A Lorne home with gun barrel views over Shelleys Beach has sold for $1.15 million in just three days.

The property at 20 Ocean Road South was bought for its 680 sqm land, not likely for the old red brick home under corrugated iron roof.

The quick sale, which achieved its listing price, came with approved plans for a four bedroom trophy home, complete with swimming pool, lift, gym and theatre.

The property last traded for $945,000 in 2011.

Great Ocean Road Real Estate, Lorne agent Tyrone Provan and Michael Coutts sold the home.

Provan told the local paper the purchasers had been in the market for at least 10 months trying to find the right property.

“This came along with plans and permits for a new dwelling and they pounced on it,” Provan said.

“We are unsure if they will put those plans into place but it will be a project down the track.”

 

“It was going to be a quite expensive build if someone went through with the plans … I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product with the approved plans or their own plans,” he said.

The property is opposite Shelleys Beach and has an 180 degree view than can never be built out.

 

The Residence penthouse, the Darlinghurst apartment on the fringe of Hyde Park last traded for $17 million in 2013, is back for sale with record breaking $26 million hopes.

Only off the plan apartments have cleared the $26 million mark.

The apartment was bought by Chinese billionaire Huang Shannian five years ago, with its position at 88 College Street address a nod to the Chinese lucky number eight.

Shannian, the founder of shipbuilding giant Shanghai Zhouji, bought the apartment so his son Hugh Huang could live in it during his time at university in Sydney.

The Sulman two storey penthouse has three bedrooms, four bathrooms, its own wine room storage and a two space private garage.

It spans two levels, the lower level opening to a covered alfresco and entertainers terrace.

An internal lift goes to the rooftop level complete with a heated salt water lap swimming pool with views over Hyde Park.

McGrath Edgecliff agents Craig Donohue and Davey Wong have the listing.

Rosemount House, the historic Norwood property in Adelaide, has been listed for sale.

The property, which is currently leased to the highly regarded Montessori Early Leaning Childcare, dates back to the 1850s when it was built for W.C. Buik, the mayor of Kensington and Norwood in the 1860s.

Buik was the director of the Adelaide & Suburban Tramway Company and a member of the Legislative Council.

The property was extensively remodelled in the 1940s in the Inter-War mediterranean-style for Dr Cooper.

The original bluestone mansion was reworked, extended and then entirely rendered.

It now spans 535 square metres and comprises 11 main rooms and a cellar on its 2,690 square metre corner parcel.

Bernard and Charles Booth at Bernard Booth Adelaide have a price guide of $4.75 million to $5 million for its November 21 auction.

The Mill House, one of regional Victoria's finest country homes, has hit the market.

The four bedroom Newham home, which was built in the 1860s, has been restored, merging mid-Victorian architecture with modern living.

It sits in 9,600 square metre structured gardens from landscaper Paul Bangay that are divided into 'rooms'.

There are open grassed areas, manicured plantings, a walled herb garden and an orchard, creek and pond.

Adjacent to the main home are the originally three bay stables now with self-contained quarters, a two storey barn, pavilion and pond house.

Jellis Craig Mount Macedon agents Dominic Romeo and Tom May have a $3 million to $3.3 million guide for its December 8 auction.

This article was first published in the Weekend Australian. 

An expansive five bedroom two bathroom Federation style Burwood residence is now on the market.

Situated at 3 Appian Way this 1,676 sqm residence is stated on the listing as a "premium buying opportunity combining a spacious landholding, refined period character and powerful future potential."

Inside, the home has been preserved throughout with high ceilings as well as original fireplaces.

It's two-level layout features substantial formal lounge and dining areas, an equipped kitchen with bedrooms on the upper level.

The home is within established grounds with private lawns, landscaped areas, and an in-ground swimming pool plus a poolside entertainment patio. There is also off-street parking for multiple vehicles.

Residents of this holding will gain access to the community-owned Appian Way tennis courts and pavilion. 

Located with access to Burwood shopping and transport hub, as well as all multiple schools schools.

The home last sold for $2.5 million in 2005 and is set for a December 1 auction.

Canberra is set to see its record broken with Woodleigh, the vast garden estate in the Old Red Hill heritage precinct on Canberra's Golden Mile.

It's on the pricey Mugga Way, Canberra's most sought after street. The only two homes to clear $7 million are on the same strip.

Berkely Residential agent Bill Lyristakis is marketing the home.

Woodleigh was previously a record setter when it sold for $2 million in 2000, topping the previous $1.79 million high.

It was sold by Gordon and Doreen Smith, the owners of Discount Tyre Service, to the current vendors, economist Clive Rodger and wife Lynlea.

