Queensland builder-developer MAYD has revealed the first look at its major North Kirra beachfront development, lodging amended plans that reduce the number of apartments and increase the proportion of larger residences.

The project is planned across a substantial 4,742 sqm amalgamated site spanning seven lots at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/2-6-pacific-parade-bilinga-qld-4225">2-6 Pacific Parade</a> and 27-33 Golden Four Drive in Bilin​ga, directly opposite Nor​th Kirra Beach.

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/mayd-group">MAYD</a> secured the site for $32.5 million in 2025, in what was one of the Gold Coast's largest property transactions of the year.

The development will be delivered across two stages, with the first stage carrying an estimated gross realisation value of around $360 million.

The latest amendments seek to reduce the overall apartment count and shift the project further toward the owner-occupier market, with larger residences designed for buyers wanting considerably more space than traditionally offered in a beachfront apartment.

The residential mix will include townhomes, oversized two-bedroom apartments, substantial three-bedroom residences and four-bedroom homes.

MAYD has appointed Cera Stribley to lead the architecture and interiors, with the Melbourne-based design practice drawing on the beachfront setting through a series of ocean-facing terraces and heavily landscaped balconies.

Strong horizontal forms and curved balconies will define the exterior, with subtropical landscaping integrated throughout the building to soften the built form and increase the connection between the residences and the beachfront.

The project will also include an extensive collection of resident wellness and lifestyle facilities, continuing the broader shift across the Gold Coast's luxury apartment market toward larger homes supported by resort-style amenity.

<img alt="MAYD" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="d1bcbb05-e659-4b47-8bd4-1e595315e2ad" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-08-27%20at%202.05.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?VersionId=jj0XEud1X1DuLt7_KyElhjMdZGOXmLHP" />

MAYD Founder Todd Mould said North Kirra was increasingly appealing to buyers attracted to the more established, lower-density character of the southern Gold Coast.

"North Kirra presents one of the most compelling luxury residential opportunities currently emerging in Australia, combining absolute beachfront with the character and authenticity that buyers are increasingly seeking, and the same sense of tight-knit community that defined Burleigh and Currumbin perhaps 10 or 15 years ago," Mould said.

"With Gold Coast Airport on its doorstep, it also offers a level of accessibility that broadens its appeal across almost every market demographic."

The project comes as the southern Gold Coast continues to attract an increasing share of high-end apartment development and buyer activity.

Kirra in particular has emerged as one of the region's more tightly held beachfront markets, with its relatively low-density character, established surf and hospitality scene and proximity to Gold Coast Airport differentiating it from the higher-density markets further north.

Mould said those characteristics had informed the approach MAYD and Cera Stribley had taken to the project.

"We've worked closely with Cera Stribley to create a vision that is deeply connected to its surroundings," he said.

"Inspired by the coastline itself, the architecture has been shaped around space, privacy and resort-style living, creating a collection of homes that reflects the next generation of luxury on the southern Gold Coast."

MOTIV Managing Director Carly Cottam, who has been appointed to market the project, said buyer attention had continued to move south along the Gold Coast.

"Purchasers who may once have defaulted to Broadbeach, Main Beach or Surfers Paradise are increasingly recognising the value of a genuine beachfront location that offers lower density, strong amenity and a more established sense of community," Cottam said.

"Kirra has a powerful combination of growing demand and genuine scarcity. Beachfront supply is inherently constrained, the area remains relatively low density, and buyers are increasingly placing a premium on locations that feel established, uncrowded and authentic rather than heavily developed."

Cottam said the proximity to Gold Coast Airport was also proving increasingly important for interstate and second-home buyers.

"Being minutes from Gold Coast Airport makes it particularly compelling for interstate buyers, frequent travellers and second-home purchasers who can access an authentic coastal lifestyle almost immediately after stepping off a flight."

The acquisition takes MAYD's active development portfolio to more than $500 million, with the North Kirra project representing one of its largest undertakings to date.

