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Lisa Keighery has sold in Palm Beach.

The popularity of Pittwater during the pandemic has been highlighted with another ­record setting beachfront sale. The contemporary classic style Palm Beach home of Lisa Keighery has sold.

No price reveal yet from McGrath selling agent William Manning, who took the listing down from websites on Friday. However Keighery’s five-bedroom, four-bathroom home had come with a bullish guide of $16 million to $17 million since July. And Manning had been telling underbidders they’d need to be paying within the price range.

It will be a record price along Iluka Rd.

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Beachfront bliss.

Lisa Keighery (right). Picture: Christian Gilles

Keighery used architect Alexander Roth, along with Marco ­Meneguzzi, for the interiors.

Her Snapperman Beach home was bought for $7,555,000 in 2007, a year ­before her fashion-designer husband Mark Keighery died, having fought cancer for 10 years.

The 582sqm listing followed the ­$9 million nearby sale to Anth­ony Scali, the retail family’s third buy on Iluka Rd, this one from the Mitchell family who paid $72,500 in 1977.

Goldman Sachs’ Zac Fletcher bought the adjoining building block for $10.35 million. The Iluka Rd price record has stood since 2007 with Uncle Toby’s founder Doug Shears’ $15 million purchase of Anakela from the late grocery ­tycoon Jim Fleming. And it was a 1948sqm holding.

A relaxing retreat.

Bedroom with a view.

Agents have noticed a wave surge in buyer interest since the pandemic triggered the trend of wealthy buyers gravitating out of the city for lifestyle properties. And pref­er­ably easily accessible.

The late June sale at Newport of Casa Paloma, the newly-built home of model Jennifer Hawkins and her builder husband, Jake Wall, for a stellar $24.5 million to Mike and Annie Cannon-Brookes confirmed the push was on for safer, spacious, and luxurious second homes. The price guide for the glamorous couple’s Pittwater offering during its eight months of marketing had been $20 million through Christie’s International agent Ken Jacobs.

Jennifer Hawkins and husband Jake Wall recently sold for $24.5 million in Newport. Picture: Dylan Robinson

Across on the ocean side, the jewellery designer Sybella Morris splashed out in July to secure the Alex Popov-­designed residence The Hutt at Whale Beach for $10.3 million. It had been listed through David Edwards, of LJ Hooker Palm Beach, for two years.

The record price for the beachfront strip at Palm Beach was set in February when Caledonia co-chief investment officer, Mike Messara paid $24 million for the Chisholm family’s trophy home, Melaleuca.

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Be part of history with 10 Claremont Street, Balmain.

A renovated Victorian terrace in the up-market suburb of Balmain is offering buyers a chance to own a rather unusual piece of history.

The four-bedroom urban sanctuary comes complete with ownership records of the property and the land dating back to 1800 when it was owned by William Balmain, a colonial surgeon and magistrate.

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Awaiting the names of the next owners, 10 Claremont Street, Balmain, is being sold by Kevin and Oonagh O’Neill after living at the 164sqm residence for five years.

The house has been renovated.

During their ownership, the couple who are planning to downsize, have renovated the house to feature the latest appliances a cool wall-mounted guitar collection in the staircase area.

Ownership records of the actual house date back until 1901 — the same year all six colonies federated to become Australia. It was purchased from Intercolonial Investment Land and Building Co by Bernard O’Reilly and his wife, Maria for 110 pounds. He was the gatekeeper at the meat works on Glebe Island.

Mr O’Neill said it incredible to have owned a slice of colonial history and to able to pass it onto the next owners.

“We have a full history of the house and land with a list of all the owners that was presented to us when we purchased in May 2015,” he said.

A complete history of who has owned 10 Claremont Street.

The kitchen has plenty of storage and a gas cooktop.

A rarity to have a complete history of ownership, the records reveal Frederick Rawson Hill and his family were the longest owners of the house — having lived there between 1957 and 2003. The land itself was owned for 63 years by John Gilchrist and decadents between 1801 and 1864, however the house was part of a much larger property at the time.

