From Hollywood to Hawthorn: The stunning homes celebrities bought and sold in 2021 – The Sydney Morning Herald
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Some of Australia’s most famous faces bought and sold property in 2021 as the booming market attracted big-name buyers along the east coast.
Hitmakers and Hollywood stars called in investments or found themselves the ultimate family hangout from Byron Bay to the inner-city suburbs of Melbourne.
Here are 10 of the most significant celebrity transactions in 2021.
Tones and I
The singer-songwriter, also known as Toni Watson, is best known for her soulful pop songs like Dance Monkey, but she also made some big property moves over 2021.
That included selling her Mount Eliza mansion for $6 million in November after buying the property on Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula in early 2020 for $5.1 million.
Tones and I sold her Mount Eliza home for $6 million in 2021.
The five-bedroom manse on a spacious block was bought by a local family.
Though Tones and I had grown up in the area around the peninsula it seems she wanted to be based in Byron Bay, where she spent time before making it big. Late in 2020, she bought a Byron Bay retreat for $3.3 million – a big change from the van she once lived in while busking in the pricey coastal NSW town known for its famous residents.
Kylie Minogue
Undoubtedly one of Australia’s biggest stars, Kylie Minogue also proved to be an astute investor, after selling her Armadale investment property for $1.715 million.
The investment home Kylie Minogue sold in 2021, making her an amazing profit.
When Kylie bought the two-bedroom home in Melbourne’s inner east in 1990 she paid just $185,000, making her a massive on-paper profit of $1.53 million.
Time will tell if the pop princess, also known as the Singing Budgie, will make a return to Australia to buy more property.
She told BBC2 in October that she was planning to return Down Under after spending much of 2021 in lockdown with her family here.
Dannii Minogue
Kylie was not the only Minogue to dabble in the Australian property market in 2021.
Dannii Minogue, one of the hosts of The Masked Singer, bought a home in Hawthorn in 2021.Credit:Network Ten
Her sister and fellow pop star Danni Minogue bought an impressive four-bedroom spread in Hawthorn mid-way through 2021, paying $3.52 million.
Three of the bedrooms in the three-storey home have an ensuite and walk-in wardrobes and a fourth bedroom has access to a family bathroom and powder room, as well as a teenager’s retreat.
Dannii returned to Melbourne while hosting the reality TV show The Masked Singer.
Lleyton and Bec Hewitt
Tennis star and commentator Lleyton Hewitt and his TV-star wife Bec sold their Toorak mansion in November for between $15 million and $16 million.
Lleyton and Bec Hewitt’s Toorak home sold for between $15 million and $16 million.Credit:Jellis Craig Armadale
The couple and their three children had lived at the property in Melbourne’s most expensive suburb for five years before putting it up for sale.
While it had plenty of luxury features, the one thing missing from the home was a tennis court.
The family have reportedly been looking to move to Sydney, where Bec grew up.
Andy Lee
Lee and his partner have their work cut out restoring the home.Credit:
TV and radio host Andy Lee, one half of Hamish and Andy, set tongues wagging when he dropped a cool $8.5 million on a derelict Hawthorn mansion in November, well above the asking price range of $7 million to $7.7 million.
The home, built in 1876, had sat empty for 30 years and lacked a bathroom or kitchen, but it didn’t stop the host of The Hundred from snapping up the property which has riverfront views.
As well as his hosting duties in 2021, Lee and his partner Rebecca Harding adopted an adorable terrier puppy named Henri who has appeared in many of the couple’s social media posts.
Hamish Blake and Zoe Foster Blake
Hamish Blake and Zoe Foster Blake completed a move to Sydney in 2021 by selling their Richmond home.Credit:Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images for AFI
Andy’s radio and TV co-host Hamish Blake, meanwhile, completed a move from Melbourne to Sydney with his family in 2021.
Hamish and entrepreneur wife Zoe Foster Blake sold their luxurious Richmond digs in March for $7.435 million, records show. The sale happened just two weeks after the property was listed.
The glamour couple, who share two children, had already bought a mansion in the exclusive Sydney suburb of Vaucluse for $8.925 million in late 2020, allowing Foster Blake to be closer to her business Go-To Skincare.
Rachel Griffiths and Andy Taylor
Australian acting royalty Rachel Griffiths also made a move from Melbourne to Sydney, buying in the harbour city in 2021.
Rachel Griffiths recently won the best supporting actress award, and also bought an inner-city pad in Sydney. Credit:Brendon Thorne/Getty Images for AFI
Griffiths and her artist husband Andy Taylor bought a designer terrace in Sydney’s inner city for $2 million after it was listed with a guide of $1.75 million.
The three-bedroom digs with no parking sold and settled in a beneficial trust owned by Taylor.
The couple had previously lived in Melbourne for seven years after returning from the US, where they were based while Griffiths was acting in TV series there.
Most recently Griffiths won the best supporting actress award from the Australian Film Institute for her role in TV series Total Control.
Rove McManus and Tasma Walton
Gold Logie-winning comedian and TV presenter Rove McManus and his film and TV-star wife Tasma Walton bought a Coogee home for $3.76 million in March 2021.
The home, which was sold as part of a deceased estate, seemed like a bargain for the couple who quietly sold their home in Bronte, a neighbouring beach suburb in Sydney’s exclusive east, for more than $14.5 million late in 2020.
Tasma Walton and Rove McManus at the AACTA Awards in 2017. Credit:Cole Bennetts
The couple also own a home in Perth which they bought for $2 million in 2020.
Nicole Kidman
Hollywood superstar Nicole Kidman was linked to the sale of a sub-penthouse in Sydney’s Milsons Point, which sold for $2.78 million earlier in 2021.
The sub-penthouse in the Latitude building was snapped up by corporate interests linked to Kidman and is a floor below another apartment Kidman reportedly owns.
Nicole Kidman has had a busy 2021 including buying sub-penthouse in Sydney.Credit:Daniel Pockett
Kidman now owns four apartments in the building including two penthouses, which have been turned into one mega apartment.
Those apartments and her Southern Highlands farm Bunya Hill are all held in company names, of which the current sole director and owner on paper is Annette Rechner.
Rechner is a supporter of the UTS mental health unit Kidman Centre, established by Kidman’s late father, Professor Antony Kidman.
Zac Efron
Hollywood heartthrob Zac Efron joined the Byron Bay celebrity contingent in 2021, snapping up a block of land about an hour from the coastal city.
Efron, who starred in High School Musical and most recently Down to Earth with Zac Efron on Netflix, bought land in Glengarrie area of the Tweed Valley for $2 million.
Zac Efron in his Netflix series Down to Earth with Zac Efron.
Set on almost 130 hectares, the land offers a private retreat with rainforest, creeks, waterfalls and bushwalking trails.
Efron was also a property seller in 2021, receiving $A7.4 million ($US5.3 million) for the sale of a home in Los Angeles.
He had initially been asking for $8.2 million ($US5.9 million) for the two-storey home with four bedrooms. While the price fell, it was still well above the $4 million Efron had paid for the property in 2013.
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