Aussie celebrity homes that have been on the market for months

It’s been a challenging year for the Australian property market, and celebrities aren’t immune.

Auction clearance rates have plummeted to levels not seen since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, with less than half the Sydney homes going under the hammer over the past few months. And it’s a similar story in Melbourne.

Yet things can turn around quickly, and some of the same prestige property agents who had been ringing the alarm bells well before the tough conditions were widely reported now say there’s been a slight improvement in buyer sentiment over the past two weeks.

Now could be the optimum time to talk turkey.

Top Sydney agent Steven Chen, of the Agency, who’s selling the last remaining apartments in the “best in the world” unit block, Lendlease’s One Circular Quay, says there’s definitely been “mixed sentiment”, which he puts down to international factors, inflation, interest rates, oil prices and The Budget.

“But my phone hasn’t stopped ringing,” he said.

Here’s our top 5 list of big names who’s properties have been on the market for up to nine nine months.

JAMIE DURIE

Jamie Durie has given the price of his Avalon Beach home a $5m haircut. Picture, Portia Large.

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Celebrity landscaper Jamie Durie’s mega eco-mansion Belah House at Avalon on the Northern Beaches first hit the market last October with hopes of $33m.

Now two eastern suburbs agents, Ray White Double Bay’s Ashley Bierman and Adam Reichman, have been brought in to help sell it with its revised guide of $28m.

“We’re getting fresh inquiry and having inspections — it’s definitely moving in the right direction,” says Bierman

The six-bedroom, six-bathroom home — with “drinkable” pool water, sauna and 230 plants in purpose-built planters throughout the foyer and main living room — had been set for a March 1 auction with a $29m guide but was withdrawn.

But Bierman says the $28m guide is attracting more interest.

“I think it’s such a unique product — there’ll never another like it — so it does stand out and sets itself apart,” he said.

“It’s been a labour of love for Jamie and his family and unrivalled and unmatched, so we will find the right buyer for what this incredible property offers.”

Reichman, too, is optimistic: “We are showing buyers through and are very active on it.”

MICHAEL CLARKE

Cricketer Michael Clarke is prepared to wait it out. Picture: Instagram.

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It’s been seven long months that cricket legend Michael Clarke’s stunning eastern suburbs mansion went on the market.

He’s upgraded to a six-bedroom residence nearby, with a pool and tennis court, so his current five-bedder, bought for just over $13m in 2021, has to go.

The Agency’s Steven Chen is one of the agents charged with selling the property and he says the guide remains firmly at $20m.

“It’s one of the most stunning prestige homes in the area,” he said.

“As there’s new interest coming into the market every week, it’s only a matter of time that a property of this calibre will be sold.”

The home is on a 784sqm block, has a resort-style pool and gym, heated limestone floors, casual and formal living and dining zones and an updated Mediterranean-style kitchen.

The master has a deluxe ensuite, there’s a private terrace and study.

ROXY JACENKO

Roxy Jacenko. She’s not about to let her former Paddington office sell for a song. Picture: Instagram.

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You’ll never get bored in this boardroom, designed by Manhattan’s flavour of the month, Blainey North. Photo: Supplied

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In April, Singapore-based PR maven Roxy Jacenko listed her super stylish former commercial headquarters in Paddington for a mid-May auction with a $10m guide.

It passed in but Colliers listing agent James Cowan came close to selling it.

Now the uber wealthy Jacenko, whose former jailbird hubby Oliver Curtis is an AI entrepreneur billionaire, says: “I am going to hold on to it for now. No need to sell it, for the right price, yes, but not otherwise.”

Like Durie’s labour of love, Jacenko is passionate about the Elizabeth St former home of her business Sweaty Betty, having bought it for $2.66m 12 years ago and then commissioned the acclaimed designer Blainey North to transform it into a ritzy workplace.

North is now flavour of the month in Manhattan, where she’s redesigning luxury apartments of billionaires, according to the AFR.

Roxy’s not about to part with it for a song.

KYLE SANDILANDS

Media figures claim Kyle Sandilands “completely capitulated” and was likely “desperate”.

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The radio star and potential new Karl Stefanovic side-kick has had his Glenorie mansion on the market since late February, just days after his on-air row with his former KIIS FM co-host Jackie “O” Henderson that cost him his $100m contract.

Whereas Sandilands once dreamt of close to $6m, expectations have dropped by $1m to $4.9m via Belle Property Dural’s Carolyn Wheatley.

He reportedly took out a secret home loan charging close to 30 per cent interest rate just weeks after his radio walkout stopped his income.

No doubt he’s keen to strike a deal at Glenorie, with four separate NAB mortgages covering a $14m Vaucluse mansion, a $3m Southern Highlands farm, a $1.8m Copacabana fixer-upper and the Glenorie estate that he bought for $3m in 2022.

He’d intended the Glenorie property, on which he’d done a three-year reno, as his home with wife Tegan Kynaston and their young son, but she wasn’t keen on the commute to the city.

So they bought in Vaucluse.

But still he can’t be that hard up, with reports he was out looking for an investment property recently.

GRANT HACKETT

The Brighton, Melbourne, block of land owned by Grant Hackett.

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Olympic gold medallist and champion swimmer Grant Hackett’s dream home plan in Melbourne’s Brighton has turned into a nightmare, with the block of land he bought in 2024 languishing on the market.

And he looks like he’s going to take a significant hit on it.

Having paid $8.5m for the 1181sqm block two years ago, he had plans drawn up for a three-storey residence including a basement, indoor lap pool, an outdoor pool, home gym and cinema.

But he and his interior designer and dessert chef wife Sharlene decided to purchase and move into an already-built, multi-million-dollar mansion in Toorak instead.

All fine and dandy, except there’ve been no takers for the block via Marshall White, and the price was revised down to $7.25m-$7.95m with a June 30 cut-off in an expressions of interest campaign.

There’s no indication of a sale and the property remains listed for sale on realestate.com.au.

The agent, Campbell Butterss, has been contacted for comment.

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