The country's top academic couple, University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Glyn Davis and wife, vice-chancellor at Monash University Margaret Gardner, have sold their Melbourne CBD apartment.

The Bates Smart-designed 35 Spring Street apartment that cost the couple $3.24 million off the plan just last year went to private mid-week auction.

There was price guidance of $3.45 million to $3,795,000.

Abercromby's agents Jock Langley and Sam Goddard have not revealed the price secured for the 34th floor three bedroom, two bathroom apartment that came with two terraces with views that span to the Dandenong Ranges.

Davis and Gardner are well regarded as the ultimate power couple, acting as the vice-chancellor's of two of Australia's largest and most highly ranked and esteemed universities.

Davis has been vice-chancellor and Principal of the University of Melbourne since January 2005 and is the Professor of political science in the faculty of arts.

Gardner has been vice-chancellor of Monash University since 2014 having previously worked at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology for nine years in the same role.

She has served in executive positions with Deakin University, Griffith University and Queensland University of Technology.

This article first appeared in The Weekend Australian Mansion Australia section.

Fairfax Media director Patrick Allaway has secured a buyer for his Mosman home that he bought less than two years ago.

The Esther Road home cost Allaway and wife Elizabeth $3.95 million in late 2015. It came with $4.3 million to $4.7 million hopes through Ray White Lower North Shore agent Geoff Smith.

The sandstone, timber and glass home 200 metres from Balmoral Beach has three bedrooms and a barbecue terrace.

Allaway bought the home following the $4.1 million sale of his three bedroom apartment in The Residence at Hyde Park to Fairfax Media chief executive Greg Hywood.

This article first appeared in the Daily Telegraph.

Colette Dinnigan and her husband Bradley Cocks are set to implement grand plans as international boutique tourism operators.

Underpinned by their popular decor style, they got their start with their two cottages at Milton on the NSW South Coast, but now see glamourous international horizons.

They have secured a 400 year old Puglia, Italy farmhouse (above) which they will be converting into an luxury airbnb offering after its restoration.

It was one of 20 prospective homes they spotted when they spent their year in Italy as suiting their new-found brief.

Puglia is popular with English tourists.

Their yet to be launched Bespoke Homes website suggests they have also quietly picked up a 1915 Darling Point offering which could headline the local rental offerings.

The home was recently listed through Ben Collier at The Agency off market with $6.5 million hopes.

With secluded garden oasis swimming pool, it was once owned by another fashionista legend, Maggie Taberrer paid $710,000 in 1987 and sold four years later for $1.16 million.

Dinnigan, who this month was awarded an AO, is now concentrating on interiors and property development with Cocks.

She reckons the world of interiors is not too dissimilar to fashion.

"It’s about colour, textiles — but it’s something you can do without being on a program like Paris Fashion Week,’’ Dinnigan advised recently.

This article first appeared in the Sunday Telegraph.

It's been quiet on the property front for the Sydney Swans in the eastern suburbs this season, however the high flying Greater Western Sydney Giants are making a splash.

The Giants co-captain Callan Ward, whose team sits second on the AFL ladder after 15 games, has bought deep in Sydney Swans heartland.

The Melbourne born midfielder has just settled on a two bedroom apartment in Bronte, paying $1,606,000 through Ben Bickmore-Hutt agents Ben Bickmore-Hutt.

The Bronte apartment last traded for $900,000 in 2013 and was primarily used as an Airbnb rental.

Set in a boutique block of five and with no common walls, the open plan living area opens to a wide outdoor entertaining terrace that looks out the the beach. 

It's actually Ward's second purchase since joining the newly formed Giants in 2012 for their inaugural season.

He paid $1,515,000 for a three bedroom, three bathroom Randwick house. 

Ward will go down in history for the Giants, having kicked their first ever goal - and is the record holder for most appearances, racking up 107 games since coming from the Western Bulldogs.

Ward's purchase is among many Sydney Swans eastern suburbs coastal homes.

Between North Bondi and Maroubra there are Jarrad McVeigh, Dane Rampe, Josh Kennedy, Gary Rohan, veteran Heath Grundy and likely future Swans captain Luke Parker.

Slightly closer to the city are the Paddington based Kieran Jack, who sold his former Randwick home last year, and Buddy Franklin who resides in Rose Bay with new model wife Jesinta Campbell.

The Giants travel to Melbourne to face the Hawks today, while the Swans look to make it five in a row when they go up against the Gold Coast Suns at the Allianz.