The semi is listed with Belle Property Balmain’s Monique Dower and is due to go to auction on Saturday with a $2.2m guide.

Set on a wide tree-lined street, the home has sleek contemporary finishes a stone kitchen and four bedrooms with built-in wardrobes and two with balconies.

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248 Yarra Street, South Geelong, has sold for $950,000.

Melbourne homebuyers didn’t let the Stage 4 coronavirus lockdown stand in their way of purchasing a South Geelong home.

The buyers relied on their parents’ opinion of the classic renovated Victorian-era residence in the shadows of GMHBA Stadium before deciding to buy sight-unseen.

McGrath, Geelong agent David Cortous said the three-bedroom house at 248 Yarra Street, South Geelong, sold for $950,000.

248 Yarra Street, South Geelong, has sold for $950,000.

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Mr Cortous said the offer came after a week on the market.

“They’re going to move in,” Mr Cortous said.

“They had their parents inspect the home.”

248 Yarra Street, South Geelong, has sold for $950,000.

The period house occupies 475sq m corner block walking distance to the South Geelong Train Station as well as the football ground.

Period features included wrought iron lacework the front veranda, tall ceilings and striking floorboards, while an open-plan living area offered an inner-city style with a spacious kitchen that highlighted the original wood fire.

The dining and living zone opened to a veranda and deck in the backyard.

248 Yarra Street, South Geelong, has sold for $950,000.

A separate self-contained studio offered a fourth bedroom and an additional living space with side access to Foster Street.

South Geelong is a tightly-held inner city suburb where just 10 houses have sold in the previous 12 months.

The median price of $691,500 is 2.3 per cent higher than 2019 but has risen 76 per cent compared to five years ago, according to realestate.com.au.

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A private beach has sold on the Mornington Peninsula.

Melbourne buyers have jumped at the chance to “own the sand” at a Mornington Peninsula dream home with its own private beach.

The rare offering with a beach on title at 2 Mentor Road, Balnarring Beach was quickly snapped up for an undisclosed price within its $4.5-$5m price guide.

“We had somebody through the first week of the listing and they eventually purchased the property,” said McEwing and Partners director Dean Phillips.

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2 Mentor Rd, Balnarring Beach is part of an exclusive waterfront strip.

The property sold within its $4.5-$5m price guide.

“They went through the motions, over the little details and the contract, before eventually putting in an offer.”

It took 40 days for the four-bedroom home to transact, which Mr Phillips said was “short and sharp” considering the difficult selling environment in stage four lockdown.

The modern house is tucked away.

Live the dream with your own beach.

The Melbourne-based buyers, who Mr Phillips said were “businesspeople with plans to use it as a holiday home”, walked through the property just before a ban on private inspections was enforced.

He said there was plenty of interest in the exclusive address, which shared a street with just three other tightly held houses.

“I think in times like these, the idea of being able to walk along a beach that is right in front of your house appealed to a lot of people,” Mr Phillips said.

“The sellers also built the home beautifully.”

A modern kitchen has an apt beachy theme.

A pool adds extra outdoor appeal.

Outdoor entertainment doesn’t get much better.

He previously told the Herald Sun it was difficult to find private beaches for sale “anywhere in Australia”.

“A chance to own the sand on a private beach is the reality of what’s on title here,” Mr Phillips said.

“It’s a very unique offering with gorgeous views and absolutely no foot traffic nearby.”

The property was created by a builder and stylist.

Enjoy the view from this day bed.

The holiday haven was sold by a builder and a stylist, who added high-quality finishes, including a new kitchen with stone waterfall benchtops, a DeLonghi gas stove and coastal pendant light shades.

Other features included a north-facing living room with a fireplace and an upstairs theatre and games room.

The two-storey home has plenty of modern features.

There are four bedrooms.

The large backyard includes a self-cleaning pool, sleek undercover terrace with a barbecue zone and an outdoor shower.

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The post Private Mornington Peninsula beach sells with dream home appeared first on realestate.com.au.

13 Dehlia Street, Marsden.

A whizzkid real estate investor who bought almost one property a month through COVID-19, has picked up another Brisbane home sight unseen over the weekend bidding remotely from Sydney.