MAYD is targeting an early 2027 launch.

Joel Robinson

First look at MAYD's North Kirra mixed-use precinct

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Castle Hill, the longtime hub of the Hills District, has been one of the major beneficiaries of Sydney's Metro expansion, with improved connectivity helping drive continued population growth, development and buyer demand across the Hills District.

But despite that growth, the suburb has seen relatively few major new apartment projects brought to market over the past 18 months.

Hills District developer Reve Group is looking to fill that gap with <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/nova-r-ve-castle-hill-2-garthowen-crescent-castle-hill-nsw-2154">Nova Rêve</a>, a major new mixed-use precinct on the corner of Garthowen Crescent and Old Castle Hill Road, a short walk from Castle Hill Metro Station and Castle Towers.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152737 project_image_fid=377679]

The project will comprise three residential towers alongside a hotel, restaurants, cafes and a skybar, more than 1,600 sqm of ground-floor retail and almost an acre of landscaped gardens.

It represents the largest project undertaken by Reve Group, the development arm of the Kassis family, which has been building across the Hills District for more than 30 years through Kassis Homes.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152737 project_image_fid=377675]

Nova Rêve also represents a significant step up from the family's first apartment development, Grand Rêve, which was delivered nearby on Garthowen Crescent.

Grand Rêve introduced larger, house-like apartment layouts and premium inclusions including Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances to the Castle Hill market.

Nova Rêve takes that approach to a precinct scale, combining the residential component with hospitality, retail and substantial public and resident landscaping.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152737 project_image_fid=377685]

Reve Group Managing Director Sam Kassis said the project reflected the family's three decades of building in the Hills, which has evolved from trophy homes on quarter-acre blocks to larger-scale apartment development.

"Grand Rêve was our first apartment project here and it showed us what this pocket of Castle Hill could be. Nova Rêve is the refinement of that idea: not just apartments, but a place the whole suburb can use," Kassis said.

A key part of that approach is the hotel, which has been designed to operate as an amenity for the wider Castle Hill community rather than solely hotel guests.

It will include restaurants, cafes, skybars and all-day dining, alongside conference and event facilities catering to business functions, community groups and private events.

At ground level, more than 1,600 sqm of shops and cafes will open onto the surrounding streets and landscaped areas.

Almost an acre of gardens designed by Land and Form Studios will run through the precinct, incorporating pathways, seating, barbecue areas and children's play spaces.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152737 project_image_fid=377680]

Reve Group's Romio Georges said creating an active ground plane had been central to the planning of Nova Rêve.

"There are gardens with pathways, barbecues, seating and play areas, shops and cafes opening onto the street, and a hotel with restaurants and a skybar that anyone in Castle Hill can walk into," Georges said.

The project's elevated position on one of Sydney's highest ridgelines will also provide apartments with outlooks toward the Sydney skyline, surrounding parkland and the Blue Mountains.

More than 80 per cent of the apartments will occupy corner positions, with Turner responsible for both the architecture and interiors.

&nbsp;

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=152737]

<h3 data-end="3697" data-section-id="q3n5ak" data-start="3672">&nbsp;</h3>
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Nova Rêve arrives as Reve Group bets on Castle Hill's next growth phase

A collection of just 25 large-format apartments and penthouses overlooking Goodwin Park is entering the Coolangatta market, with <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/marea-residences-coolangatta-27-27a-dixon-street-coolangatta-qld-4225">Maréa Residences</a> combining a low-density, residential-only approach with uninterrupted park and Pacific Ocean outlooks.

Located at 27 Dixon Street, Maréa comprises three and four-bedroom residences alongside a limited number of dual-level penthouses, with the project positioned between Goodwin Park and <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/coolangatta-qld-4225">Coolangatta</a>’s coastal precinct.

