The film makers Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin now have $16 million-plus hopes for Iona, the 1880s Darlinghurst mansion listed two years ago with $15 million hopes.

And while the couple then wanted to buy a family home with a garden in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, they are now busy living in the USA. 

The couple paid $10 million for the grand Victorian building (pictured below) in 2006 having previously rented the Italianate mansion, for almost the prior decade.

This image courtesy of My Darling Darlinghurst.

The creative duo had an initial weekly asking price rent in 1995 around a hefty $6,400.

It sits on a 2700 square metre block reduced over the years since built in the late 1880s as the residence for the pastoralist Edward Chisholm.

It next sold in 1908 to Adela Taylor, wife of Sir Allen Taylor, the then timber merchant and former lord mayor of Sydney who'd been in office in 1905 and 1906 and again between 1909 and 1912.

With most mansions around Darlinghurst demolished between the 1920s and 1960s, the extended use of Iona as a hospital saved it from this fate.

The National Trust and other conservationists fought to protect Iona before and after its purchase by Jesseme Pty Ltd, the company was owned by John Rutherford who prepared plans for the conversion of the building into 15 flats but the proposal did not proceed.

The 1880s oasis was sold for $2.04 million in 1993 by John Rutherford to Ian Gowrie-Smith, the London-based entreprenuer who sold to the Luhrmann-Martin couple.

It has the best rose corniches Title Tattle has seen. The Wentworth Courier reports the $16 million hopes are held by the listing agency, Sothebys with the pair looking for a smaller property to use as a Sydney base.

Sydney Swans footballer Jeremy Laidler has secured $750,000 for his Moonee Ponds, Melbourne holding.

Domain reported earlier this month he expected $600,000 for the 30 Ngarveno Street weatherboard which appeared unduly cautious as he bought it for $590,000 in 2012.

It has three bedrooms and a balcony off the rear living area offering city skyline views.

Jeremy Laidler's property was a short walk to the Puckle Street shopping strip, sometimes described as the Toorak Road of Melbourne's north west.

Alex Carbon agents Charles Bongiovanni and Alex Puglia secured the sale ahead of today's scheduled auction.

Laidler played for Geelong and Carlton before joining Sydney last year.

NRL coach Ricky Stuart has listed his Sutherland Shire waterfront property with $3.5 million hopes through Jon Brookes at Brookes Partners.

It is being marketed promoting its sporting property pedigree.

It was bought in 2011 for $2.65 million from the former champion swimmer Ian Thorpe who paid $2.9 million in 2003 for the Port Hacking waterfront.

Stuart's 2011 purchase of 2 Wallendbeen Avenue marked his return to the sporty shire, having previously owned at Burraneer Bay.

Stuart had been on the receiving end of the weaker property market in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, as he sold his former Vaucluse house for $2.3 million in 2011 having paid $2.75 in 2006 while coaching the Sydney Roosters.

He has been coaching the Canberra Raiders since 2014.

Nicole Kidman, the actress, has given Vogue a video tour of her NSW Southern Highlands retreat, Bunya Hill. It was the latest of the international magazine's 73 Questions series.

The actress and her country music star husband, Keith Urban snapped up Bunya Hill, a 45-hectare black Angus cattle stud at Sutton Forest, for $6.5 million in 2008.

Long hidden behind hedging, the Sutton Forest property, with its magnificent 1878 Georgian mansion and impressive pedigree, has wide sandstone verandas, pressed-metal ceilings, a carved cedar staircase and 10 marble fireplaces.

It has the proportions and details that made it worthy to be leased as a vice-regal rural retreat for Lord Augustus Loftus, a governor of NSW in the colonial 1880s.

Bunya Hill was sold by Peter Coad, head of global markets at National Australia Bank, and his wife, Helen, through Sothebys and Drew Lindsay Real Estate. 

It is set in the Sutton Forest village located in New South Wales precinct where Hume Coal now intends to build an underground coal mine.

Details of the plans were advised last week, submitted to New South Wales Government as a first step in the approval process.

The aim is to extract coal from the Wongawilli coal seam in the Sutton Forest region, while protecting the ground water and the environment, but most locals, including the celebrity couple have huge apprehension.