This article first appeared in the Daily Telegraph.

Australian model, singer and actor Erika Heynatz can attest, like many Sydney landlords, knows that there's been little rental price growth in investment properties over recent years.

The former Home and Away star quickly found a tenant last month for her former Potts Point bolthole apartment but at $495 a week, it was just $30 more than its 2011 initial asking rental.

Complete with city skyline, Opera House and Harbour glimpses from its top floor Macleay Street location, it was came fully furnished through McGrath agent James Wragge.

Sydney rental yields for the typical $750,000 median price sit at a low 3.7 percent, according to the latest CoreLogic index.

There no doubt been good price growth as Heynatz paid $342,500 for the 29 sqm studio in the Chimes building in 2004, before she married long time partner, Winchester O'Rourke director Andrew Kingston, in 2007.

The couple now reside in Collaroy, the iconic Shipmates building on the Northern Beaches peninsula which has been popular spot for the Home and Away cast members to drop anchor.

Heynatz was only briefly on Home and Away in 2015, playing school teacher Charlotte King whose character was murdered six months later by Josh Barrett, played by Jackson Gallagher.

Her departure came around the time she and Kingston had their baby.

Heynatz recently posted a picture to her Instagram of her, Andrew and Charlie celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary.

Kingston's 2006 proposal came amid Heynatz marking on her signing career.

Heynatz had left her role as host of the Foxtel reality TV show Australia's Next Top Model to pursue singing.  

It was the same year she won the show It Takes Two when she partnered tenor David Hobson beating the talented Guy Sebastian and swimmer Sarah Ryan.

Heynatz once suggested that the best view of Sydney was "at my place" noting the view "makes it pretty hard to beat."

She added through that she had the benefit - at the time - of escaping from the city spending half her time in the northern beaches.

This article was first published in The Saturday Telegraph.

Splendour in the Grass co-founder Jessica Ducrou and her surfboard shaping partner Dain Thomas have bought in Paddington.

They've paid $3.65 million for a renovated Glenmore Road terrace.

More than doubled in price since its last $1.75 million trade in 2013, the three level home is a mix of contemporary and classic.

It has four bedrooms and two bathrooms.

The top floor is dedicated to the master retreat and the lower-level living and dining space is flanked by a courtyard at both ends.

Di Jones Eastern Suburbs agents Jane Schumann and Gary Sands sold the home.

The couple have been Byron Bay based at their historic 109 year old farmhouse Killarney.

The two level Queenslander had five bedrooms and an entertaining deck that overlooked the saltwater pool and large cabana. 

Ducroe is the managing director of Secret Sound Group, a company that she runs with music industry veteran Paul Piticco.

The two first combined over 20 years ago, working with Australian rock band Powderfinger.

Piticco was the bands manager and Ducrou was the booking agent.

The two were described by Billboard as two of the Australian music industry's top power players.

In 2001 the two combined to launch Splendour in the Grass in Byron Bay, with Powderfinger headlining the inaugural show.

The following year the two founded Secret Sounds, a full-service tour promotor which is now valued at around $60 million.

Ducroe had founded Homebake Festival in 1996.

Good Guys whitegoods boss Andrew Muir has emerged as the mystery buyer of Miramar, the stunning Flinders home built by entrepreneur Daniel Besen and wife Danielle.

Settlement records show Muir paid $17 million for the Wood Marsh-designed home that was described as 'land art by the sea' by its selling agent, Peninsula Sotheby's International Realty agent Rob Curtain.

The award winning home features a sunken living pod and comprises seven bedrooms, five bathrooms, a study, exercise room and a two level master wing. The wings wings were inspired by the boomerang.

It's a triumphant return to the Mornington Peninsula for Muir, who only briefly owned the now demolished Guilford Bell-designed 1958 Baillieu House at Sorrento.

The Besen's pocketed nearly $45 million in two sizeable property sales in six months having also sold their Toorak new build for $26.25 million, a Victorian state record topping Michelle O'Halloran's $26 million sale of Ilyuka at Portsea in 2010 to John Higgins.

Muir has owned some of Melbourne's special homes.

In 2007 he broke the state record when he spent $17.75 million on another former Baillieu family home which was sold by the businessman Steve Vizard who had paid $5.25 million in 2002.

Muir has also previously owned National Trust listed mansion Chandos in East Melbourne, as well as Crathre House, a nearby two-storey Italianate Victorian mansion built in the 1870's.

This article first appeared in The Weekend Australian Mansion Australia section.

