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Jamie Durie\u2019s Avalon Beach home features 230 plants in purpose-built planters throughout the foyer and main living room.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a challenging year for the Australian property market, and celebrities aren\u2019t immune.<\/p>\n
Auction clearance rates have plummeted to levels not seen since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, with less than half the Sydney homes going under the hammer over the past few months. And it\u2019s a similar story in Melbourne.<\/p>\n
Yet things can turn around quickly, and some of the same prestige property agents who had been ringing the alarm bells well before the tough conditions were widely reported now say there\u2019s been a slight improvement in buyer sentiment over the past two weeks.<\/p>\n
Now could be the optimum time to talk turkey.<\/p>\n
Top Sydney agent Steven Chen, of the Agency, who\u2019s selling the last remaining apartments in the \u201cbest in the world\u201d unit block<\/a>, Lendlease\u2019s One Circular Quay, says there\u2019s definitely been \u201cmixed sentiment\u201d, which he puts down to international factors, inflation, interest rates, oil prices and The Budget. <\/p>\n \u201cBut my phone hasn\u2019t stopped ringing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s our top 5 list of big names who\u2019s properties have been on the market for up to nine nine months. <\/p>\n JAMIE DURIE Jamie Durie has given the price of his Avalon Beach home a $5m haircut. Picture, Portia Large.<\/p>\n Celebrity landscaper Jamie Durie\u2019s mega eco-mansion Belah House at Avalon on the Northern Beaches first hit the market last October with hopes of $33m.<\/p>\n Now two eastern suburbs agents, Ray White Double Bay\u2019s Ashley Bierman and Adam Reichman, have been brought in to help sell it with its revised guide of $28m.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re getting fresh inquiry and having inspections \u2014 it\u2019s definitely moving in the right direction,\u201d says Bierman<\/p>\n The six-bedroom, six-bathroom home \u2014 with \u201cdrinkable\u201d pool water, sauna and 230 plants in purpose-built planters throughout the foyer and main living room \u2014 had been set for a March 1 auction with a $29m guide but was withdrawn.<\/p>\n But Bierman says the $28m guide is attracting more interest.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s such a unique product \u2014 there\u2019ll never another like it \u2014 so it does stand out and sets itself apart,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a labour of love for Jamie and his family and unrivalled and unmatched, so we will find the right buyer for what this incredible property offers.\u201d<\/p>\n Reichman, too, is optimistic: \u201cWe are showing buyers through and are very active on it.\u201d<\/p>\n MICHAEL CLARKE Cricketer Michael Clarke is prepared to wait it out. Picture: Instagram.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been seven long months that cricket legend Michael Clarke\u2019s stunning eastern suburbs mansion went on the market.<\/p>\n He\u2019s upgraded to a six-bedroom residence nearby, with a pool and tennis court, so his current five-bedder, bought for just over $13m in 2021, has to go.<\/p>\n The Agency\u2019s Steven Chen is one of the agents charged with selling the property and he says the guide remains firmly at $20m.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s one of the most stunning prestige homes in the area,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs there\u2019s new interest coming into the market every week, it\u2019s only a matter of time that a property of this calibre will be sold.\u201d<\/p>\n The home is on a 784sqm block, has a resort-style pool and gym, heated limestone floors, casual and formal living and dining zones and an updated Mediterranean-style kitchen.<\/p>\n The master has a deluxe ensuite, there\u2019s a private terrace and study.<\/p>\n ROXY JACENKO Roxy Jacenko. She\u2019s not about to let her former Paddington office sell for a song. Picture: Instagram.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll never get bored in this boardroom, designed by Manhattan\u2019s flavour of the month, Blainey North. Photo: Supplied<\/p>\n In April, Singapore-based PR maven Roxy Jacenko listed her super stylish former commercial headquarters in Paddington for a mid-May auction with a $10m guide.<\/p>\n It passed in but Colliers listing agent James Cowan came close to selling it.<\/p>\n Now the uber wealthy Jacenko, whose former jailbird hubby Oliver Curtis is an AI entrepreneur billionaire, says: \u201cI am going to hold on to it for now. No need to sell it, for the right price, yes, but not otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n Like Durie\u2019s labour of love, Jacenko is passionate about the Elizabeth St former home of her business Sweaty Betty, having bought it for $2.66m 12 years ago and then commissioned the acclaimed designer Blainey North to transform it into a ritzy workplace.<\/p>\n North is now flavour of the month in Manhattan, where she\u2019s redesigning luxury apartments of billionaires, according to the AFR.<\/p>\n Roxy\u2019s not about to part with it for a song.<\/p>\n KYLE SANDILANDS <\/p>\n Media figures claim Kyle Sandilands \u201ccompletely capitulated\u201d and was likely \u201cdesperate\u201d.<\/p>\n The radio star and potential new Karl Stefanovic side-kick has had his Glenorie mansion on the market since late February, just days after his on-air row with his former KIIS FM co-host Jackie \u201cO\u201d Henderson that cost him his $100m contract.<\/p>\n Whereas Sandilands once dreamt of close to $6m, expectations have dropped by $1m to $4.9m via Belle Property Dural\u2019s Carolyn Wheatley.<\/p>\n He reportedly took out a secret home loan charging close to 30 per cent interest rate just weeks after his radio walkout stopped his income.<\/p>\n No doubt he\u2019s keen to strike a deal at Glenorie, with four separate NAB mortgages covering a $14m Vaucluse mansion, a $3m Southern Highlands farm, a $1.8m Copacabana fixer-upper and the Glenorie estate that he bought for $3m in 2022.<\/p>\n He\u2019d intended the Glenorie property, on which he\u2019d done a three-year reno, as his home with wife Tegan Kynaston and their young son, but she wasn\u2019t keen on the commute to the city.<\/p>\n So they bought in Vaucluse.<\/p>\n But still he can\u2019t be that hard up, with reports he was out looking for an investment property recently<\/a>.<\/p>\n GRANT HACKETT The Brighton, Melbourne, block of land owned by Grant Hackett.<\/p>\n Olympic gold medallist and champion swimmer Grant Hackett\u2019s dream home plan in Melbourne\u2019s Brighton has turned into a nightmare, with the block of land he bought in 2024 languishing on the market.<\/p>\n And he looks like he\u2019s going to take a significant hit on it.<\/p>\n Having paid $8.5m for the 1181sqm block two years ago, he had plans drawn up for a three-storey residence including a basement, indoor lap pool, an outdoor pool, home gym and cinema.<\/p>\n But he and his interior designer and dessert chef wife Sharlene decided to purchase and move into an already-built, multi-million-dollar mansion in Toorak instead.<\/p>\n All fine and dandy, except there\u2019ve been no takers for the block via Marshall White, and the price was revised down to $7.25m-$7.95m with a June 30 cut-off in an expressions of interest campaign.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no indication of a sale and the property remains listed for sale on realestate.com.au.<\/p>\n The agent, Campbell Butterss, has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n MORE:<\/p>\n Insane prices paid for Australia\u2019s most expensive homes<\/a><\/p>\n
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