Surface infrastructure is proposed to be developed on predominately cleared land owned by Hume Coal. Over half of the remaining sections of the project area are scheduled to continue to be, used for livestock grazing, small-scale farm businesses and hobby farms. There are a small number of vineyards present, principally Cherry Tree Hill Wines, and Eling Forest, with the Belanglo State Forest covering the north-western portion of the project area and contains introduced pine forest plantations, areas of native vegetation and several creeks that flow through deep sandstone gorges.

The project area is traversed by several watercourses including Oldbury Creek, Medway Rivulet, Wells Creek, Wells Creek Tributary, Belanglo Creek and Longacre Creek, all of which ultimately discharge to the Wingecarribee River, located around 2 km north of the project area. The Wingecarribee River’s catchment forms part of the broader Warragamba Dam and Hawkesbury-Nepean catchments. Medway Dam is also adjacent to the project area. 

Hume Coal has undertaken extensive groundwater investigations to characterise the existing hydrogeology of the project area and surrounds, including groundwater depth, quality, flow and uses. Investigations are ongoing, though the 65 groundwater monitoring points that have been established to date, comprising mainly purpose-built groundwater monitoring bores, as well as vibrating wire piezometers.

Project director, Greig Duncan stated that the company had commenced detailed environmental and geological studies as well as extensive engineering design analysis to make sure the local community received the best outcome.

It is noted that, to avoid any perception that the Hume Highway could be affected by future, longterm ground movements, no mining will occur beneath these features, other than development of underground roadways (first workings development) required for access.

The planned coal mine will mine 35% of coal from the available reserves and leave the rest underground to hopefully provide long-term ground stability and reduce impacts on groundwater.

It is expected to create 400 jobs for the local community.

Greig Duncan assured he project will not involve coalbed methane, opencast or longwall mining.

"It will have no impact on town water or surface water such as dams.

"Furthermore, we’ve taken great care to design a mining system that will have no long-term impact on the groundwater system, ensuring it remains intact and undamaged for future generations.”

The innovative mining system is being spriuked as an "Australian first." 

The project incorporates a number of leading practice innovations, "some of which set a new benchmark for underground coal mining in NSW" with the rail wagons used to transport product coal off-site being covered.

Surface infrastructure is proposed to be developed on predominately cleared land owned by Hume Coal, or for which there are appropriate access agreements in place with the landowner, at sites that are relatively free from environmental and other constraints.

With proximity to rail infrastructure and Port Kembla, the Hume Coal Project involves operation of an underground coal mine over a 22 year-period, which will extract approximately 50 million tonnes of coal from the Wongawilli Seam, followed by a closure and rehabilitation phase of nominally two years.

There will be production of nominally up to three million tonnes per annum of metallurgical and thermal coal for international and domestic markets.

There will be peak workforces of approximately 400 full-time equivalent employees during construction and approximately 300 full-time equivalent employees during operations.

Hume Coal Hume Coal is a wholly owned subsidiary of POSCO Australia, a subsidiary of Korean based POSCO, the world’s sixth-largest steel maker.  Hume Coal currently has two advisory groups, the SRG and WAG.

Hume Coal established a SRG formed in 2014 chaired by Paul Mitchell OAM and is made up of community representatives.

The Hume Coal WAG is made up of representatives from government, local business, landowners, special interest groups and Hume Coal and its technical advisors. It was formed in 2011 and is chaired by the Hon. Gary Nairn.

Hume Coal holds exploration Authorisation 349 (A349) approximately 100kms south of Sydney and 3kms west of Moss Vale, in the Wingecarribee local government area.

Extensive exploration has been undertaken within A349 since the 1950s and the current exploration authorisation was granted in 1985. It was acquired by Hume Coal in 2010. Concurrent with lodging this document, a referral is being made to the Commonwealth Department of the Environment to determine whether or not approval is also required under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

An EIS is a requirement of the approval process.

The project area is in a semi-rural setting, characterised by grazing properties, small-scale farm businesses, hobby farms, natural areas, forestry, scattered rural residences, villages and towns and some industries and major infrastructure.

A number of State and locally listed heritage places are present in the local area.

The villages of Sutton Forest and Exeter are within A349, but both have been excluded from the project area.

Medway, New Berrima and Berrima villages are also nearby, while Moss Vale, Bowral and Mittagong, located between approximately 3 and 15 km east and north-east of the project area, are the LGA’s main regional centres.

Industrial and manufacturing facilities in the locality include the substantial Berrima Cement Works and Berrima Feed Mill on the fringe of New Berrima, as well as brickworks, metal fabrication, mining equipment manufacture and quarries. Berrima Colliery’s mining lease adjoins the project area’s northern boundary.