Construction has commenced, with completion currently estimated for late 2027. Three-bedroom residences are priced from $1.8 million.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=150999 project_image_fid=374005]

The project has been designed around its northern outlook across the park, with the building’s architecture, landscaping and material palette intended to establish a connection with the neighbouring green space. The residences have been configured to maximise natural light and views across Goodwin Park towards the ocean.

Inside, the material palette incorporates timber, stone and brushed brass, complemented by curved detailing and ambient lighting. Kitchens and bathrooms carry the same natural material approach, while residences also include basement parking, storage and lift access.

Maréa’s penthouses are arranged over two levels and include private pools, adding another layer to the project’s focus on larger-format apartment living. Across the development, residences are configured with three or four bedrooms rather than the broader mix of smaller apartment types commonly found in larger projects.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=150999 project_image_fid=374010]

Resident amenity is concentrated at rooftop level, where landscaped entertaining terraces and pools take advantage of elevated views across Coolangatta and the Pacific Ocean.

The project has so far been particularly well received by local owner-occupiers and downsizers, according to Urban Activation Property Sales and Marketing Director Matt George, with the residential-only format, construction quality and northern park outlook among the features resonating with purchasers.

“The uninterrupted northern aspect overlooking Goodwin Park has been a key point of difference, with buyers attracted to the sense of serenity and open space the park provides, while still enjoying easy access to the ocean and being within walking distance of the lifestyle and amenities Coolangatta has to offer,” George said.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=150999 project_image_fid=374002]

“The combination of high-quality construction, a residential-only building, park outlook and proximity to the beach has resonated strongly with the local downsizer market.”

The Dixon Street address is within walking distance of Coolangatta Beach and the broader southern Gold Coast coastline, including the surf breaks at Snapper Rocks and Kirra. Coolangatta’s cafés, restaurants and retail are nearby, while Gold Coast Airport is also within close proximity.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=150999]

Maréa Residences brings parkside apartments to Coolangatta

Melbourne developer PDG has secured Victorian Government approval for its $1.5 billion Southbank development <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/the-one-1-queens-bridge-street-southbank-vic-3006">The One</a>, clearing the way for the long-dormant riverfront site opposite Crown to finally be developed.

The Minister for Planning has approved the project at 1-29 Queens Bridge Street, with the Department of Transport and Planning issuing the planning permit following its assessment.

The approval will allow PDG to develop the prominent 5,059 sqm site with a major mixed-use tower comprising premium apartments, including branded residences, a luxury hotel and boutique office space.

PDG acquired the site in late 2024, with its position directly opposite Crown's main entrance and near Melbourne's Arts Precinct making it one of Southbank's most significant remaining development opportunities.

<img alt="PDG" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="3933013e-6332-4386-b9be-089df05caf17" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-08-27%20at%209.29.22%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=sITIgBqDL0N3VNSMwWEmF5UA.uvcsRyu" />

Designed by COX in collaboration with ODO and PDG, the tower's architecture draws on the movement of the Yarra River, with six vertical pleats running the height of the sculpted facade.

The project will also see the heritage-listed Queens Bridge Hotel restored and incorporated into the development&nbsp;with new hospitality and public uses, including a rooftop venue.

A significant component of The One will be its residential amenity.

More than 5,000 sqm of resident facilities will be delivered across a single level, making it one of the largest consolidated residential amenity offerings proposed in an Australian apartment development.

The planning approval also incorporates a major upgrade of Queensbridge Square, which PDG will deliver in partnership with the City of Melbourne.

<img alt="PDG" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="73167fcd-1031-4b6f-a408-a064cfe45ed1" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-08-27%20at%209.29.17%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=Pf1AEWxw6SNmBqR0zQW5lyEze.MtxgFp" />

The existing square will be revitalised as a new civic and pedestrian space along the Yarra River, strengthening the connection between the project, Southbank and the riverfront.

PDG Founder and Managing Director Vince Giuliano said the approval represented a major milestone for a site which has remained largely underutilised for more than 15 years.

“This is the most significant Planning Permit approval Melbourne has seen in recent years,” Giuliano said.

