The 2022 property deals of the rich and famous

Celebrities, sports stars and business moguls have taken centre stage in 2022 with some eye-watering real estate deals.

While the mere mortals among the Australian populace are content to focus on putting a roof over their collective heads, the high profile and highly paid have been buying and selling their stunning multimillion-dollar homes.

From celebrity A-listers to Aussie athletes, their homes have changed hands for up to, or even more than, 50 times the nation's median house price.

Rebel Wilson

In April, Hollywood star and comedy actress Rebel Wilson was laughing all the way to the bank after selling her renovated Sydney waterfront home for around $9 million.

The three-storey property in Birchgrove was designed by renowned architect Paul O’Connor and offers views over the Parramatta River. Rebel likely studied her scripts on the multiple balconies and terraces that offer a 180-degree panorama.

Few movie stars are household names to the degree of the Harry Potter franchise’s leading man Daniel Radcliffe.

This year the wizard conjured a sale of around $2 million for a Toorak apartment with Yarra views had been in his family since 2004 and transferred to him when he turned 18.

Radcliffe’s family purchased the St Georges Rd home in 2004 while he was filming in Australia for $1.9m, according to CoreLogic, representing mere pocket money profit for such a wealthy on-screen hero.

AFL Brownlow Medal winner Lachie Neale showed he had the same competitive guile off the field as he possesses on a footy oval, flipping a newly renovated 539sq metre property bought for $1.77m in 2018 for $2.6 million in August.

The Brisbane and former Fremantle player’s Coorparoo five-bedroom home smashed its own local record by almost $1 million.

Brandishing a cricket bat for a lucrative living, Australian cricketer Steve Smith and his wife Dani Willis bought a four-bedroom residence for $6.6 million in May 2020 but sold it at auction in August for $12.38 million.

The Vaucluse mansion had been given a thorough interior and exterior make-over by the couple.

When the North Melbourne home of Australian film and television industry legend Sigrid Thornton hit the market, it became the most viewed property for Victoria on a popular real estate website.

The tasteful property was bought way back in 1977 when she had just starred in the newly released movie, The F.J. Holden, and this year sold for around $2 million.

“It was an old stable turned plumber’s workshop that had recently sold to a group of young people who wanted to start a restaurant but hadn’t passed their development plans, so we made them an offer,” Ms Thornton said when the property was listed earlier this year.

“Years later we bought the little cottage next door and then we joined it to the barn, so it was a gradual but very loving process.”

Craig Tiley

Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley was at the centre of the Australian Open controversy around tennis record breaker Novak Djokovic being kept out of the country and the tournament during Covid lockdowns.

Six months later, he broke his own records with the July purchase of a $13 million beachfront home in Aspendale.

The longstanding CEO and Australian Open director, and wife Alicia, had sold their Brighton mansion in June.

The purchase shattered the suburb’s record price by $8 million.

Even homes not owned or bought by celebrities can enjoy a sprinkling of stardust.

An expansive Gold Coast Hinterland estate that was the backdrop for Hollywood stars George Clooney and Julia Roberts’ film A Ticket to Paradise sold for a record $7.2 million in March.

It was the highest price paid for a property on Tamborine Mountain, smashing the previous record of $5.5 million paid in 2016.

Wyndhaven, a 18.21ha hilltop property, includes four titles and three street frontages with spectacular views over the entire Gold Coast from North Stradbroke Island to New South Wales.

The final word on big ticket real estate sales should go to prominent corporate lawyer, John Landerer and his wife Michelle.

Putting Steve Smith’s Vaucluse home in the shade, their mansion in the eastern Sydney suburb sold for more than $62 million in February, making it the sixth most expensive house in the country.

The sale makes it the second most expensive non-waterfront house in the country.