Berrima Colliery closed in 2013 after almost one hundred years of operation and is currently in care and maintenance.

The Wingecarribee LGA is also a retirement destination with an aging population, with approximately 42% aged over 50 – significantly higher than the NSW average of 33% (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011).

Main picture of Bunya Hill (dated 2008) from Drew Lindsay Real Estate. 

Carousel images courtesy of US Vogue Magazine.

Media entreprenuer Deborah Hutton has listed her Tamarama home which when bought new in 2007 was marketed as cutting edge design and dazzling views.

Some $4 million is tipped for the cul-de-sac contemporary beach-house at its August 29 auction through Phillips Pantzer Donnelly agent Debbie Donnelly.

It has double bedrooms, all with robes.

"An artistic approach to luxury living reveals a harmonious connection with the outdoors and its just steps down to Tamarama Beach, marine parkland and the famed coast walk," says the marketing.

The master suite occupies the entire top floor of the Wonderland Avenue location.

Even though it came with a media room, Deborah Hutton wants better video production space in her next home for her Balance enterprise.

No sign where it will be, but she has long tweeted her love of the suburb, most recently while on Tama's sunny shoreline (below).

This one cost $3,375,000 in 2007.

The Wentworth Courier quickly cottoned onto the mooted purchase in Woollahra by a then mystery Channel 7 Sunrise identity after Di Jones Woollahra sold a three-bedroom terrace for around $3.7 million at recent auction.

The View Street property had sold through Jane Schumann and Gary Sands who tipped offers around $3.5 million.

The 32-year-old, Sunrise EP Michael Pell has now emerged as having bought from designer Tim Dyroff, who'd spent perhaps close to $200,000 on renovations after buying it for $2,825,000 in May last year.

It had also sold for $3.03 million in 2005, having been built with 216 square metre living space in 2000.

 Title Tattle suggests Michael Pell could perhaps assist Di Jones with doing something about their underwhelming video promotion for their property listings.

One of the Block Prahran Glasshouse apartments from last year’s season of The Block renovation series has been snappily resold.

It fetched $2.01 million, making a quick $285,000 gain in just eight months for investor Tina Brandi.

The three-bedroom apartment at 5/125 High Street was the one renovated in the group challenge where all five teams collaborated during the final Glasshouse episodes last October.

The apartment sold to a local businessman for $2.01 million through Biggin & Scott Richmond agents Russell Cambridge and Allan Cove.

The townhouse was sold a week after the show last October for $1.725 million. 

Rene Redzepi’s NOMA is attempting to put Lendlease's Barangaroo position on the global food map.

The developer and Tourism Australia has secured the Danish chef, of Copenhagen’s NOMA restaurant, to launch a pop-up eatery on the Barangaroo waterfront.

Briefly close his Danish restaurant, the team of more than 70 will have an antipodean NOMA at Barangaroo for just 10 weeks early next year.

NOMA joins 80 boutique food and retail operators hand-picked by Lendlease in a bid to transform the former shipping port in globally recognised destination, a $6 billion precinct.

Toby’s Estate coffee recently opened in the precinct, which is more than 70% leased, Lendlease retail chief Gary Horwitz told The ­Australian.

Stars Wars operative Rick McCallum, the right-hand man of George Lucas during its Sydney production, has finally sold his Darling Point apartment.

Julian Hasemer at 1st City - Hasemer + Caldwell.Eyles had recent $6.5 million plus hopes.

It failed to sell in 2011 when listed with $7.5 million-plus hopes.

The 370 square metres New Beach Road apartment cost $5.4 million in 2002, a then record price for possibly Sydney's finest promenade given the Morton Bay fig trees that line the foreshore.

The whole-floor unit was designed by Iain Halliday in the L'amarre complex, developed by Barry and Christine Elsbury in partnership with the late Ron White and his widow, Robin.

There's a pretty loggia overlooking Rushcutters Bay. 

The My Kitchen Rules guest judge and restaurateur Colin Fassnidge has bought a Malabar house.

The purchase came as Fassnidge listed his former Matraville home - and current investment for auction.

The lastest acquistion was bought for $1.872 million through South Eastern Realty selling agent Eva D’Angelo. 