“For more than 15 years, this site has remained underutilised. This approval enables us to deliver a project that will contribute meaningfully to the revitalisation of Southbank, restore and reactivate an important heritage building, and create a new civic and hospitality destination for Melbourne.”

The latest approval follows an earlier planning permit issued by the City of Melbourne covering demolition works across part of the site at 9-29 Queens Bridge Street. Those demolition and early works are already underway.

PDG has also started generating early interest in the residential component from owner-occupiers ahead of a planned public launch in early 2027.

PDG secures approval for $1.5bn Southbank apartment development, The One

Local developer Harridan is seeking to turn its Woolloongabba apartment project into the first stage of a broader transformation of Burke Street, using a new 16-storey mixed-use building to establish a greener pedestrian connection toward the rapidly evolving Boggo Road transport and knowledge precinct.

The South East Queensland developer has filed plans for 154 apartments on the <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/4-burke-street-woolloongabba-qld-4102">southern side of Burke Street</a>, where its proposal has been designed alongside a wider vision by LatStudios for the street.

That vision positions the southern side of Burke Street for buildings of 15 storeys and above, while envisaging lower-rise development of up to five storeys on the northern side to transition into Woolloongabba's existing character housing. It also proposes wider pedestrian verges, deep planting, new street trees and upgrades to the pedestrian approach to Boggo Road Station.

The Harridan development itself has been designed by Brisbane-based Arqus Design and will comprise 154 apartments across 16 storeys. The mix is weighted heavily toward two-bedroom apartments, with 121 proposed alongside 10 one-bedroom and 23 three-bedroom residences. There will typically be around 14 units per floor.

A lower-ground car park and three podium levels will accommodate 156 resident parking spaces, along with visitor and commercial parking. There will also be 154 resident bicycle spaces and 40 visitor bicycle parks.

&nbsp;

Harridan is a family-owned developer and part of the Holmwood Highgate Group, with more than three decades of development activity across South East Queensland. Its portfolio spans residential, commercial and industrial property, with current residential projects including Riverbank on Byron in Bulimba, Esperance Residences in Carina and The Precinct at Kinross Road in Thornlands.

Wooloongabba has been popular for apartment developers, particularly since the announcement of the 2032 Summer Olympics games in Brisbane.

While there have been a lot of development applications, it has failed to materialize into real supply.&nbsp;

Sarazin has been the major player in the area. They are under construction at Murcia Residences, on the fringe of East Brisbane and Woolloongabba. They have just launched <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/the-stanley-residences-woolloongabba-8-trafalgar-street-woolloongabba-qld-4102">The Stanley Residences</a>, in Woolloongabba on Trafalagar Street. They also have Nuage coming soon on the nearby <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/nuage-woolloongabba-14-wellington-road-woolloongabba-qld-4102">Wellington Road</a>.

First look: Harridan plans Burke Street transformation beside Boggo Road transport hub