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One of two kitchens in the property.

Mr Dilleen said he had been eyeing off the Marsden property since it was brought to his attention by real estate contacts, and bought it on Saturday after bidding over the phone for it.

“Bidding was good, it was just me and two other people,” he said. “It started at $280,000 and ended up at $309,000. My max price I was willing to go to was $310,000 so I stayed just $1000 under budget.”

Eddie Dilleen bought the property for $309,000.

He said based on a rental income of $500 per week, it would be an 8.4 per cent yield for a house and granny flat on a 940sq m block.

“I was confident it would go for that price as I tried to do as much background research as possible about the other bidders and sellers selling position.”

He said all his research and bank valuation came back at around $360,000 to $380,000 for the property.

There are two properties in one.

“The downside of auction was that it was an unconditional contract, and I didn’t have much time to do more in-depth pest and building checks. Also I didn’t have finance pre-approval yet either – luckily settlement I negotiated was 90 days to organise it.”

The property at Dehlia Street, Marsden was marketed as a large home with an attached granny flat on 947sq m by Rebecca Cuderman of Ray White Marsden.

She described it as having “so much more than meets the eye” with tonnes of potential off the large block close to all amenities.

“Freshly painted externally and a fresh coat on the walls internally, you’ll be pleased from the moment you pull up,” was how she sold the property’s features.

The block is 947sq m.

The property is 400m to bus stops, 550m to Pauline Park, three minutes to Marsden State Primary and State High School, three minutes to the recently refurbished Marsden Shopping Centre, 10 minutes from Loganlea Train Station and Logan Hospital, a half-hour drive to Brisbane CBD and 45 minute drive to the Gold Coast.

“A little bit of love will go a long way here, the opportunities are endless,” was how it was listed on realestate.com.au.

Mr Dilleen bought

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20A Vaucluse Rd, Vaucluse, has sold for above its $30m price guide.

As the pandemic news improves, the big property sales keep coming — the latest being the Vaucluse home of businessman Alex Ma which has fetched for more than $30m.

The seven-bedroom, eight-bathroom Hermitage Estate home at 20A Vaucluse Road — which Ma bought for $26.5 million in 2017 — was first listed last February after Ma, 30, had snapped up two waterfront homes on Carrara Rd for $56 million in late 2018.

Agents Peter Leipnik and Alex George of BadgerFox, had declared the house sold last March, but the Australian-based buyer couldn’t complete and the deal fell over.

But now it’s done. The home, on a 1500sq m block — with cinema, heated pool, lift, gym and sauna plus parking for 12 cars — has sold for more than the $30m price guide.

.

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20A Vaucluse Rd, Vaucluse, has a heated pool and a range of other resort-like facilities.

There are iconic views.

They’d relisted it in July this year with the same guide with a planned August auction that never eventuated, but an Instagram post today indicated they’d found a buyer.

COVID-19 has certainly been no obstacle to big results.

Despite passing in on a vendor bid of $16.5m at auction the previous weekend, the stunning 14 Mirimar Avenue Bronte home with ocean views of cancer specialist GenesisCare founder Dan Collins and wife Cassandra had sold by last Friday for $16m via PPD Real Estate principal Alexander Phillips.

And Phillips himself isn’t afraid to be spending up big during a pandemic.

14 Mirimar Avenue, Bronte, sold for $16m

14 Mirimar Avenue, Bronte came with a pool.

Less than 24 hours after the Bronte sale, Phillips bought a rundown two-bedroom semi at 10 Coolong Road, Vaucluse for $5.5m, $2m above reserve.

Michael Pallier, the Sotheby’s principal, had nine registered bidders including Jackie O’s ex, Lee Henderson (who didn’t get an actual bid in).

Asked why he wanted it so much, Phillips told Insider it was a solid long-term investment. “Coolong Road is the best street in Australia — you will never go wrong!”

He and wife Bridget are yet to move into the five bedroom mansion further up the street that they bought for $11.1m in 2018, also via Sotheby’s.