The Daily Telegraph says his Matraville townhouse at 13/16-18 Wassell Street goes to August 15 auction through Home Estate Agents’s Andrew Anastassiou and John Castrisos.

The My Kitchen Rules guest judge is owner of Sydney restaurants Four in Hand and 4 Fourteen.

He has owned the two-storey townhouse since 2011 with his fellow foodie wife Jane Hyland having paid $595,000.

My Kitchen Rules judge and co-host Manu Feildel has bought a Maroubra semi for $1.9 million.

Manu Feildel and wife Clarissa Weerasena won't be far from co-host Pete Evans and his fiancee Nicole Robinson, who are undertaking renovations to the Malabar residence they bought in 2013 for $1.44 million.

Manu Feildel bought the five bedroom 1930s semi off market through Shane Vincent at Belle, who sold it previously in 2008 when at NG Farah.

It last traded pre-renovation (pictured above) in 2008 at $691,000 when sold to John and Christine Nettle whose newly renovated home had two potential buyers placing offers with the property quickly sold prior to auction.

The renovation (pictured below from Google streetview) turned it from a two bedroom into a five bedroom home.

Feildel's solicitor Ian Day lodged the purchasing paperwork late last week.

Model and actress Liz Hurley has sold her redundant Midland home for £9 million, according to the UK press. 

The six bedroom Ampney Knowle (pictured above), near Cirencester, Gloucestershire had been listed so she could concentrate on decorating and furnishing Donnington Hall at Ledbury, Herefordshire.

The larger 13 bedroom Donnington Hall property was bought in 2012 with her ex, former Australian cricketer Shane Warne, with his half share interest bought out last October.

“It’s no secret that I bought Donnington Hall with my former fiancé and it was a tough decision to choose which house to keep as I love them both," Liz told the The Sunday Times Home supplement after her 2014 decision to list Ampney Knowle.

The swimwear designer bought stone-built Ampney Knowle for £3.3 million in 2003. Its sale was reported by the weekend Mirror, albeit with an inaccurate headline.

It is set in 450 acres of Cotswolds countryside, has six bedrooms, a guest annexe, cottages in the grounds and outbuildings.

She had initially asked £6 million just for the house and guest cottage but there were no takers, so she then offered all the farmland at Ampney Knowle near Cirencester, Glos.

The comedic radio broadcaster Hamish Blake has his Fitzroy terrace on the market for August 29 auction.

The Gore Street home was bought in 2012 for $1,265,000 with its extensive renovations including the striking red and blue facade.

Hamish Blake and wife Zoe Foster Blake are expecting $1.55 million plus for the three-bedroom, two-bathroom house.

The rooftop terrace has city skyline views.

The radio host and his author wife have paid a record $4.25 million in Richmond for a home (below) featured on Grand Designs Australia in 2013. 

The three-bedroom, four-bathroom Richmond house was designed by neilarchitecture for Darren and Ruth Rogers.

They built the home on a block bought in 2009 for $920,000 with the works cost estimated at $3.3 million.

The Biggest Loser fitness trainers Michelle Bridges and Steve "Commando" Willis are set to stay in their Potts Point apartment following the birth of their first child.

Recent Birchgrove neighbourhood gossip had them making their family home on the peninsula, but the recently renovated historic sandstone house is actually scheduled for September 19 auction. 

The cottage is nearing the end of a two-year plus renovation with workmen cleaning the 370 square metre site which has harbour and city skyline views.

It was bought for $2.35 million in 2011 by Michele Bridges and her then husband, Bill Moore.

Given Bridges regular recent sightings at the Wharf Road work site, neighbours gleefully thought the Birchgrove property would become the home of Bridges and her new partner, Steve Willis.

The celebrity couple are expecting their first child together, having announced last month that Michelle was four months into her pregnancy.

It was early 2013 when the then Biggest Loser star and her husband, Bill Moore decided to split after nine years of marriage, while keeping their multimillion-dollar fitness empire intact, with Bill retaining his role as business manager.

The couple had met at Moore's Balmain gym and then renovated their Rozelle house, where Moore continues to reside.

Their desired renovations were approved in 2012 despite concerns by a small number of neighbours at the bulk of the proposed garage/gymnasium sought to replace the existing outbuilding.

The C & D Exclusive Constructions work team were prepping the two storey house last week for the furniture staging ahead of the Cobden Hayson auction.

This article was first published in The Sunday Telegraph.

