Kylie Minogue downsized to Melbourne, saving about $4m in the process. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
Not everyone plays by the rules in the property game, but the general way of the world is that we start off small with an apartment, have a family home or two and then, once the kids move out, we downsize.
The rich and famous do it, too, and, ok, perhaps their digs are a bit more stylish than average, every step of the way, but at least we can be inspired by their glamorous homes.
Here are 10 of the best.
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Lisa Wilkinson
Lisa Wilkinson and Peter FitzSimons in front of their former Cremorne mansion, sold late last year.
The media couple now live in this $15m Mosman penthouse.
The TV presenter and her husband, author Peter FitzSimons, sold their huge Cremorne home late last year for less than the $24.5m vendor bid at the September auction, downsizing to a Mosman penthouse that cost about $15m.
With their three kids having flown the coop, they had no need for the five-bedroom Arts & Craft-era estate Ingleneuk on 3214sqm, and are quite content in their four-bedroom, two-bathroom top-floor space in the castle-like Britannic Mansions.
A block of six built in 1910, it comes with a rooftop terrace with a teppanyaki barbecue, open rooftop bathtub and has views of the city.
Kerri-Anne Kennerley
Kerri-Anne Kennerley on the red carpet at last year’s Logies. Picture: Jonathan Ng
She downsized to Gladswood Gardens on the Double Bay harbourfront.
The one-time queen of daytime television, Kerri-Anne Kennerley, 72, downsized to an apartment in Gladswood Gardens, Double Bay, bought for $13.7m in 2022.
She’d recently sold her large circa 1885 Woollahra house, bought for $2.49m 25 years before with her late husband, John, who wanted space for his train sets.
John died in 2019 and a few years later, she realised the sprawling home was too big for her and she was sick of maintaining the pool.
“If I get a silly price, I’ll consider it,” she said.
The $22m sale price was enough motivation and she enlisted the buyer’s agent, Craig Wing, in the search for her new home with one key requirement: it had to be pet-friendly.
Sadly, her golden retriever, Digger, died in September, 2023.
Kerri-Anne Kennerley with her husband, John.
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue’s house in Melbourne.
It has four bedrooms.
The 57-year-old pop princess sold her five-bedroom West London home for more than $12m (£6m) in 2023, $1.5m than she bought it for 12 years before.
A source told The Sun at the time: “Kylie is a shrewd businesswoman as well as a music superstar and she chose to sell her West London house rather than hold on to it for rentals.”
She’s downsized to a four-bedroom home in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, which she’d bought for $8m, ahead of her return to Oz after three decades living in London.
Among its highlights are the alfresco dining area with outdoor kitchen and fireplace; three bathrooms; an eight-car garage, wine cellar and a veggie patch.
Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett in Munich last November. (Photo by Franziska Krug/Getty Images)
They once owned this Hunters Hill mansion, which sold for $18m in 2017.
Unlike most regular people, the super rich have the ability to downsize and then upsize later. Take, for example, award-winning actress and producer Cate Blanchett and her husband playwright Andrew Upton.
They now live in Highwell House on 5.2ha in the UK countryside, a sprawling 1890s seven-bedroom, eight bathroom manor, which previously belonged to Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It’s reportedly haunted.
But in their previous life in Australia, they’d owned a historic sandstone mansion with pool and tennis court in Hunters Hill bought for $10.5m in 2005, that they then renovated.
That sold for $18m via Ken Jacobs of Forbes Global Properties in 2017, setting a suburb record.
And they downsized to an apartment in the Art Deco treasure, The Astor in the Sydney CBD, once owned by Barry Humphries, that they’d bought for $8m two years prior.
They sold that for about $12m in 2020 through Jacobs to move to Britain.
Warwick Ross
The famous film producer sold 78 Kambala Rd, Bellevue Hill for close to $50m …
And moved to 1 Wallaroy Cres, Woollahra for $18.4m.
The award-winning film producer Warwick Ross who sold a Bellevue Hill mansion for close to $50m early last year, downsized to his next glamorous home with movie-star good looks last November.
Ross, who produced the Yahoo Serious comedies Young Einstein, Reckless Kelly and Mr Accident, and his wife Margot, a former journalist and legal correspondent with the Financial Review, paid $18.4m for a Wallaroy Cres, Woollahra residence via Alexander Phillips of PPD.
Though considerably smaller with four bedrooms, it’s reminiscent of their former French Provincial six-bedrooom mansion at 78 Kambala Rd, Bellevue Hill which sold in March via William Manning and Luke Hogan of McGrath in March.
Their new pad is designed by the acclaimed architect Michael Suttor, with lavish interiors by Tamsin Johnson. But far less upkeep of the grounds, being a low-maintenance 547sqm compared with their previous 1567sqm block with Hollywood-style pool.
Stephen Liebowitz
The rag trader sold 69 Wolseley Rd, Point Piper, for $55m …
… and bought a penthouse in Ode, Double Bay, with plunge pool, for $24.9m.
The rag trader will be moving to Double Bay mid-year, having bought a penthouse in the luxury Ode building off the plan for $24.9m, less than half the price of their former Point Piper mansion that sold for $55m last June.
The Retail Apparel Group co-founder and his wife, Pam’s, old Wolseley Rd mansion had four bedrooms, five bathrooms and lots of time-wasting challenges such as lawns to mow, hedges to trim and a pool to maintain.
Their new penthouse was to have four bedrooms, but they’ve redesigned it to have two bedrooms plus a study, with three bathrooms. Plus, there’s a private rooftop plunge pool.