Melbourne IT Group chairman Gail Pemberton has listed Anjele, her 1880s weatherboard Southern Highlands cottage.

Pemberton has renovated and extended the Burrawang home since paying $830,000 in 2010.

Wrapped in decking on 1,230 sqm, the Hoddle Street home has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. There's an artists' studio above the garage.

It comes with a price guide of $1.4 million to $1.5 million through Di Jones Southern Highlands agent Kate McCullagh.

Prices in Burrawang have ranged from $320,000 for a vacant lot to $2.6 million this year.

Pemberton, who was previously the chairperson of the property website, Onthehouse Holdings, is a director at Paypal.

This article first appeared in the Daily Telegraph.

The Minter Ellison chief executive Tony Harrington has re-listed the Old School House in Burrawang, one of nine cottages currently for sale in the quaint Southern Highlands village.

The 1878 rustic Gothic-style school comes with $2.85 million hopes having not sold in 2015 when asking $3.3 million.

The record price for the village was set at $2.6 million earlier this year when Alness, the five bedroom house on a 2ha holding overlooking the Wingecarribee Reservoir, was sold.

Harrington paid $2,075,000 for the property in 2003 when he was leading the PwC accounting firm.

The property is within walking distance of Burrawang General Store and the legendary Burrawang Pub.

Having closed in the 1980s, the school then served as a tea-room, antique show room and residence.

Set on 3953 square metres, the five bedroom, four bathroom house comes with the Great School Hall with open fire, stone walls and original floorboards.

Recent works unified the three residential buildings.

Richardson & Wrench Bowral agent Michael Maloney is marketing the home.

Harrington is now the chief executive of MinterEllison after heading up innovative global investment bank Moelis & Company.

Anjele, another Burrawang cottage, has been listed by Melbourne IT Group chairman Gail Pemberton.

Set on 1,230 sqm, it is an 1880s weatherboard with a guide of $1.4 million to $1.5 million.

The Hoddle Street home wrapped in decking was renovated in 2010, when it last traded for $830,000, but retains many of its original features.

Its been listed through Di Jones Southern Highlands agents Kate McCullagh and Courtney Ripphausen.

This article first appeared in the Sunday Telegraph.

The Block co-host Shelley Craft and her husband, real estate agent Christian Sergiacomi, both have a very keen eye for property in their daytime jobs.

And in their downtime they do more than dabble.

The couple have just secured a $1.35 million land parcel on Byron Bay's Belongil peninsula.

They secured a 650 sqm non-beachfront building parcel, which is around 150 metres from the popular beach that holds a special place in the couple's hearts.

They got married on the beach in 2009, calling it their “most special place in the world”.

Craft recently posted a picture to Instagram of the beach with saying "Is this anyone else's idea of perfection???"

They're now set to build a beach house to utilize as a Belongil Beach holiday rental. No doubt it will be a Shelley's beach house style project.

It came with $400,000 approved work plans from 2014.

They have engaged architect Paul Uhlmann, who is also designed their current home within the town which they secured for $3 million last year.

That's getting a pool, pergola and poolhouse.

Their purchase in the thriving town came after they sold their luxury hinterland holding The McLeod Shoot home fetched $2.55 million last year bought by the former Bronte based entrepreneur Justin Butterworth who pioneered online holiday home rental websites in Australia.

Craft got some design tips from fellow Block stars Darren Palmer and Shaynna Blaze after the property was bought from the McGettigan pioneering family who first settled in Byron Bay in 1882.

Craft, whose career kicked of with presenting roles on Seven's Saturday Disney and The Great Outdoors, then Australia's Funniest Home Video Show, is busy co-hosting the hit Channel Nine renovation series The Block.

The 13th season which is being filmed in Melbourne's Elsternwick involves the restoration of old homes hauled onto the site.

It is likely to be begin in August.

Craft met Sergiacomi when they traveled the world together on The Great Outdoors in 2007. Sergiacomi was working as a cameraman at the time.

They have two daughters.

Sergiacomi, now a sales agent at Byron Bay Property sales, had a hand in the biggest sale in Byron Bay last year.

It came when businessman Mark Rowsthorn, chief of transport company McAleese, sold holiday home on the exclusive Marine Parade to Burra Foods boss Grant Crothers for $8 million.

This article was first published in The Saturday Daily Telegraph.

Richard Johnston, the co-founder of TripADeal, one of Australia's leading travels deals site, and wife Claire Alexander have spent $2.31 million in Byron Bay.

