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Toni Watson, aka Tones & I, has her Byron Bay rental property on the market.
From funnymen to musicians; sportsmen to PR queens; movie, TV and rugby league stars — celebrities tend to have a deep passion for collecting property.
Along with living in often grand homes, they have a range of real estate investments and some are supplementing their incomes with lucrative rent returns.
Like many other property investors, some may be a bit cheesed off by recent changes in the Budget surrounding negative gearing and Capital Gains Tax, possibly discouraging further investments.
Although existing properties held prior to Budget night remain under the old rules, some celebs are opting to put some of their money elsewhere — even if it means making a loss.
Here’s a sample of Australia’s celebrity landlords.
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Home up for sale next door to Australia’s $300m house
TONES AND I
23 Bangalow Rd, Byron Bay has a $1.69m price guide. The property was purchased for $2,125,000 in 2022.
It rents out for $1250 per week.
Singer-songwriter Tones & I, who joined this year’s season of The Voice which started last night on Channel 7, is set to make a massive loss on one of Byron Bay investment properties where she’s been charging $1250 per week in rent.
The Bangalow Rd four-bedroom, two-bathroom cottage was bought for $2,125,000 in 2022, records show.
It’s just hit the market with a $1.69m price guide via Scot Fuller and Jesse Thompson of Fuller and Co Property
Tones & I, real name Toni Watson, released her global hit song Dance Monkey in May, 2019, which broke records worldwide, topping charts in more than 30 countries.
She’s done an impressive reno of the 1950s property while retaining its original charm.
The open plan living and dining area flows to a large entertainment deck well-appointed kitchen features quality appliances. There are high ornate ceilings throughout- Polished hardwood timber flooring.
The musician also owns a 1000sqm Byron property bought for $3.3m in 2020 comprising two other luxurious homes, Starr Cottage, which commands almost $3000 per night in the peak season; and Skye Lodge more than $2000 per night.
No sign that she’s parting with that.
ROXY JACENKO
Roxy Jacenko in Sant Tropez, France recently.
7-13 Elizabeth St Paddington, NSW passed in at auction earlier in the year, but Roxy’s collecting more than $6000 per week in rent.
Entrepreneur Roxy Jacenko failed to sell the former office of her PR firm Sweaty Betty in Paddington at the May auction, which had $10m price hopes.
But the more than $6000 per week — $315k annually — that she’s collecting from her tenant, Sotheby’s International Realty, softens the blow.
Not that she has any cash-flow issues. The Singapore-based 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.”
No sweat these days for Roxy.
She’d bought the Elizabeth St premises for $2.66m 12 years ago and commissioned acclaimed designer Blainey North to transform it into a ritzy workplace.
KARL STEFANOVIC
Karl Stefanovic on the Piers Morgan Uncensored program recently.
Villa Isabelle overlooks the Pacific Ocean.
Former Today host turned podcaster Karl Stefanovic and his wife Jasmine rent out their luxurious Sunshine Beach holiday home in Noosa, Queensland. Named Villa Isabelle, the three-level, pet-friendly mansion, overlooking the Pacific Ocean with a large private swimming pool, is “perfectly positioned in the treetops”. is managed by Noosa Beach Abodes and is available to rent from $2000 per night. Or $3,700 per night — a whopping $26,000 a week — in summer. The Stefanovics had bought the property for $3.6m in 2020 and gave it a major reno. They tried to sell it in 2022, later converting it into a luxury short-term holiday rental.
It gets 8.8 out of 10 on Stayz, but not every one’s a fan. One guest writes: “Dryer was broken, outdoor lights didn’t work, outdoor furniture too dirty to sit, no shampoo/toiletries etc … not life threatening worries and surely can be addressed by management.”
DARREN PALMER
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Darren Palmer at Hyams Beach.
Akora House at Hyams Beach rents ouf for $8,619 per week in peak periods.
Block judge Darren Palmer and husband Olivier Duvillard own a holiday rental at Hyams Beach on the South Coast, purchased for a bargain $850k in 2014.
Just 200m from the beach famous for having “the whitest sand in the world”, Palmer has turned what had been a rundown four-bedroom shack into Akora House “a stylish, spacious and relaxed beach house with great views”.
There are now five bedrooms, along with the “luxe inclusions and furnishings” you’d expect from one of the stars of the hit renovation reality TV show.
The property gets 4.66 out of 5 on Holidays Collection website and it’s nice-little earner, renting out for $5,400 per week in winter and $8,619 in summer.
In recent years, the pair added Akora Cabin on the 878sqm block, described as “luxurious adults only, one bedroom tiny home”, that collects $2,800 per week and more than $4000 in summer.
