The Great Keppel Island owner Terrry Agnew has spent $10.35 million on Eleuthera, the Woollahra trophy home of Phoebe Kyriakou, the ex-wife of the Monaco-based Australian mining magnate Chris Kyriakou.

The four bedroom Eleuthera on Rosemont Avenue, Woollahra's most prestigious street, sold through BradfieldCleary agent Georgia Cleary on delayed settlement terms.

It last traded for $7.9 million in 2011, when the 1910-era residence was purchased from the Point Piper-bound hotelier Peter Ryan and his wife Toni.

Agnew and wife, Kyril are still awaiting a buyer for Rona, the Bellevue Hill trophy home which is listed through Bart Doff at Laing & Simmons in conjunction with Ben Collier at The Agency. 

This article was first published in the Saturday Daily Telegraph.

The inner Sydney apartment of The Block judge Neale Whitaker’s failed to sell at weekend auction.

It was passed in on a vendor bid and now comes with a $1.65 million asking price.

The apartment was bought for $1,705,000 in 2016 when the inner city apartment market conditions were stronger.

The three-bedroom warehouse style unit at Birmingham St, Alexandria has 135 sqm space in a SJB-designed block. 

Whitaker and his partner, David Novak-Piper are looking to buy near Berry on the NSW South Coast and secure a smaller inner city apartment.

They put the apartment up for auction through BresicWhitney with a buyer’s guide of $1.6 million.

The New York-bound contemporary artistic duo Marc and Gillie Schattner are set to flip their Centennial Park trophy home they bought just last May.

The couple paid $6.5 million buying the 1920s Federation home from the entrepreneur Peter O'Connell and modelling agent Kathy Ward.

The Lang Road homes has five bedrooms, a home office and a pool on its 835 square metre block.

The New York-bound Gillie and Marc are famous for their animal sculptures which are scattered throughout the home which, after a minor update, Laing + Simmons Double Bay agent D'Leanne Lewis has scheduled for June 25 auction.

The Schattner's did well on their prior flip in Bellevue Hill in 2016. 

They paid $3.9 million for the three level home selling 11 months later for $5.75 million on Suttie Road.

It's a busy time on Lang Road, where tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes sold his renovated home, Braelin for around $17 million.

The Double Bay-bound Cannon-Brookes and wife Annie are set to spend more time in San Francisco, where Atlassian, the billionaire dollar company he co-founded has its US HQ.

The 1920s home cost the couple $12 million in 2015.

Another recent sale saw Westpac executive Michael Sirmai and lawyer wife Rebecca Finkelstein pay around $12 million for the home of signage industry boss Peter White and his wife Julianne, who had paid just over $2 million back in 2001.

This article first appeared in The Sunday Telegraph.  

Mosman agent Michael Coombs has been labelled the lower north shore luxury market's "most prolific agent" by The Australian Financial Review.

It revealed he has 57% of the market share.

"He continues to outsell his competitors Simeon Manners, Ray White, LJ Hooker, Belle Property and Raine & Horne," the article noted.

The paper made the claim in an exclusive report that landscaper builder Antony Tisch had sold his palatial waterfront Cremorne mansion for about $20 million, setting a new sale record for the suburb.

The eight-bedroom 1080 square metre home with five levels stacked like a layer cake overlooking Willoughby Bay still appeared as for sale on realestate.com.au and domain.com.au until late today.

But the AFR advised it had actually been sold to a Chinese buyer.

Tisch acquired the home ten years ago for just over $7 million.

The record bettered the sale of nearby Glencoe at 26 Wonga Road which sold for $18 million earlier this year to Kennards Hire chief executive officer Angus Kennard who this week sold his North Manly home which had a price guide of $5 million through Jake Rowe, of Rowe Partners Real Estate.

Coombs reportedly declined to comment about the record sale, the paper noted.

A rival report on Domain said sources confirmed it sold for about $19 million, not $20 million.

The former Australia Post boss Ahmed Fahour has $40 million to $44 million hopes for the Hawthorn trophy home, Invergowrie.

Fahour bought it off-market in 2013 for $22 million, when he was Australia’s highest-paid public servant.

The Victorian record remains unchallenged as t sits at around $52.5 million for the Stonington mansion in Malvern.

Fahour home has renovated the historic home that sits on a 1.11 hecatre block, having lodged $4.5 million renovation plans.

Its features a five-bedroom main home, plus a three-bedroom brick house, a bluestone two-bedroom cottage and an old bluestone hall that can be used as a garage, gym or studio.

He reinstated a tennis court.

The property features a working bell tower and a billiards room.

Fahour is downsizing after recently buying a $16 million mansion in Kinkora Road, Hawthorn.