Woodleigh has hosted the Open Gardens scheme and a number of musical events have been held on the sweeping front lawns of the 7,965 square metre grounds.

Built in the 1980s, the two storey home with over 500 square metres of floor space has four bedrooms, a games room and an underground cellar and home office.

In the gardens there's a 13 metre heated salt-water swimming pool and cabana, international sized floodlit tennis court and adjacent barbecue area and a koi pond.

This article was first published in the Weekend Australian.

A striking Port Adelaide home ablaze with a mural painted by Chilean artist Inti Castro has hit the market.

The three level home was designed and built by SaltE-House with a heavy focus on making it environmentally friendly over its two year build.

The fully insulated home with solar panels and solar hot water can be completely self-sufficient. The blackout proof mode has the home running solely on its 8kw battery storage power.

The modern home behind a timber facade has three bedrooms, three balcony gardens and custom made kitchen from MIG Design.

Ray White Port Adelaide agent Nick Psarros has a December 1 auction.

This article was first published in the Weekend Australian. 

A Scenic Rom lifestyle property in the Queensland hinterland has been listed for sale.

The home at 175 Blayney Road was designed and built to Category Five rating commercial building standards by its vendors, Ken Curtis and wife Barbara.

Ken has been involved in large-scale commercial construction, working on the likes of Hayman ISland and The Hinze Dam.

The hotel-style grand residence in Blayney spans 1,020 sqm and has four bedrooms.

It was built with a concrete tilt-up construction and feature cyclone proof glass. The 1,200 sqm of roof iron was designed to capture 1,260 litres of water.

The open games and bar area look out over the 100 sqm open lounge and dining area, which open to a covered alfresco entertaining deck and patio. They adjoin the 25 metre self-cleaning swimming pool.

There are six natural dams on the near 19 hectare estate, which currently houses around 25 head of cattle a year. It is also home to an active organic orchard of 36 assorted fruit trees.

There's a purpose-built, above-ground veggie and herb gardens, as well as a helipad.

RE/MAX Regency agent Lisa Psaras is marketing the home.

Hexham, the Victorian Italianate manor in Balmain, has been listed with a $9 million price tag.

Considered as one of the Balmain peninsula's most attractive properties, the home at 447 Darling Street last traded for $2.1 million in 2001.

Built in the 1890s, Hexham has been revived over the last decade, combining classic heritage with contemporary touches.

There's still the oiriginal Italian marble and English ironwork fireplaces.

Set on 750 sqm, the home has six bedrooms, five bathrooms, two studies and an attic level billiards room with wet bar.

Outside there's an all-weather barbecue pavilion that overlooks a heated swimming pool and level lawn.

An eight car, 145 sqm garage sits under landscaped grounds designed by Secret Gardens.

Cobden & Hayson Balmain agents Danny Cobden and Samantha Elvy are listening to offers until December 6.

The Mews, the luxury garden estate in Burradoo, has sold after a recent market adjustment.

The home on 1.2 hectares, which sought $3.9 million when listed at the beginning of this year, recently saw a price drop to $3.6 million before its recent sale.

The Mews last traded for $3.9 million in 2003 when bought by the McAllery family when they bought from Lord and Lady Merritt. It was master built by the award-winning Alvaro Homes.

Multiple living spaces and terraces look across the established landscaped garden and water features.

The gardens include expanses of lawn, ponds, weeping cherries and bed upon bed of roses and camellias. 

An all-weather pavilion features an indoor heated swimming pool and spa.

The long standing $15 million Potts Point apartment record has been topped twice in as many weeks.

First the penthouse atop the Ikon building sold for a suburb record $16 million when bought by audio king Peter Freedman, and now the Villard penthouse on Macleay Street has fetched $15.5 million.

The Villard apartment (pictured above and below), which sold in just two weeks on the market, had initial $16.5 million hopes through Jason Boon at Richardson & Wrench.

It was listed by digital media chief executive Matthew Kapp, who co-founded Ozmota Ventures, who paid $4.69 million when he was buying from Tim Higgins of the Design Establishment furniture company in 2000.

The apartment has a rooftop magnesium swimming pool.

Villard's most recent sale was when racehorse owner Max Whitby sold the sub-penthouse last month for $12.5 million.

The whole floor Villard three bedroom three bathroom apartment has been offered recently as a $5000 a week rental through Ray White Double Bay.

It cost $6.6 million in 2012 when the three-bedroom sub-penthouse was bought by Whitby and his late wife, Jennifer from the Elizabeth Bay-bound retired car dealer Ray Harris and his wife Robyn.

A renovated Queenslander in Clayfield, suitable for an executive family, is set to go under the hammer.