International

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ANZ economists have suggested the slowdown in Canada’s extended property market boom could be a roadmap for future Australian housing market direction.
“Canada is arguably ahead of Australia in its economic and policy cycles, so watching developments there can be useful for those monitoring the Australian economy,” according to ANZ economists David Wilson and Jo Masters.
They noted house price growth in Canada has halved in the last year.
“Canada is nine months ahead in terms of monetary tightening,” Ms Masters told Fairfax's Domain, pointing to two recent interest rate hikes in Canada.
ANZ’s prediction since September has been that the Reserve Bank of Australia will hike twice in 2018. 
ANZ Bank predicts the Reserve Bank will raise official interest rates by 0.5 percentage points next year as the economy gradually improves, with the first hike tipped for May by ANZ economists David Plank and Felicity Emmett.
Canadian interest rates have come off a lower base than Australia, with hikes in July and September only taking the official cash rate to 1 per cent.
They forecast the Australian cash rate will be lifted by 0.25 percentage points in May, followed by another hike in the second half of the year, and then it will be be left unchanged over 2019 so as not to crunch spending of highly-indebted households.
Previously, ANZ was not forecasting any rate hikes in 2018.
“Canada recently released additional macro-prudential measures for the property sector," Ms Masters noted.
"These are likely to have a material impact on mortgage originations, housing affordability and property price growth in 2018.
"The hottest property markets in Canada – Vancouver and Toronto – are likely to be hit the hardest by these measures," Ms Masters said.
Already the data has signalled the downturn has set in.
Toronto’s monthly home sales - in Canada’s biggest city - have fallen by as much as 40 percent in volume, the largest annual decline since 2009. There have been four months of price declines in Toronto.
The price of the average home in Toronto fell 4.6 percent in July, the biggest monthly decline since at least 2000. From August to September, the city experienced a 2.7 percent drop. 
The monthly declines have not been enough to plunge annual gains into decline.
With Australian household debt sitting at record highs, the RBA faces uncertainty about how consumer spending will respond to slowing house-price growth, the ANZ said.
It recently advised about 38% of its home loan customers were repaying principal faster than required. 
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j.ballantyne1990-6AQqhLzZaK