“Despite the negativity surrounding some aspects of the property market at the moment, I don’t think there’s been a better time in the history of Melbourne real estate to sell a prestige or trophy home,” listing agent Marcus Chiminello told The Australian.

It last traded when sold by Peter Hill, the skateboarding Globe International co-founder and his wife, Angela.

The colonial-gothic style mansion on Coppin Grove home - once a finishing school for the city's young ladies - previously traded at $10.75 million in 2002. 

The first president of the Legislative Assembly, Sir James Palmer, began building the estate in 1846.

Invergowrie (pictured below) is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.

At one time it was owned by theatrical entrepreneur George Coppin, who is said to have tried to demolish it. The building was saved when businessman Sir William McPherson bought it. Sir William (pictured below) rose to political heights as premier of Victoria in 1928.

On his death, the property was handed over to the Association of Headmistresses of Independent Schools when it became the Invergowrie Homecraft Hostel and was later headquarters of the Victorian Post Secondary Education Commission.

It was bought by the Coogi knitwear entrepreneur Jacky Taranto in 1992 for $2.7 million who sold in 2002 to the Hills.

Images courtesy of the State Library of Victoria and The Invergowrie Foundation.

The Potts Point apartment of the late socialite Bobby Bawden, dubbed the doyen of the 1920s Byron Hall apartment block, is being sold.

Bawden called the three bedroom apartment her home for nearly 25 years.

Her Auntie Mame-style gin and tonic-fueled bridge parties were held well into her 90s.

The apartment's French Parisian interior design, with mirrored walls and a Palazzo style foyer, was done by its prior owner, jeweller Peter Sourry. 

Vicki Laing and Anthony Dowling at Laing Real Estate have a June 12 auction with several contracts already issued. 

Never unprepared, four years ago she wrote the guest list for her own recent wake.

William Deague, of the millionaire property developing Deague family, has secured a Toorak home set on the corner of two of Melbourne's priciest streets.

Like father like son, it has been demolished.

The 1930s home, hidden behind a vine draped facade on a 2000 square metre parcel on the corner of Orrong and St George's Road, was mooted to have initially been set to sell to Chinese buyers for $14 million, but they didn't proceed.

Instead Deague paid $12.2 million for the two storey, European-style home with four bedrooms which did not have any heritage restrictions.

A swimming pool, heated spa and tennis court sit in the 1995 square metre grounds. It last traded at $2.2 million in 1994.

This article first appeared in The Weekend Australian. 

Veteran TV presenter Mike Willesee senior has sold a Darlinghurst investment property for $1,625,000. 

It had been a $1,200 a week rental. 

It had been listed for May 5 auction through BresicWhitney agent Brad Hillier who had a $1.6 million price indication.

Willesee's autobiography writes about his first house, which cost $12,000. He recalled hocking a crystal bowl and transistor radio to get by before his first ABC pay check which had doubled his wage at the Daily News.

Willesee, who came to prominence in 1967 as a This Day Tonight reporter for the ABC, and was most famous for hosting A Current Affair, has been tidying up his property portfolio.

The three bedroom bedroom Denham Street home has been in the family since $625,000 was paid in 2002.

Earlier this year Willesee sold a 200 square metre Bondi Beach garden apartment for $2,575,000 through Laing+Simmons agent Danny Doff.

It had $2 million hopes for the two bedroom, two bathroom unit that was bought for $1,575,000 in 2011.

Willesee went public last November when he become part of clinical trial for the cancer discovered in his throat, being treated with the revolutionary drug Keytrudo, in combination with more traditional chemotherapy. 

Nicholas Condon, former managing director of advertising agency DDB, and his interior designer wife Kate Beadle are selling their Portsea property.

The Duffy Street beach home blends classic beach house design with 21st century refinement.

The quintessential Portsea holiday home they built in 2016 has four bedrooms, three bathrooms and a swimming pool.

It cost the couple $1,105,000 in 2014.

Kay & Burton agent Liz Jensen has a $3.4 million to $3.65 million guide for its June 10 auction.

Former Masterchef contestant Jonathan Daddia has bought an investment in Randwick.

The IT consultant, who dubbed himself 'The Terminator' during the series won by Adam Liaw, has spent $1.7 million on a two level 1920s semi.

He's leased the original two bedroom home after asking $700 a week.

NG Farah Coogee agents Cameron Airlie and Mark Feerick sold the home pre-auction.

Daddia made the final eight of the 2010 series of the popular Channel 10 food show.

After contemplating opening his own restaurant, Daddia stayed in IT and works at PwC Strategy.

Having settled on the home, Daddia has briefly listed a Bellevue Hill apartment.

The renovated art deco unit in the 1920s Carinya building which cost $950,000 in 2014 as withdrawn from sale by Phillips Pantzer Donnelley agent Jason Pantzer.