The Waterhouse racing clan have undertaken an internal shuffle of ownership of one of their Balmoral Beach luxury apartments.

Louise Raedler-Waterhouse has ended up with young bookie Tom Waterhouse's redundant duplex apartment.

The paperwork will show his aunt paying $4.38 million for The Esplanade apartment, which was acquired for $3.51 million in 2008.

Tom, of course, spent $13 million last year on his beachfront Balmoral residence with wife Hoda, following their first child daughter Rose in 2013. 

The Australian head of William Hill's operation, who has long loved the Balmoral promenade, is the fourth generation of Australia's most famous bookmaking family.

This article first appeared in The Saturday Daily Telegraph.

Top rating 2GB broadcaster Ray Hadley is off to Pitt Town, in Sydney's north west, where he has secured a 6000 sqm building block near the Hawkesbury River.

"I’ve secured a block and will hopefully be building a Binet home on it," he said.

It is in within the pricey Riverland subdivision within the 225 hectare Vermont estate by the Johnson Property Group. Keith Johnson has already secured some 500 blocks being sold.

Situated near the Hills District, Rouse Hill and Norwest Business Park, Riverland will have blocks from 2,000 sq m to 9,000 sq m.

"The village of Pitt Town reminds me of Dural when I moved there 20 years ago," Ray Hadley said.

"It’s quite remarkable I’m moving there given I campaigned against the development when it was first proposed. 

"I thought it would ruin the village, but Keith Johnson and I met, had an argument or two, settled our differences, and the rest is history."

"The masterplan changed and now radiating out from the village you’ll find magnificent homes on good size blocks." 

As Ray travels early in the morning and can access the M7 and M2 quite quickly, he's not fazed by being further out than Dural. 

The decision to move comes as he is selling his dress circle Hills district acreage home at Dural.

"I'd never thought I'd do it, I thought I'd die there."

This article was first published in The Sunday Telegraph.

The Ray White listing followed his $1.845 million purchase of a four-bedroom, three-bathroom Bulimba home.

The contemporary Bulimba house with marina berth had $2.2 million hopes.

The home’s former owner was Place Bulimba real estate agent Shannon Harvey.

Set in the Addison Quays development, the home was designed by award winning architect John Robertson.

Cooper bought in Hawthorne at $1.55 million in 2013, and Property Observer gleans about $1.6 million was paid by a Sydney investor.

No sooner had the fashion designer Collette Dinnigan sold her Paddington trophy home than another Dinnigan has bought in the trendy suburb.

It is her brother, creative director Seamus who has spent $1.08 million. It was listed through BresicWhitney agent Catherine Dixon with $900,000 plus hopes. Just 70 square metres space throughout the rare freestanding terrace.

Collette's sandstone Paddington Street house fetched $6.5 million when sold recently to Francis and Barbara Kennedy following her $6.25 million purchase at Watsons Bay with husband Brad Cocks.

This article first appeared in The Sunday Telegraph.

When 2GB broadcaster Ray Hadley commissioned a drone to hover above his dress circle Hills district acreage, the neighbourhood quickly sensed something was afoot.

It is after all the tell-tale sign of an imminent real estate listing - an emerging marketing necessity. 

"I have decided to put my home at Dural on the market," Hadley subsequently confirmed.

Andrew Blamey at Rance Blamey kicks off the marketing this week with photo's by Jayden Halford's Next Level Aerial.

The two home, 5.4 acre listing comes with anticipated interest from multi-generational families with a desire for a horse agistment paddock. 

It has a 120-square (1115sq m), five-bedroom Denton Homes-built house set amid Rolling Stone Landscaped gardens with two-street ­access.

The property comes also with a fully restored farmhouse, which dates to 1919 when it was built by the Sagars family, who owned all the surrounding farm land.

Dural acreage prices regularly sell for $5 million, and recently $6 million, according to CoreLogic RP Data.

Don't say that I told you, but that huge neighbouring house is former Myer retailing boss, Bernie Brookes' home.  

This article was first published in The Saturday Daily Telegraph.

Actor Vince Colosimo is selling his Northcote home.

The double-storey terrace is expected to sell for $1.4 million plus.

Despite Colosimo's movie credits including the acclaimed Australia-produced Lantana, it was revealed last year Colosimo was working on Melbourne building sites to make financial ends meet. 

Nelson Alexander's Grant Leonard is the marketing agent of 86 Union Street.