The 29 Dublin Street, Clayfield offering has been listed by Ray White Ascot agent Dwight Ferguson.

It retains timber flooring, soaring ceilings, capped off with glass windows and doors to flood the interiors with air and light.
 
The gourmet kitchen boasts a suite of Miele appliances including two integrated fridges and freezers, dishwasher, wine fridge, dual ovens, induction stove stop, Quasi-air exhaust, hot/cold zip tap and bench mounted filtered water tap.

There's a hidden butler's pantry provides extra storage and amenities with a third sink, fridge, freezer, Miele dishwasher and ample preparation and storage space.

Its outdoor entertainment area features a BBQ area with hot water sink, fridge and TV, with the area overlooking the manicured backyard with fully tiled swimming pool and cubby house.
 
On the upper level are five of the six bedrooms, plus an office and second lounge.

“It pays tribute to the home's original Queenslander design with VJ walls, decorative breezeways and French doors, with the floor extending onto a private front balcony capturing cooling afternoon breezes," Ferguson said.
 
Seb Turnbull with his wife Anna Turnbull, purchased the property in 2007 and undertook the renovation in 2016.

The property will be auctioned on-site on December 1 unless sold prior.

A Mongolian yurt-inspired trophy home in far north Queensland is for sale.

The three bedroom circular house at 60 Rossetti Road, Gregory River in the Whitsundays took almost six years to complete.

Retired theatre nurse and owner-builder Lisa Gilmore built the round house, inspired by a traditional yurt.

“I have always been attracted to circle shapes, it’s a bit like a wedding ring, it’s eternal and from the sky it looked like a petal,” Gilmore said.

“My father had always wanted a round house and in his last years he came to live with me and we started researching the concept.

“We bought the skeleton from Beavis Conceptual Designs in Goulburn and the rest I built myself with the help of two very clever shipbuilders.

“It’s a big job to get the joins to go in the right way but every one is perfect.”

It took almost six years from concept to completion in a true labour of love project for Gilmore who has recently moved from her semi-rural acreage on the Gregory River to Jubilee Pocket.

“I need to close this chapter of my life and let someone else move it who will love it,” Gilmore said.

Inside the walls, steel cables hold the structure together from the roof to the top of the walls.

A perspex skylight, which has been certified by builders, lets light in through the apex of the roof.

The three bedrooms - one with an ensuite - come off the main circle to continue a bigger circle.

“There’s no hallway as such and it looked beautiful with all my antique furniture. It’s like a piece of art that’s been filled with peace and love,” Gilmore said.

“It’s been a labour of love and I believe in life you need to be true to yourself and be challenged.

“Someone who understands the workmanship will love it. I can imagine a builder or a ship-right or a sailor or just someone who understands energy forces will be drawn to it.”

Ray White Whitsunday agent Simon Dymmott said the home needed to be seen to be appreciated.

“Now selling well below replacement value, take the time to organise to inspect this very unique opportunity,” Dymmott said.

“Inspired by a Mongolian yurt the house design is quite something to behold," he said.

“Surrounded by established gardens and tropical fruit trees and bordered by a river, this is a perfect lifestyle opportunity, offering a peaceful and very private aspect.”

Scarborough, a luxury 30 hectare estate in the foothills of the Jamberoo Valley, has been listed for sale.

The private property, described as a modern classic Australian country home, has views over the rolling countryside to the Pacific Ocean.

The 365 sqm, four bedroom home was built by Strongbuild at the end of a long sealed bitumen driveway.

There are multiple full-length windows and doors designed to take in the views.

The surrounding lawned gardens feature citrus trees, while the terraced gardens below are planted with a mixture of bottlebrush and other native shrubs together with south coast rainforest trees. 

In the grounds there's 230,000 litres of water storage and gas boosted solar hot water.

Inspired Real Estate agents Perrie Croshaw and Leanne Pugh have the listing.

Jamberoo is a village around 11 kilometres inland from Kiama on the South Coast.

A Claremont home that once belonged for the former Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop has been listed for sale.

Bishop owned the property for six years in the 1990s, when she was a Perth lawyer.

She paid $435,000 in 1993, $5,000 less than it traded for in 1991, and went on to sell it for $1.05 million in 1999, a year after she was elected to the House of Representatives.

Last traded for $1.63 million in 2003, the buyers have since restored and enhanced the grand single level 1900s Federation home on 1,265 square metres.

Behind its tuck-pointed exterior, the home has four bedrooms, three bathrooms and three living rooms.

Offers close December 11 through Ray White Cottesloe agent Jody Fewster.

This article was first published in the Weekend Australian.  