Phillips’s Bronte sale was last week’s top sale in the eastern suburbs, and his purchase of 10 Coolong Road the top auction result.

Within 24 hours of his big sale, the agent, PPD principal Alexander Phillips paid $2m over reserve for this Vaucluse semi.

He lives in an $11m mansion nearby and believes Coolong Road is the best street in Australia.

Second top was 3 John Dykes Avenue, Vaucluse, at $4.9m (the reserve), home of Roger Mendes, of Roger R. Mendes & Co Real Estate in Darlinghurst in the ‘70s via McGrath’s Imran Hamidi.

The recent sales successes — which of course also included the recent $95m sale of the Wolseley Road, Point Piper home of Katies co-founders Joseph Brender and the late Sam Moss by Sotheby’s Michael Pallier — is encouraging double-digit listings.

Gail and Michael Zammit have $40m+ hopes for their three-level renovated residence at 152 Wolseley Road via LJ Hooker Double Bay’s Bill Malouf.

Malouf also has the 18 Martin Road, Centennial Park mansion of hoteliers Sandy and Angelo Elliott with hopes of exceeding the $13m offer they’ve received in the past.

9 Cranbrook Lane, Bellevue Hill, sold for about $9m.

It sold prior to its scheduled auction.

That six-bedroom, eight-bathroom home has a range of features including a solar-heated plunge pool with waterfall, a Gone with the Wind-style staircase; a 20-seat dining room and a 14-car garage.

Other just-happened sales have included art dealer Jenny Hillman has also sold her Bellevue Hill home for about $9m, which was the guide, ahead of its scheduled auction with Michael Pallier of Sotheby’s.

The five-bedroom home at 9 Cranbrook Lane had one of the best harbour views in the suburb. Now she has to offload her extensive art collection ahead of her downsize to two semis she bought for $10.5m in April.

Pallier had a great week of sales last week, with colleague Daphne Sauvage, selling the Art Deco apartment at 1&2/4 Gladswood Gardens, Double Bay owned by Geoff Kyle, who ran the popular Double Bay high-end tableware store Studio Haus, for just over the $3m guide. And Pallier picked up the Kilmory Estate Wentworth Street Point Piper three-bed unit of former QBE chief Pat Regan which has a $6.5m-$7m guide.

The post Vaucluse mansion of Alex Ma house sells again for $30m+ appeared first on realestate.com.au.

Is Harry a dirty cheat or simply a man who innocently used his home-ground advantage?

The other contestants have dubbed the happy-go-lucky father “Dirty Harry”, for sneaking on to the building site to do some measuring while the rest of them were interstate in COVID-19 lockdown.

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Harry argued that he’d done nothing wrong because nobody said contestants were banned from the site while work had stopped.

But the other contestants weren’t having a bar of his excuses, labelling his antics “shifty” and vowing to take revenge by blocking Harry and Tash from making any changes to their building that required approval from the entire group.

Daniel and Jade aren’t happy to find out Harry repeatedly visited The Block site while the other contestants were in lockdown interstate.

The revelation about Harry’s covert lockdown work came when host Scott Cam welcomed the five teams back from a six-week production hiatus back in March.

As the pandemic took hold in cities around Australia, state borders began closing, leaving four teams at risk of being marooned in Victoria and separated from their loved ones for an unknown period of time. And so, Scotty reluctantly called tools down and sent the interstaters packing.

Although work on site had become increasingly difficult ahead of the closure, with shops around them shuttering and a growing sense of fear about their families’ health and safety, nobody was keen to leave midway through the project.

“We are going home, and we don’t know how long for. Two weeks? Two months? Two years? This was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Tash worried when Cam announced that The Block was shutting up shop.

Luke and Jasmin amuse themselves during lockdown with aerobics.

Like the rest of the country, the contestants spent the next few weeks in their homes, although they remained in contact with each other with regular Zoom meets.

To keep the spirit of the competition going, Scotty also challenged them to create weekly videos, offering a cash incentive for the best ones. So we’re treated to the sight of Jasmin and Luke doing aerobics, Harry gyrating in costume as George Michael, and George rolling around in the shrubbery in a Pikachu jumpsuit (no doubt from that prized Pokémon collection of his).