The exclusive waterfront beach house, that had previously acted as a B&B, is set in expansive tropical gardens with uninterrupted nature reserve views.

Comprising four bedrooms and two bathrooms, the home on a large 1,207 sqm double block overlooks the tranquil Belongil Creek.

The garden paths wind past the fish pond and the lawns to the waters edge where there's a jetty and gazebo.

It was sold by Ed Silk Byron Bay agent Ed Silk.

Johnston and best mate Norm Black came up with the idea of TripADeal when in Bali in 2010.

Little did they know the company would turn them into multi-millionaires and chance the face of Australia's travel industry.

The Bangalow-based Richard Johnstone had previously owned a surf shop up on the NSW north coast, while Norm had a retro clothing store. 

Johnston had also worked on surf films during his 20s and 30s and was a freelance writer for surfing magazines.

The couple have been based in one of Bangalow's cutest heritage cottages.

The business pair credit much of their success to starting their multimillion-dollar global business in a town better known for board shorts rather than boardrooms.

The group employs 56 people in Byron, overtaking the local chicken processing factory as the biggest ­employer in town.

This article first appeared in the Daily Telegraph.

Former Channel Nine boss David Gyngell and his wife, the TV presenter, Leila McKinnon have finished the renovation of their North Bondi investment apartment.

It's been undertaken with the help of Gyngell's sister, the interior stylist Briony Fitzgerald since the couple's recent $1,675,000 purchase.

They are now seeking a $1,700 a week Ramsgate Avenue tenant for the three bedroom art deco apartment.

Raine & Horne Double Bay agent Tom Clinton is marketing the rental apartment that would reflect a healthy yield comfortably over five percent.

The suburb's median three bedroom rental sits at $1265 according to realestate.com.au.

Gyngell fought off stiff competition for the apartment, with 120 inspections in the lead up to the auction which saw 14 contracts handed out.

The buyers were attracted by its size, high ceilings, northerly aspect and the fact there are no shared walls with other apartments.

“Between 70 to 80 square metres is normal in the Bondi area, this one is 114 square metres,” Ric Serrao, the Raine & Horne Double Bay selling agent said.

With Gyngell bidding in shorts and tee shirt, there were five bidders on the day, the first time the first floor apartment had traded in four generations.

The apartment had been passed down through the Goldberg family who had built the block of flats in 1938.

Gyngell and McKinnon are based at Dover Heights, which McKinnon thinks of it as "north North Bondi."

The couple, who married at Byron Bay in 2006, spend much of their time too in the Byron Bay district where they have substantial property investments.

Gyngell, the son of the late former Channel Nine boss, Bruce Gyngell and interior designer mother, Ann, had business links to Bondi going back to the late 1980s when he was selling beachwear and surfing equipment.

This article first appeared in the Sunday Telegraph.

A home on Toorak’s St Georges Road has reportedly attracted a $40 million offer - which would set the Victorian house price record.  

Domain reports a “whale” buyer, based offshore, quietly agreed to pay the record-breaking price for the trophy home when they were in Melbourne about six weeks ago.

The buyer’s advocate David Morrell is quoted as saying the vendors had been seeking a buyer for three years.

“This highlights something that’s been for sale for years, none of the locals can afford to buy it or suggest to buy it, and then some offshore person comes and buys it, and it will never come back on the market again,” he said.

“If you go up and down St Georges Road, you’ll start seeing that all these houses are just locked away.”

The Melbourne record was set in December last year when a new house on Towers Road in Toorak, owned by arts patrons and entrepreneurs Daniel and Danielle Besen, sold. 

No. 9 Towers Road, Toorak, sold for $26.25 million last year.

Sydney Roosters forward Aidan Guerra has paid $830,000 for a Byron Bay retreat.

It's an investment for Guerra, who is set to join the struggling Newcastle Knights in 2018 having signed a three year deal last month.

He's secured an $850 a week rental, reflecting a near 5.5 percent yield. It income falls just short of the median Byron Bay weekly rental price of $900.

The 1985 built home is set in 620 sqm of landscaped gardens and has four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a large private yard on its 620 sqm block.

It has been renovated since last sold for $556,000 in 2013.

The much traded home has had six different owners since the turn of the century including Saint Philomena Crystal Rainbow Tear Freedom Sword Martin-Wild-Ocean-Dreamtime.

It went backwards in price in 2005 when it was picked up for $387,000, having previously sold for $440,000 in 2002.