It’s designed by Luigi Rosselli, one of Sydney’s most celebrated architects. And like their former home, there are harbour views.
Ray White Double Bay’s Adam Reichman and Elliott Placks, in conjunction with Michael Pallier of Sotheby’s, did the deal on the house. And 1st City’s Brad Caldwell-Eyles and Julian Hasemer negotiated the apartment sale.
Sue Ingham
The wife of the Ingham chicken billionaire sold in Buckhurst Ave, Point Piper, for $29.5m …
And moved to the penthouse at the new Piper development nearby for $16.25m.
The wife of the late Ingham chicken billionaire, Jack Ingham, sold her luxury penthouse for $29.5m, the highest apartment price ever in Point Piper in June via McGrath agent Luke Hogan.
Sue’s now moved to a four-bedroom, three-bathroom penthouse in the luxury Piper project, developed by Fortis Property Group in conjunction with Dare Property Group, in nearby Wunulla Rd, purchased for $16.25m via Hogan.
It’s without doubt the best apartment the just-finished boutique block, with open-plan living spaces, a wine cellar, high ceilings and north-easterly views that include the harbour from the huge terrace.
Ingham also freed up plenty of cash — close to $14m — to enjoy life.
She’d owned her 450sqm Buckhurst Ave apartment, which has a private pool, four bedrooms, four bathrooms and a four-car garage, since 2010, when it was purchased for $12,245,000.
Her late husband, Jack, with his brother Bob, inherited a small chicken business in 1960 and turned it into a hugely successful business enterprise.
Known as “Big Jack”, he and Bob were also co-founder of the largest thoroughbred racing and breeding operation in Australia.
He passed away in 2003.
Greg Duncan
Greg Duncan, executive chairman of Trivett, Australia’s largest prestige automotive group, takes a ride in a Bentley Convertible at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair, Botanic Gardens in Sydney.
Their former home at 83 Bulkara Road, Bellevue Hill, is for sale for $36.5m.
Moving into Sue Ingham’s former home are Greg Duncan, the former owner of luxury car dealership Trivett, and his wife, Glenda.
McGrath agent Luke Hogan is understood to be close to the sale of their four-bedroom, four-bathroom Alec Tzannes-designed mansion at 83 Bulkara Rd, Bellevue Hill, which has a$36.5m guide.
The Duncans have owned their Bulkara Rd property for close to 30 years, buying the site for $1.55m in 1996.
Greg sold Trivett Group, which comprised 22 dealerships, for $116m in 2013. It was Australia’s largest prestige automotive group, selling Rolls Royces, Bentleys and Aston Martins.
They’ll no doubt enjoy the comparative low-maintenance lifestyle offered by Sue’s old place,
in a boutique waterfront block of just six known as Point Piper House, that has direct access to Seven Shillings Beach and also features a private pool overlooking the incredible harbour view.
The pictures show a lift opening directly into the top-floor apartment, a gym. magnificent outdoor terraces, and large open-plan living spaces with lavish finishes.
Bill Roney
Bill Roney, back row, far right, played in the Eastern Suburbs 1960 Grand Final side. Picture: Sydney Roosters
The Roney home at 3A Buckhurst Ave, Point Piper sold for $37m in December. The dream had been $60m two years ago.
The downsizing plans of former rugby legend Bill Roney and his wife Sara hit a few hiccups: they bought a new apartment off-the plan and the price expectations for their former mansion proved over-ambitious.
They’d bought into the new landmark Luigi Rosselli-designed Ode development in Double Bay, paying $21.7m off-the plan a few years ago via 1st City’s Brad Caldwell-Eyles and Julian Hasemer.
The 262sqm three-bedroom, three-bathroom (plus study and TV room) spread in the exclusive circular section is on the sixth floor and it comes with a rooftop terrace and plunge pool.
The trouble is, Roney, who played for Eastern Suburbs and Parramatta in the 1950s and 1960s and later became a surgeon, had to sell their four-bedroom Buckhurst Ave, Point Piper residence.
When first listed more than two years ago there were hopes in the $60m range, based on the sale of nearby Akuna, which was unrenovated, for that price. Why wouldn’t this modern house on the waterfront sell for something similar?
But every property is different — some apparently thought the Roney place was difficult to access from the street — and they ended up accepting $37m early last month.
The Roneys had bought an old home on the 961 sqm beachfront block in Buckhurst Ave for $10.15m in 2011 and rebuilt.
Steve and Carol Moss
Uig House, high on the hill in Point Piper, sold for $130m.
Steven and Carol Moss downsized to this Boronia Rd, Bellevue Hill, residence, that cost $14.5m.
When you sell your old place for the highest price in the city, the world’s your oyster when it comes time to downsize.
That was the case for rag traders Steven and Carol Moss, who finally found their “forever home” after an 18 month search.
They’d sold their Scottish baronial mansion, Uig Lodge in Point Piper, for a record $130m in November, 2022, to Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar and his investment banker wife, Kim Jackson.
Steven and Carol, of the Katies fashion empire, had owned Uig Lodge since 1996, paying $9.2m, a huge price for a non-waterfront at the time.
So what did they settle on?
They snapped up the Bellevue Hill designer digs of Anthony Tzaneros, of the ACFS freight family, and interior designer Poppy O’Neil Tzaneros, for $14.5m in May last year via TRG founder Gavin Rubinstein.
He’d described it as: “One of the highest quality finished, most elegantly designed properties Bellevue Hill has ever seen.”
Tzaneros had completely transformed the three-storey house, with formal and informal living areas, high-end finishes and an infinity pool.
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