DAVE HUGHES
Dave Hughes is touring Australia with his stand-up show Cooked. Picture: Ian Laidlaw
He said the purchase of The Block property was an impulse buy
Comedian Dave Hughes is getting lots of laughs touring his stand-up show, Cooked, across the country, but he’s also serious about property.
Fans of The Block were stunned when Hughesy turned up on auction day in 2017 and bought the house built by contestants Josh and Elyse for $3.067m in Melbourne’s Elsternwick.
Hughes said that it was an impulse buy.
But these days, he’s collecting $2000 per week from it.
Hughes and his wife, Holly, also own a family home in St Kilda, purchased in 2010, and a block of units in Melbourne’s south.
Meanwhile, The Block’s Scott Cam owns investment properties — one of the Port Melbourne Art Deco flats from the 2016 show for $2.2m and also a holiday home at Narawallee on the NSW Coast for a bargain $670k in 2012 — but he’s not a landlord; they’re for personal use.
PAT CUMMINS
Pat Cummins of Australia celebrates taking the wicket of Joe Root of England for 19 runs during day two of the Third Test Match at Adelaide Oval last December. Picture: Getty Images.
He’s been collecting $550 per week for 567 Argyle St, Moss Vale. It’s currently up for sale.
Australian cricket captain Pat Cummins has put the original Bronte cottage he bought for $4.8m in January on the rental market with hopes of $1,095 per week.
Listed for 17 days, the ad indicates the property has been “freshly painted throughout” with
“brand new air conditioning in the living room and master bedroom”.
The modest two bedder, with bright and airy living spaces and polished timber floors, is on a 323sqm block sits right behind the $16m home of Cummins and his interior designer wife, Becky Boston.
It’s expected that the couple will one day incorporate the property into their neighbouring expansive family home renovation — though no indication of that yet in development plans of their trophy home lodged last month with Waverly Council.
They’d bought the grand 1880 Victorian manor in an off-market deal that settled last year.
The plans, by MHN Design Union, indicate a restoration of the old home with a steel and glass link bridge to a new addition, along with landscaping and swimming pool.
Cummins also owns a three-bedroom home on a 2,323sqm block, at Moss Vale in the Southern Highlands, bought for $905,000 in 2017.
He’s been collecting $550 per week rent, but it’s been up for sale since March and has a $1,250,000 to $1,295,000 price guide.
HUGH JACKMAN
Hugh Jackman on North Bondi beach after going for a swim. Picture: John Appleyard
His North Bondi apartment has been on the short-term rental market in the past.
Hollywood hearthrob Hugh Jackman has been known to rent out his luxury pad on North Bondi’s Ben Buckler as a short-term holiday rental.
The 125sqm property, bought for $5,925,000 in 2015, was on exclusive short-term rental sites in 2024 at $2,400 per night.
And prior to that, it was listed for permanent rental, at $10,000 per week, in February 2022.
But in recent years, with his divorce from Deborah-Lee Furness finalised, he’s opted to have the property available for his personal use whenever the mood takes him.
Real estate sources have estimated that the three-bedroom luxury pad overlooking the surf would now be worth about $15m.
But insiders say Jackman plans to hang on to the Ben Buckler apartment as his Aussie base.
“Why would he ever sell it?” one said.
“It’s in the best spot in Bondi Beach!”
Still, he’s not often here. He was last reported to have visited Bondi in December, 2024, and him and current flame Sutton Foster are currently spending the summer in North Carolina, escaping the spotlight and their primary residence in New York City. Perhaps he will eventually sell up.
EDWINA BARTHOLOMEW
Edwina Bartholomew and her husband Neil Varcoe are renovating an old pub in the NSW town of Carcoar
They rent out their Warramba homestead.
Sunrise presenter Edwina Barholomew and her husband Neil Varcoe fell in love with a rundown sandstone farmhouse called Warramba, in the Capertee Valley near Alice, three hours west of Sydney, on New Years Eve in 2015.
And by Australia Day in 2016 they’d signed on the dotted line, paying $430,000.
“There was a green tree frog living in the loo, the grass was almost higher than the house and the land had been neglected for many years,” the couple write on the Book Warramba website.
“Bringing Waramba back to life has been a labour of love.”
They didn’t know anything about farming or renovating, but with the help of neighbours and various experts they say “we muddled our way through”.
Bartholomew, who shocked Sunrise viewers in September 2024 by revealing that she has a rare blood and bone marrow cancer called chronic Myeloid leukaemia but is in remission,
chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), a rare blood and bone marrow cancer, told Home Beautiful that she and her family frequently retreat to their country property to find peace.
She’s also converting a 177-year-old historic pub in Carcoar into a luxury boutique hotel.
That’s not finished yet, but you can stay at the three-bedroom 1890s homestead at Warramba, with its views of the Blue Mountaints, at $700 per night for couples, with an extra $150 for each guest.
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