Glenfruin, an iconic Italianate style residence located within Launceston's city centre, has been sold for $3.25 million to buyers who've relocated to the Apple Isle from Sydney.

It was offered by Mathew Chugg and Rodney Rawlings from Knight Frank Tasmania.

Built in the 1880s on 1,482 sqm and set over three levels, Glenfruin at 1 Brisbane Street combines elegant original features with the demands of contemporary living. 

Glenfruin has a floorplan of 458 sqm.

It comes with four queen-sized bedrooms, gourmet kitchen with red marble bench living and dining rooms with expansive views, north-facing balcony, cellar and storage.

Other features include terraced garden, hydronic heating, double glazing, reverse cycle air conditioning, and double carport plus six extra car parking.

The suburb's median house price sits at $485,000, according to CoreLogic. 

Glenfruin was listed with offers due October 19.  

The sale of 1 Brisbane Street is the highest priced residential sale of the town, just surpassing a Claremont Street home sold for $3.05 million seven years ago.

Greg Wilkinson, a co-founder of accounting software giant Reckon, has listed his palatial Balmain waterfront reserve home.

He's asking $6.3 million for the luxury resort-style home.

Each of the four bedrooms have water views. The master has its own ensuite and dressing room.

There's a home office, media den and steam room.

An alfresco outdoor kitchen overlooks the swimming pool in the 390 square metre gardens. 

BresicWhitney Balmain agents Adrian Oddi and Callum Edmonds are marketing the home for a December 15 auction.

Wilkinson founded Reckon in 1987 with a maxed-out credit card and a loan against a busted-up Holden Commodore.

He bought the Balmain property in 2003 for $2,875,000

This article was first published in the Saturday Daily Telegraph. 

When expatriate retired mortgage broker 'Aussie' John Symond and wife Amber finally return to their home, (pictured above) from London, they might find they have several new neighbours on the pricey Point Piper peninsula.

There is an application to turn Portofino, the adjacent $60 million luxury home, into a block of three flats by the little-known Chinese multi-millionaire stock trader Andy Wenlei Song.

Portofino (pictured below, centre) was the longtime three-level home of luxury car dealer and yachtsman Neville “Croaky” Crichton and his then fiancée — now wife — Nadi Hasandedic.

Crichton sold in 2016, just months before their lavish wedding, for $60.66 million, in what was the year’s top trophy home sale in Australia.

It required approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board, but seemingly no financing because there’s no registered mortgage on title.

In 2011, the six-bedroom Portofino was briefly rented by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his wife Melanie, at $25,000 a week.

Solicitors Minter Ellison have been nominated as assisting in the conversion application. 

The property is one of only two waterfront homes on the rather steep and narrow Wingadal Place.

The timber Scots College Rowing Club boatshed sits on the shore between Portofino and Symond’s five-storey home.

The conversion proposal has been with Woollahra Council since this time last year, and the revised plans have only just gone out for public comment.

The initial Rob Mills Architects plans raised concerns at council regarding excessive building height, the documents show.

The works are estimated to cost $7.28 million for the 1436 square metre waterfront parcel.

Crichton bought the property in 1994 for $5.9 million from helicopter pilot Bruce Rose and his wife, Pam, who held the only private helicopter landing rights in the eastern suburbs, which have now lapsed.

The New Zealand-born Crichton had commissioned Auckland-based architects Swan Railley Clapham & Associates to design his Tuscan-style abode.

It is not known if the intention is to flip or hold, perhaps as a multi-generational family compound.

This article was first published in the Sunday Telegraph.

One of Peppermint Grove’s original houses is set to be auctioned on December 8 for the first time in 13 years after a makeover.

It has been offered by Jody Fewster from Ray White Cottesloe/Mosman Park. 

Copley on View, the circa 1930's home situated at 58 View Street was purchased by its current owners in 2005.

Shortly after it underwent a full renovation and rear-extension addition by architect, Lendis Golic.

The home features original structure including wide, polished jarrah floorboards, formal dining and living rooms joined by a double-storey height, light-filled ‘void' zone, ceiling to floor window and the walnut, timber-clad stairwell.

It comes with four bedrooms, five bathrooms, ground-floor office, wine cellar, gym or hobby room, storage rooms and marble-clad laundry plus secure garage. 

It has been listed for the past 100 days by Perth charity fundraiser Hilda Shroy.

“My home has been a giving home with many fundraisers,” Mrs Shroy said.

It is within short walking distance to Gill Street Café, St Hilda's Senior School, Freshwater Bay Yacht Club and Cottesloe Central and Napoleon Street Café precinct. 

The property goes to auction on December 8 on-site.

The suburb's median house price sits at $3.875 million, according to CoreLogic.