ANZ looks to Canada housing market as potential Australian roadmap

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GUEST OBSERVATION
Last month six of Australia’s top journalists <a href="https://news.xinhuanet.com/zgjx/2017-05/18/c_136295296.htm" target="_blank">visited China for a week</a> as guests of the Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI) at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).
They were greeted by top Communist Party officials and toured some of China’s new infrastructure projects. Some (but not all) returned to Australia singing the praises of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s showcase “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR) initiative and <a href="https://www.afr.com/brand/chanticleer/opportunities-for-business-in-chinas-one-belt-one-road-20170522-gwaqoo" target="_blank">the opportunities for Australian businesses</a>.
Bob Carr, the director of ACRI and a professor of international relations at UTS, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/comment/if-australia-listened-to-our-hawks-on-china-wed-have-been-hung-out-to-dry-20170523-gwaw1w" target="_blank">claims we are in danger</a> of being “hung out to dry” if we listen to the “China hawks” and don’t more fully engage with China. Yet few have paused to ask why one of our universities is being used as a conduit to promote China’s national interest, and who is actually paying for it.
China’s rise forces us to think carefully about both the opportunities and costs of a closer relationship with China. These difficult discussions are taking place in government offices, boardrooms and chancelleries around the globe, but must also be a part of the wider public discussion. Australia is no exception. China is our single largest trading partner and an increasingly important source of foreign investment. China is also fundamental to our tertiary education sector.
With federal funding declining, vice-chancellors are being forced to think creatively about new revenue streams. Here China looms large. Nearly <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/the-rising-place-of-deregulated-student-fees-in-australian-university-life/" target="_blank">a fifth of higher education revenue</a> comes from full-fee paying students, with overseas Chinese students contributing the lion’s share. Universities are also looking to China for new sources of research income. Yet the sector’s <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-31/australian-unis-left-vulnerable-by-reliance-on/6737678" target="_blank">growing dependency on the Chinese market</a> could cloud the judgement of senior university administrators.
The circumstances of the Australia-China Relations Institute should serve as a reminder of what is at stake. ACRI was created in early 2014 around the same time that the university defunded its large China Research Centre and sent its director, the <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.sussex.ac.uk/profiles/250674" target="_blank">respected historian Maurizio Marinelli</a> packing. ACRI was founded with A$2.8 million in donations from two wealthy Chinese entrepreneurs who recently migrated to Australia. One of these individuals, <a href="https://www.afr.com/news/politics/chinas-local-emperor-huang-xiangmo-says-politics-just-like-sport-20160901-gr66xc" target="_blank">Mr Huang Xiangmo</a> was named chairman of ACRI and would later reportedly claim that he <a href="https://www.afr.com/news/politics/chinas-local-emperor-huang-xiangmo-says-politics-just-like-sport-20160901-gr66xc" target="_blank">personally selected</a> the former Foreign Minister Bob Carr as the director of the new institute.
Despite claims that it is “an independent, nonpartisan, research think tank,” <a href="https://www.australiachinarelations.org/" target="_blank">ACRI</a> has been plagued by controversy since its establishment. In my opinion, the quality of ACRI’s research output is patchy at best, with far more examples of political advocacy than rigorous, independent research.
While it has produced a <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-china-relations-institute-responds-to-questions-on-research-and-funding-78803" target="_blank">handful of quality research reports</a> by respected Australian academics, far more effort has gone into the production of often one-sided, decontextualised fact sheets and opinion pieces aimed at promoting what ACRI’s own website asserts is “a positive and optimistic view of Australia-China relations”.
Despite initial claims that ACRI would use “<a href="https://acyd.org.au/partners-2/australia-china-relations-institute-">big data science</a> to illuminate and explore the Australia-China relationship,” it has published a handful of short opinion polls that lack academic rigour. Take for example the one-page, six-question survey, “<a href="https://www.australiachinarelations.org/content/east-china-sea-what-australians-think" target="_blank">East China Sea: What Australians think</a>,” which claims most Australians desire neutrality in this territorial dispute. Yet the survey contains no raw data or details on the methodology employed by UMR Strategic in conducting the survey.
The Australia-China relationship is complicated; if we iron out these complexities we are left with an incomplete and potentially misleading picture.
Most of ACRI’s activities happen behind closed-doors and largely outside the purview of the Australian public. In his capacity as Director of ACRI, Bob Carr frequently meets with visiting Chinese Communist Party officials. These visits are not reflected on ACRI’s website but are widely reported in the Chinese language media.
In 2015, for example, Bob Carr met with <a href="https://world.people.com.cn/n/2015/0916/c1002-27594016" target="_blank">Zhu Weiqun</a>, one of the chief architects of the Communist Party’s efforts to demonise the Dalai Lama and promote the assimilation of ethnic minorities in China. When the Party’s Minister for Propaganda Liu Qibao visited Australia in 2016, Carr participated in a roundtable “dialogue with Sinologists in Australia,” which was <a href="https://www.weibo.com/ttarticle/p/show?id=2309351000443980755138134282" target="_blank">widely reported in the Chinese language media</a> but went unmentioned in Australia.
