Despite Hollywood success, Dan MacPherson retains strong links to the Sutherland Shire, where he secured tenants this month for his longtime Cronulla investment — a one-bedroom unit which was his first purchase in Australia.
MacPherson has owned it for 17 years, having paid $295,000 in 2002, about the time he left his Melbourne-based role as swim coach Joel Samuels in Neighbours for the UK, where he landed a role on cop drama The Bill.
Then-Cronulla teen MacPherson, who had planned on studying commerce at university, got his first TV role when discovered by an entertainment manager while competing in a triathlon in 1998.
A year later, he won the Most Popular New Talent Logie.
MacPherson was seeking $500-a-week tenants for the apartment, located at the south end of the beach just 100 metres from the sand. In 2007, the rental was $270 a week.
He briefly tried to sell the ground-floor Gerrale Street unit for $420,000 in 2007, about the time he took on a role on Seven’s City Homicide.
MacPherson was fortunate a buyer didn’t emerge after two months, as the median price for a one-bedder now sits at $575,000.
Its rental listing details suggest he’s not intending on selling anytime soon, as it was offered with a 12-month lease with the option of extending.
These days, MacPherson rents at Bondi with his wife, fellow actor Zoe Ventoura.
He also owns at Queensland’s Sunshine Beach, where he has a two-level timber bolthole with ocean views that cost $2.15 million in 2010.
When stateside, MacPherson and Ventoura reside at coastal Santa Monica, just west of Hollywood.
Ventoura has owned a two-bedroom apartment in South Coogee since paying $605,000 in 2006. It is a $620-a-week rental.
This article was first published in the Saturday Daily Telegraph.