Byron Bay Ray White agent Michael Gudgeon sold the home pre-auction.

It's Guerra's second investment, his first a lot closer to home. His first purchase was a one bedroom garden apartment in Queens Park, close to the Roosters Allianz Stadium.

That cost $965,000 in 2015 and was leased last year at $600 a week. 

This article first appeared in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

Margaret Jackson, the first woman to head the Qantas board, has listed her Armadale trophy home.

The European inspired Avalon Road home set in gardens designed by Robyn Boyle has a price guide of between $4.9 million to $5.5 million.

Comprising four bedrooms and a timber lined library, the home has formal sitting and dining areas that extend out to a covered alfresco terrace and the landscaped private garden with stone pond.

An internal lift connects the three levels including a basement with a sound proofed cinema room, wine cellar and garage.

A double height reception hall sits behind the ornate antique timber and wrought iron front double doors.

Marshall White have set an August 5 auction.

Jackson, who paid $2.75 million for the home in 2004, has held senior positions at ANZ, BHP and Billabong.

She was made a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2003.

The veteran Sydney jockey Glyn Schofield has secured an investment apartment in Tamarama.

The jockey paid $2.3 million for the apartment in the newly completed Pertama complex, just 200 metres from the beach.

McGrath Edgecliff agent Simon Exleton sold the home to Schofield, who quickly sought a tenant at $1,500, reflecting a 3.4 percent yield.

Spanning 120 sqm, the apartment has three bedrooms, two bathrooms with a large balcony.

The boutique 10 apartment Pertama building comprises two apartments per floor designed by Marchese Architects.

One of the penthouse's sold for $2.62 million off the plan in 2014.

Schofield has racked up over $50 million in prize money for his owners over his illustrious 16 year career.

His crowning moment came last year when he rode the James Cummings trained outsider Prized Icon to the Group 1 $1.5 million AAMI Victoria Derby victory.

This article first appeared in the Sunday Telegraph.

Entrepreneur Jennifer Zanich has downsized from Kurraba Point, settling on an apartment in Potts Point.

The Paloma Mobile co-founder has paid $1.98 million for a contemporary Challis Avenue apartment in the Tonkin Zulaikha Greet designed building.

Marketed as a house-like residence by Di Jones selling agents Jeremy Brink, the double height apartment has two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Garage-style operable doors open to an urban rooftop garden.

Zanich sold her four bedroom Shellcove Road home for $8.11 million after asking $7 million plus.

She had owned it since 1998 when she paid $2.42 million.

Last year Zanich took over as managing partner at US start-up lab Stacked Venture Builder.

The Sir Norman Foster-designed Lumiere Sydney CBD apartment of cyber bullying warrior Tara Moss is under contract.

Moss, who recently hosted the critically acclaimed ABC documentary Cyberhate, has taken advantage of the booming Sydney property market, although it did spend 88 days on the market.

She had failed to sell the two bedroom Lumiere apartment back in 2012 when it came with $1.06 million hopes. After the five year property boom, that seems to be slowing down, it's been sold presumably around its $1.65 million asking price through Focus Property Management agent Bernie Mitchell.

It's a huge win for Moss, who will have scored nearly 100 percent price growth since her $850,000 purchase in 2008, a year before she married poet and philosophy professor Brendt Sellheim, 

The unit had also been a consistent rental after Moss' tree change eight years ago to the Blue Mountains with her Sellheim.

The couple live in a three bedroom Blackheath retreat with their six year old daughter.

The acreage on the outskirts of town had been operating as the popular weekend cafe Bushrock Cafe before they bought it for $585,000 in 2009. 

In the Sydney rental market, Moss found tenant for the Bathurst Street apartment initially at $895 a week, then $1,000, and most recently $1,150 a week, a steady increase over its five years rental stint.

Set in the 2007 Foster + Partners designed Lumiere Tower, the 107 sqm apartment features a large courtyard from its commanding 15th level position.

The Canada born TV presenter has been handy with the pen since she published her debut novel when she was 23.

Named Fetish, the novel went on to win the Sassy Award for Best Novel in 1999 and was shortlisted for the 2000 Ned Kelly Award for Best First Novel.

Moss, UNICEF Australia's national ambassador, has written 11 bestselling fiction and non-fiction books.

The much in demand public speaker recently gave a keynote talk in Adelaide at the Mobile-ising Women in Business conference.

Her ABC six part series tells her own story of dealing with online threats and examines the phenomenon of online abuse.

This article first appeared in the Daily Telegraph.