When the teams returned to Melbourne to recommence work, they were visibly disgusted to hear that Harry had been caught prowling around the abandoned construction site with a tape measure.

Dirty Harry got his reputation for sneakily going on to The Block site while the other contestants were in lockdown interstate.

The revelation was initially met with nervous laughter but as the reality of Harry’s actions dawned on each team, their amusement at Harry’s chutzpah turned to fury.

“We were all in quarantine doing the right thing and for him to go on to The Block and do that, I am not cool with that,” a visibly emotional Tam said having earlier outlined her struggles with going from “100 to zero” — from working 24/7 on her reno to being shut in her Queensland house with Jimmy and their young child.

Jimmy was also unimpressed with Harry’s tape work: “I think all the other contestants were a little unhappy about that. We are all in different states. We don’t have an opportunity to go in and throw a tape measure around, we can only work off the plans. For him to be able to go on site and measure things and make changes, to possibly advance himself in the competition, we were all dirty about that.”

“We are dirty on Dirty Harry,” added Tam.

South Australians Daniel and Jade were just as indignant.

“I’ll be honest, he better not ask to change a single thing with his house because it’s going to be a flat fricken no from me,” a furious Daniel vented, as wife Jade nodded furiously in agreement.

It was understandable. The farming couple have been under immense financial strain because of the drought. They also have a child with a rare medical condition who needs treatment. Locked away on their rural property in South Australia with their three young kids, they didn’t have the luxury of sneaking in anywhere to get a leg up in the competition.

Jasmin warned that retribution might be in store for tape man Harry: “There was a chat on a Zoom meet that they wanted to change some of their steel. We were going to have a body corp meeting about that but now after hearing that I think he’s just dug himself a grave.”

Just imagine their anger when they discovered that Harry hadn’t been on site just once. Nope, he’d managed to boldly pop in three times!

Sarah and George find out Harry sneaked on to the site while the other contestants were in interstate lockdown

As Harry got to surreptitiously preview, a lot has changed on site since the contestants were sent home. All the properties are now at lock-up stage with Wi-Fi installed to help deal with the increased need for online meetings and shopping.

New post-lockdown rules were in place too. There were limits on how many people were allowed on site at any one time. And sanitising stations had been set up at every front gate.

Of course, all this has become an all too familiar to Melbourne residents these days. But, back in March when the show was filmed, it all felt quite new and strange.

While readjusting to new life on The Block, the contestants have the monumental task ahead of creating two rooms — a bedroom and a bathroom — in the newly erected steel-framed extensions to their period properties.

That’s right, it’s out of the old part of the house, and everyone has grand plans for their spaces.

Jade and Daniel (who are yet to win any prizemoney) decided to go big and create three bedrooms rather than the two that had been earmarked. This will give their house a total of five bedrooms.

Luke and Jasmin also had grand designs. They wanted to move the orientation of their upstairs bathroom so that they could create a second living area. This meant moving a structural wall.

Unfortunately, it’s a grimmer proposition for Harry and Tash who have the smallest upstairs area on The Block and an unusual roof pitch to work around.

And, thanks to Harry and his tape measure, they now also have four angry neighbours.

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Episode 16: The most jaw-dropping rooms The Block has seen

Episodes 14, 15 recap: ‘D*** move’: Tensions rise as team dobs on another

Episode 13 recap: ‘Blockhead’s potty antics disgust Keith’

Episode 10-11 recap: The new Block rule that could ruin the season

Episode 9 recap: Favouritism allegations hit The Block

Episode 8 recap: Judges pull no punches on grieving Daniel and Jade

Episode 6-7 recap: Sack your builder: Keith slams ‘pathetic’ work

Episode 4 recap: Luke and Jasmin’s big stuff up

Episode 3 recap: “So two years ago”. Team’s boring room slammed

Episode 2 recap: Disappointment as Block houses are handed out

Episode 1 recap: Block 2020 tears start flowing early

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