This article first appeared in The Sunday Telegraph.

The Trbojevic Sea Eagle brothers continue to pour their league earnings into building their impressive property portfolio.

Jake and Tom, set to be included in the NSW State of Origin squad for the upcoming series, had previously accumulated quite the collection of apartments in the northern beaches area.

Now they've committed on a new front altogether.

They have diversified into a new build, each securing a house and land package on a newly constructed street inland at Warriewood on Sydney's northern beaches.

They've each spent $964,000 on two turnkey homes in a new Warriewood development, just three doors along from each other.

The purchases take their spends to over $1.9 million for houses and nearly $3.2 million for apartments.

No building is yet underway on the recent acquisitions but the surrounding streets are certainly tradie heartland judging by the line of utes heading in and out of the neighbourhood when I took a look late one afternoon this week.

The Trbojevic's secured their house and land package from Clarendon Homes in a new Warriewood estate, Fern Creek. Its just up the hill from Shearwater, near the Warriewood Wetlands.

The lots suit a four bedroom home.

The sold signs suggest the sales were through local agent Nik Vuko who declined to indicate if the boys would be moving in as owner occupiers or secured their as investors. 

Their property purchasing began in 2014 when Jake, two years older than Tom, spent $680,000 on a two bedroom Narrabeen apartment.

In 2016 Jake then spent $590,000 on a one bedder in Brookvale, a few months before his then 19 year old brother got his foot on the ladder.

Tommy Turbo spent $895,000 on his first purchase, a two bedroom Manly Vale unit, shortly after he signed a $2.7 million contract to keep him with the Sea Eagles until 2020.

He backed the purchase up a year later when he spent $1 million on another two bedroom apartment in the same suburb.

The brother's purchases are now taking over the portfolio of captain Daly Cherry-Evans

Cherry-Evans lives in a $1,335,000 Curl Curl home and owns an investment home in the Gold Coast and an apartment in Freshwater.

The Mona Vale born brothers both played for the Mona Vale Raiders before being picked up by Manly.

Tom is set for his first call up to the NSW Origin side, while former Cronulla Shark Michael Ennis said NSW Blues could pick Jake Trbojevic for the next 10 years.

The 24 year old forward made his debut in the three-match series last year, the same year he was made the Sea Eagles vice-captain.

It's been far from the dream start for the Sea Eagles, who sit 12th on the ladder having lost 7 of their opening 10 games, including thumping defeats against South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Parramatta Eels.

This article was first published in the Saturday Daily Telegraph. 

Having spent a suburb record of around $18 million in Cremorne, Kennards Hire CEO Angus Kennard and wife Angela have now their North Manly home.

The Riverview Parade home has been transformed by architect Utz Sandby since Kennard paid $1.95 million in 2010.

It had a $5 million guide.

Featured in Grand Designs Magazine, the glass framed home adjoining Manly Lagoon sits in 655 square metres of resort-like landscaped gardens.

It has five bedrooms, four bathrooms and a vergola-covered barbecue deck overlooking a heated swimming pool and jacuzzi.

Rowe Partners agent Jake Rowe and Ben O'Brien had a May 26 auction but sold it before hand.

The Kennards have recently bought Glencoe, the six level Cremorne waterfront.

Angus Kennard is the third-generation of Kennards to head up the equipment hire company, founded by his grandfather Walter Kennard 70 years ago.

Graham Cordery, the owner of popular Surry Hills venue Soda Factory, has bought a Tamarama apartment.

The top floor apartment in a 1950s boutique block of four cost $3 million.

It spans nearly 240 square metres across two levels which includes a large rooftop entertaining terrace.

There's three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

McGrath Coogee agent Angus Gorrie secured the sale in under two weeks.

Soda Factory opened in 2013 and celebrated its fifth birthday this month.

Cordery is a director at The Experience Group, which operates the Soda Factory and the restaurant Rosie Campbell's on nearby Crown Street.

The redundant Gold Coast riverfront home of the AFL star Gary Ablett is finally under contract, after spending well over a year on the market.

Although he seemingly bought well, it's expected to be a loss for the now Geelong midfielder, who played his first back game at the Cattery on the weekend.

He paid $1.8 million for the Ashmore home in 2011, just six kms from the AFL stadium when he signed for the Gold Coast Suns.

Ablett bought the four bedroom home after it had a $2,595,000 guide when offered a year earlier.

Set on 3342 sqm of landscaped grounds, it features Bali-style huts, lagoon style pool and full size floodlit tennis court.

The home offers 65 metres of river frontage with a floating pontoon.

Kollosche Prestige agent Danny Stanley initially sought $2,195,000 when he took over the listing last June which most recently had a $1,795,000 asking price.

Ablett left the Suns to return to his boyhood club Geelong when he began his career in 2002.

