottage which was bought in 2017 for $905,000. It became a $550-a-week rental on its purchase.
The recent settlement comes after the couple welcomed their second child, daughter Edi, in February. Their son Albie turned four last month.
News.com.au reported Cummins earns around $10m a year, including $3m from his Cricket Australia contract and $3.7m from his Indian Premier League contract with the Sunrisers Hyderabad, along with numerous endorsements over recent times with the likes of Gillette.
Steve Smith, the fill-in cricket captain, and his wife Dani Willis had been Bronte property owners, selling for $6.75m in early 2024 after listing through Tanya Hatton and Frank Colacicco, of Bentley.
ULTRA-RUNNER STARTS OUT IN THE PROPERTY RACE
Celebrity ultra-runner Nedd Brockmann has bought his first property in the Newscastle region.
The Forbes-born 26-year-old electrician, who shot to fame in 2022 by running across Australia from Cottesloe Beach in Perth to Sydney’s Bondi Beach, raising over $2.5m for the homelessness charity We Are Mobilize, has bought at Wickham.
He’s spent $1,195,000 on an original cottage on 300sq m, a short walk to the Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club.
The Randwick-based renter has promptly leased the three-bedroom cottage for $680 a week, reflecting a 2.97 per cent gross yield. PropTrack calculates houses in Wickham typically rent out at $680 a week, reflecting an annual rental yield of 3.6 per cent.
The recent rental marketing by PMC Property Management’s Karen Forbes indicated Brockmann’s future intentions for the home – seeking a six-month tenant “after which the owner will be taking possession”.
The home last sold for $420,000 in 2013.
PropTrack puts Wickham’s median house price at $910,000, up 0.6 per cent over the last 12 months based on 15 sales. However, three-bedroom Wickham houses have seen 18 per cent annual price growth, from just 10 sales at a $1,132,500 median. Its peak was 2021 at $1,295,000.
Brockmann’s Instagram followers has soared to over 630,000 since he ran the 4000km from Perth to Bondi Beach in 47 days in 2022.
He appeared on the cover of Stellar in February 2023.
In 2024, to raise money for We Are Mobilize, Brockmann ran 3760 laps around the 400m track at the Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre. He ran it in 12.5 days.
Brockmann appeared at the REA Conference REAdy25 in August, where he spoke of deciding he could no longer walk past people sleeping rough near Sydney’s Central Station while going to TAFE for his electrical apprenticeship.
“I’d see homelessness on the street; there’d be 10 or so people on Eddy Ave … it was having a profound effect on me, I had to go and do something,” he said.
Realestate.com.au reported he had helped raise over $7.5m for the charity ahead of his most recent effort, “Uncomfortable Challenge”, last month.
Brockmann has also recently partnered with Mitre 10 to help launch the 4:01 Club, which aims to provide a hub of resources and activities to support tradie mental health. Named after knock-off time, it’s about making the most of life after work – staying active, connecting with mates, and taking small steps that make a big difference.
CELEBRITIES ON MOVE IN PADDO MERRY-GO-ROUND
Jack Henderson, the flamboyant founder of the buyers’ agency Henderson Advocacy, has purchased office premises in Paddington for $7.35m.
The McLaughlan Place warehouse was bought from the celebrity tailor Patrick Johnson, who recently paid $12.3m to secure nearby bigger 750sq m Gosbell St premises from investment management pioneer Laurence Freedman and his wife Kathy.
Henderson, who is rarely described as sartorial, bought Johnson’s redundant 284sq m retail warehouse site, complete with approval for a 522sq m layout across three levels. Henderson Advocacy will relocate from Glenmore Rd.
“The only reason I have millions of dollars worth of equity to buy these kind of assets is because I’ve spent 10 years building a really solid residential portfolio,” Henderson told his social media followers.
He puts his portfolio at $50m plus.
Henderson rents his city home “because it gives me flexibility”.
The origins of his rentvesting strategy was meeting veteran buyers agent Chris Gray at 17.
This week saw Paddington artist Mary Shackman sell her four-level freestanding terrace, which comes with the Jonny+June streetfront hair salon, on its 650sq m holding.
It reputedly fetched $14m, ranking as the suburb’s third priciest house sale, having been listed last October through Sotheby’s agent Harriet France and others with then suburb record expectations.
Lammermuir was the first home built on Glenmore Rd in 1835, was expanded in 1870, and was briefly home to C.J. Dennis of Sentimental Bloke acclaim. Shackman’s restoration, overseen by Brian Keirnan and Neil Bradford, was extensive given the neglect during the ownership of the late wheeler-dealer Martin Dougherty, who’d paid $950,000 in 1989 and lost it in a $550,000 1992 bank sale.
