Aussie celebrities of all stripes – from sport stars to Hollywood actors – have attempted big moves in the property market this year, often with mixed results.
Those who walked away with wins from property sales included actor Isla Fisher, singer Sophie Monk, former Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns and billionaire Atlassian founder Scott Farquhar.
But other celebrities enjoyed their fair share of setbacks, with the rich and famous rarely being immune to a general slowdown in housing market conditions in the last four months.
Celebrities who look likely to finish 2024 without securing buyers for their luxury home sales included actor Russell Crowe and swimming legend Ian Thorpe.
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Others, like actor Rebel Wilson, pulled the plug on planned sales, while Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had to slash the price of a property in Sydney’s inner west and wait three months to get a buyer.
Notable celebrity moves over the year included:
RUSSELL CROWE
Oscar winning actor Russell Crowe looks likely to finish 2024 still seeking a buyer for his luxury Woolloomooloo home.
Crowe set a then apartment price record when he bought the Woolloomooloo unit in 2003.
The actor has alledgedly told agents he will sell the home if the “price is right”. Picture: Getty Images
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It’s understood the 1,000 sqm apartment with a marina berth and parking for seven cars is not publicly listed for sale, but the actor has expressed willingness to let it go if gets $42m-$45m.
Local sources revealed seeing multiple visits to the Finger Wharf home by luxury real estate agent Will Manning of McGrath Double Bay.
Manning and business partner Luke Hogan were reported to be handling the off market sale but neither would comment.
Crowe snapped up the apartment for $14.35m back in 2003 – setting a then record price for a unit sale.
REBEL WILSON
The Pitch Perfect actor listed a former Balmain residence turned investment property with a $2.3m guide but rescheduled the planned June auction to July before pulling the unit from the market.
Hollywood actor Rebel Wilson pulled the plug on the sale of an investment property in Balmain.
Wilson had lived in the unit while she had her former Birchgrove home renovated. Picture: Getty Images
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Auction clearance rates in the area at the time were below the 50 per cent mark, an indicator of a weakening market, although it is not clear how much interest her top floor apartment attracted.
The home in an apartment building once used as a soap factory was listed for rent at $1,200 a week about a month after the listing was scuppered. Wilson paid $1.88m for the home in 2015.
Wilson stayed in the unit while renovating her former home in Birchgrove which she sold in 2022 for $9.5m.
IAN THORPE
Five-time Olympic champion Ian Thorpe this year relisted a Woollahra apartment he had tried to sell last year. The home had passed in at auction last year on a vendor bid of $3.95m.
Thorpe had the four-bedroom, three-bathroom home scheduled for November auction with a guide of $3.5m.
The Woollahra apartment is in a boutique block.
The guide was later dropped to $3m but the home did not sell and the listing was later pulled from the market. Industry sources claim the swimming legend may attempt to sell the home again next year. Records indicated he paid $2.75m for the home in 2017.
ANTHONY ALBANESE
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took three months and a price cut of $150,000 to sell a Dulwich Hill investment property.
The property changed hands in late November for $1.75m after being listed in September with a guide of $1.9m. Albanese bought the property for $1.175m.
The Prime Minister bought a Central Coast home for $350,000 below the 2021 price.
But had to cut $150,000 off the price of an investment property in order to sell. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers
He concluded the sale shortly after buying a luxury home in Central Coast suburb Copacabana for $4.3m, a price about $350,000 below the price the clifftop home had previously sold for in 2021.
It has since been listed for rent for about $1,900 but it’s understood the Prime Minister and fiance Jodie Haydon plan to live in the property at some point in the future.
LLEYTON AND BEC HEWITT
Tennis ace Lleyton Hewitt and actress wife Bec tried to sell their coastal mansion this year but it remains up for sale.
Lleyton Hewitt and Bec Hewitt are still trying to sell a Gold Coast property.
The Hewitts’ Gold Coast property.
The couple listed their Gold Coast home for auction, three years after buying it for about $4.3m. The Burleigh Heads property didn’t sell at auction and remains on the market.
ISLA FISHER
Now You See Me star Isla Fisher, who announced her separation from comedian Sacha Baron Cohen earlier this year, pocketed $930,000 from the sale of her apartment in Woollahra.
Isla Fisher sold up a unit she bought in the 1990s.
She had bought the Woollahra unit for $171,500. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers
She had purchased the two-bedroom unit for $171,500 in 1995 when she was just 19, having recently landed the role of Shannon Reed on soapie Home and Away.
The 1930s apartment had been listed with a $1m guide, but pulled from its September auction. Fisher had rented the apartment out in recent years. It sold in November to a local solicitor.
DANIEL JOHNS
Silverchair guitarist Daniel Johns sold a four-bedroom house he bought while still a teenager.
Daniel Johns performing in 2015. Picture: Getty Images
Johns bought the property soon after the release of Silverchair’s debut album.
Johns had snapped up the house near Merewether Beach in Newcastle for $360,000 in 1996 – about a year after the release of the band’s debut album Frogstomp.
The home resold in July for $2.75m after originally being scheduled for auction with a $2.9m guide. Johns had rented the home out to tenants.
LIAM HEMSWORTH
Hunger Games star Liam Hemsworth lodged a development application to build a new two-storey pavilion-style residence on the 37 hectare Byron hinterland property he bought in 2021 for $6.8m.
The estimated building costs lodged to council were $14.6m. The plan is for open plan living areas to surround an internal courtyard, a cabana and a terrace leading to a circa 18m pool.
Liam Hemsworth submitted plans for a new house build. Picture: Getty Images
The build for the five-bedroom house will see Hemsworth follow in the footsteps of older brother Chris, who built a multimillion-dollar compound in the nearby Broken Head area a few years ago.
JENNIFER HAWKINS
Model Jennifer Hawkins sold a Lake Macquarie investment, one of the last homes in her once extensive investment portfolio.
Hawkins sold the Minmi home off the back of previous sales in Sydney’s northern beaches.
Jennifer Hawkins in 2017. Picture: Scott Barbour/Getty Images
Hawkins offloaded the 664sqm Minmi property for $840,000, in line with the price guide.
Hawkins paid $345,000 for the three-bedroom, single level house in 2008, a year after she signed her reputed $4m deal with Myer.
The deal was the latest among a recent spate of sales from the top model. She had in previous years sold properties in Curl Curl, Whale Beach, Newport and Newcastle suburb Merewether.
RAY HADLEY
Retiring 2GB broadcaster Ray Hadley sold a Gold Coast bolthole for $2.05m ahead of announcing this year would be his last as a radio host.
He had bought the home with a pool, spa, sauna, gym and tennis court for just over $1.22m in 2017.
The Gold Coast home has water views.
The talkback host had made some key moves in the property market over recent years. Last year he and wife Sophie snapped up a Central Coast weekender for an undisclosed sum.
He sold his long-time Dural home in 2021 for $7.6m, a price roughly $5m higher than what he paid in the 1990s.
SOPHIE MONK
Aussie TV presenter Sophie Monk sold a riverfront investment property located in the Gold Coast suburb where she attended primary school.
Sophie Monk sold an investment property. Picture: Adam Head
Monk’s former Waterfront property.
The deal came a month after the Love Island Australia host listed the five-bedroom, three-bathroom Helensvale home.
Property records show the 4,018 sqm parcel in the tightly held Riverdowns Estate changed hands for $1.76m.
SCOTT FARQUHAR
Billionaire Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar sold a Double Bay mansion known as Elaine for $130m. Farquhar had purchased the home for $71m in 2017.
Farquhar’s $130m sale was the highest price paid for an Aussie house this year. Picture: Damian Shaw
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