This article first appeared in The Weekend Australian.

Rachael Trainor, wife of the vocational training entrepreneur Ryan Trainor, has yet to sell their Brighton abode.

The Kinane Street dress circle home, bought in 2011 in Rachael's name for $5.3 million, was listed for recent auction.

The home with five bedrooms, three living zones, a home office and a wine cellar now has an $8.5 million asking price.

There was a pre-auction $7.2 million to $7.92 million price guidance through Marshall White.

A limestone terrace overlooks the swimming pool and spa, while one of the living zones opens to a soccer pitch on its 1450 square metre parcel.

This article first appeared in The Weekend Australian.

The St Peters home former world champion boxer Jeff Fenech grew up in has been sold for $1.5 million.

Fenech, who turns 54 this week, sold the home as executor of his late mum, Mary's estate.

She passed away last year with the home offered for the first time in 45 years.

It dates back to the 1930s with four bedrooms on its 410 sqm parcel.

Richardson & Wrench Newtown agent Steve Kremisis secured the Florence Street sale.

Fenech won world titles in three weight divisions. 

CoreLogic put the median terrace price at around $1.35 million.

This article was first published in the Saturday Daily Telegraph.

Erectile disfunction doctor Joseph Pollak's pricey Potts Point car space purchase in 2015 has ended up in a costly court case win after almost three years of disputation with the owners corporation at the 1960s block, The Chimes.

The problem arose because access to the $264,000 parking lot requires passage over the neighbouring common area. It seems the strata dispute began soon after Pollak's purchase when the body corporation installed a chain along the boundary.

Dr Pollak loosened the chain, complaining it prevented him from parking.

The body corporate then moved to install a garden which would have also disallowed car manoeuvring.

There was even an ambitious building proposal for the space.

"When the chain incident, the building proposal and the garden proposal are taken together, it is clear that the parties are in dispute," his honor noted as he reviewed the requirements specified by AS2890.1, the Australian Standard for Parking Facilities.

The strata, represented by Elisabeth Peden SC in the NSW Supreme Court over three days last month, argued unsuccessfully "there was no controversy to be quelled." 

Justice Francois Kunc gave a declaration allowing access over an 870 millimetre strip of land after Ken Demlakian, the doctor’s engineering expert, provided uncontradicted evidence that a forward in/reverse out exit manoeuvre encroached 1,175 millimetres, whereas a reverse in/forward out manoeuvre encroach by 870 millimetres. 

"The Court is dealing with car parking, not microsurgery," his honour, the son of František Kunc, the late Sydney sausage king, wryly added.

Not everything went the doctor's way as the strata won costs as the proceedings ought have been taken in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, not the Supreme Court. 

This article was first published in the Sunday Telegraph.

Actor George Lazneby, Australia's very own James Bond, is selling his US mountaintop estate in California.

He's asking for $3.49 million for the 1950s ranch homestead on 200 hectare at Pearlblossom, which is in the Antelope Valley of the Mojave Desert, in northern Los Angeles County.

The property is split up in to 12 parcels. Lazenby started collecting the adjoining parcels four decades ago after neighbours complained about his motorcycle riding. 

Lazenby was famous for following in Sean Connery's footsteps as 007 when he played the English spy in the 1969 film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

The Queanbeyan-born actor had already stepped aside from the role before the premiere.

It's been four years since Lazenby had Sydney property, selling a Mosman house for $2.9 million.

It was co-owned with his now former wife, US tennis star Pam Shriver.

With family on the north shore, for many years he owned a Cammeray waterfront home which sold for $2,253,281 in the late 1980s.

The late Ainsley Gotto’s stylish Edgecliff apartment, which has views of Sydney Harbour, is to be listed following the sale of its furnishings and artworks.

The former public servant who passed away in February is best remembered when serving as prime minister John Gorton’s principal private secretary in the late 1960s.

Georgia Cleary, of BradfieldCleary, has the listing of the apartment, after instructions from the estate’s executors, retired politician Helen Coonan and solicitor Nicholas Eddy.

Spanning 155 square metres, it comes with three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Gotto, who had the personal motto prudens simplicitus (prudent simplicity), purchased the apartment in November 2007 for $1.2 million.

Auctioneers Lawsons are selling the contents of her Edgecliff Road apartment.

There are portraits of Gotto among the 262 lots on offer, including an elegant June Mendoza painting.

Other items include a framed cartoon by Jeff Hook of the Sun News- Pictorial and a Woman’s Day poster, headlined 'What Makes Ainsley Gotto Tick?' Plus, six bottles of shiraz.

There’s also her stylish wardrobe which includes hats, fur coats, Yves St Laurent handbags, fur gilets and scarfs.

It is an online auction that closes June 3.

This article was first published in the Sunday Telegraph.