Paddington’s record house sale came in October when former Goldman Sachs executive David Nolan sold the hotel-to-home conversion, Windsor Castle, for about $27m. Windsor Castle was listed by the McGrath sales dream team, Luke Hogan and Will Manning, who have since eased their conjunctional listing activity.
Coming in second place was the $15.5m paid in August by billionaire Clive Palmer’s daughter Emily on Jersey Rd.
Meanwhile Johnson and his interior designer wife, Tamsin Johnson, have relisted Kendall Lodge, Darling Point, which cost $10.05m in 2020. They briefly sought $25m buyers in 2023.
The nearby Eastbourne Rd sale, at $29.25m in 2023 by the Kerry clan to ARN chair Hamish McLennan and wife Lucinda, was advised as a comparable, although after some refinements it is actually now a $40m listing.
The Johnsons recently spent $28.4m at Watsons Bay.
FAREWELL SNOW AND HELLO TO BYRON SUN
Neil Hipwell, founder of luxury home builder Futureflip, and wife Kristi are expanding their Byron Bay portfolio, so have listed their Snowy Mountains escape, Jimmy Doo Farm.
The Westons Rd, Crackenback, property – which hosts up to 22 guests across multiple dwellings – has sat within their luxury holiday accommodation brand, Bunker Escapes.
The marketing of the 110ha property presents significant rental income potential, according to Nick Kirshner at Kirshner Mackay, who has scheduled a December 16 auction.
Set on the northern side of the Moonbah Range, it comes with development potential with architectural concept drawings by Futureflip ready for development application submission.
The couple have just spent $4.36m on Byron’s Golden Grid, with the 1000sq m holding consisting of three dwellings, a timber cottage plus two self-contained two-bedroom flats.
The Carlyle St holding last sold for $1,501,000 in 2014.
It is the second purchase by the couple this year. They spent $1.1m on a 4093sq m building block at Ewingsdale, which was bought from the investment company of actor Delvene Delaney and her late husband John “Strop” Cornell.
Earlier this year Hipwell completed Bunker Byron, near Belongil, which is now a luxury holiday letting, sleeping up to 14 guests, that rents from $3300 a night.
The award-winning Futureflip, founded in 2008, has 98,000 Instagram followers.
SINGO SELLING LUXE RETREAT AT KILLCARE
Adman John Singleton has relisted his redundant Killcare Heights ocean-view, resort-style property.
He bought The Scenic Rd property in 2023, but as he’s just finished renovations at nearby Mount White, and celebrates his 84th birthday, he has decided to windup his time at Killcare which dates back to his childhood.
Surrounded by the Bouddi National Park, the 2.76ha property had been designed by architect Kevin Snell as a wellness retreat. It has a five-bedroom residence plus a separate two-bedroom guesthouse.
It was bought for $15.85m through Josh Canellis, at Wiseberry Peninsula, who has the relisting with no formal price guide.
The Central Coast’s most recent prestige sale was at Yarramalong Valley, where Cloud Valley has sold to activist Tom Snow for $20.5m.
The 131ha property with a 1982 Espie Dods-designed Georgian-style homestead was listed by businessman Tim Hughes last year with $25m to $30m guidance. He paid $6.25m in 2009.
It was first sold in 2006 by legendary broadcaster John Laws and his late wife Caroline for around $6m. When The Sell visited them for lunch, it seemed the inspiration for the house and grounds came from the host couple’s frequent visits to the villas of Lake Como, the great chateaux of France and the tranquil temple gardens of Japan.
BOOMERANG IN FRESH HANDS
The $80m deal for Elizabeth Bay’s Boomerang, which sold in November 2023, has settled.
It has been bought in the name of lawyer David Downey, who is reputedly representing Vietnamese buyers.
The family of trucking billionaire Lindsay Fox, who paid $20m in 2005 for the Spanish Mission mansion, apparently had seller’s remorse.
The buyer is the 11th owner since it was built in 1926 by music publisher Frank Albert.
TAXING TIME FOR TOMAGO
Rising energy prices are not the only cost escalation concern behind Tomago Aluminium’s closure consideration.
Tomago, whose CEO is Jerome Dozol (above), was in the NSW Land & Environment Court this week objecting to a NSW Valuer General valuation that has triggered an alarming rise in its land tax.
It sought to add new evidence relating to issues surrounding the “economy” and “ecology” ahead of the February hearing.
CHANCE TO HAVE A HUGE WYNNE
Wynstay, the 1890s Mount Wilson estate, has been listed for a December 5 auction via Elders, ending 150 years of Wynne family ownership.
There is a grand sandstone Georgian Revival home, designed in the 1920s by Joseland & Gilling, on the estate founded by pioneering building merchant Richard Wynne.
He was the first mayor of Burwood and founder of the prestigious Wynne Art Prize.
Got a property news tip? Email jonathan.chancellor@news.com.au
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Originally published as The Sell: Aussie Test captain’s $16m Bronte purchase
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