ACRI has also been busy courting the Australian media. It has organised a number of study tours to China for Australia-based journalists like Paul Kelly, Ross Gittins, Malcolm Farr, Jim Middleton, and at least 12 others, <a href="https://news.xinhuanet.com/zgjx/2017-05/18/c_136295296.htm" target="_blank">according to Chinese media reports</a>. Wider media coverage on China is valuable. Yet by exposing these visiting journalists to the official Party line, it suggests to me that ACRI is seeking to actively reshape the public perception of China by skirting Australia’s China-based journalists who tend to be far more knowledgeable and critical of China.
Returning journalists published fifteen articles in 2016 <a href="https://news.xinhuanet.com/zgjx/2016-08/11/c_135585550.htm" target="_blank">according to the Party-backed All China Journalist Association</a>, thus “objectively transmitting ‘China’s voice’” to the Australian public through mainstream media outlets. This appears to be one of the concrete outcomes of the <a href="https://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-05/27/c_135394020.htm" target="_blank">Memorandum of Understanding</a> ACRI signed with the Party’s official Xinhua News Agency in early 2016.
Unlike other university-based think tanks, such as the <a href="https://www.ussc.edu.au/about/mission" target="_blank">United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney</a>, ACRI has never produced an annual report <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-china-relations-institute-responds-to-questions-on-research-and-funding-78803" target="_blank">nor does it publicly disclose</a> its budget and financial expenditures. The university now claims to “<a href="https://newsroom.uts.edu.au/news/2017/04/hon-philip-ruddock-chair-australia-china-relations-institute-advisory-board" target="_blank">fully fund</a>” the institute; yet the Bank of China, the China Construction Bank, Yuhu Group, and other Chinese companies are listed as “<a href="https://www.australiachinarelations.org/about-us" target="_blank">Chairman’s Council Members</a>” under a description of how ACRI is funded.
Who is paying for the transmission of “China’s voice” in Australia? Is it UTS, the All-China Journalist Association, Xinhua or even the Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party? Because ACRI hasn’t disclosed any of its finances, we don’t know who is paying for the trips it organises.
These efforts to promote Chinese “soft power” and influence in Australia are understandable. Public diplomacy is a key part of international relations today, and states have long sought to increase their influence globally.
Yet do centres like ACRI belong inside our universities? The University of Technology Sydney is a public institution that is still predominately funded by the Commonwealth government with taxpayers’ dollars. We risk undermining the neutrality and impartiality of our universities at a time when our relationship with China is reaching a critical juncture.
ACRI’s founding chairman <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/chinese-king-of-the-mountain-brush-with-corruption-scandal-20160224-gn2tvt" target="_blank">Huang Xiangmo</a> is actively involved in Australian politics. He has reportedly funnelled over one million dollars in political donations to the major political parties since arriving in Australia under suspicious circumstances in 2011.
His payment of Sam Dastyari’s legal bills stirred controversy over the influence of Chinese money in Australian politics and resulted in Mr Huang’s decision to <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/china-steps-up-university-influence-effort/news-story/5d09f3cc5d36e4d7295ae1d85543a023" target="_blank">step down as chairman of ACRI</a>. Yet he <a href="https://www.acpprc.org.au/schinese/jinqi/2017/wen4May17" target="_blank">continues to employ the title</a> and his adjunct professorship at UTS when representing himself in the Chinese language media, where he <a href="https://australia.people.com.cn/n/2015/0710/c364496-27284429" target="_blank">frequently praises the contributions</a> of overseas Chinese in upholding national unity and striving for the “China dream” of national rejuvenation.
Mr. Huang is also the Chairman of the <a href="https://www.acpprc.org.au/schinese/huizhang.asp" target="_blank">Australian Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China (ACPPRC)</a>, an overseas branch of the Communist Party’s United Front Work Department, which is tasked with promoting the Party’s interests among the Chinese diaspora. When Li Keqiang visited Australia in March, the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/nsw/huang-xiangmos-prochina-group-denies-organising-premier-li-rentacrowd-20170324-gv5z4h" target="_blank">ACPPRC mobilised Chinese students</a> to welcome the Chinese Premier and keep any protesters at bay.
Huang Xiangmo has also provided A$3.5 million to help establish a new <a href="https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/aciac/people" target="_blank">Australia-China Institute for Arts and Culture</a> at Western Sydney University, where he sits on the board of governance. He is reported to be eyeing-off <a href="https://www.afr.com/news/politics/chinas-local-emperor-huang-xiangmo-says-politics-just-like-sport-20160901-gr66xc" target="_blank">additional investments</a> in the tertiary sector in Australia. Yet these supposedly philanthropic donations come with a clear agenda, as Huang revealed when he called for the Chinese community to increase their skill and leverage in the Australian political arena <a href="https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1003731.shtml" target="_blank">in a Global Times editorial</a>.
I welcome the role ACRI is playing in broadening and deepening our understanding of this important bilateral relationship; yet I question whether our publicly funded universities are the right place for the institute.
Universities are meant to be places of robust and critically minded teaching and research. If Australia is going to successfully navigate its way through the “Asian Century,” we need independent centres of research excellence on China.
We need places where properly trained experts can study and better understand all aspects of China’s rise — both the positive and the negative — without fear or influence. We do a disservice to this important mission when the reputations of our universities are sullied in the name of one-sided, political advocacy.
<hr>
The Conversation sought a response from the Australia-China Relations Institute, which can be <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-china-relations-institute-responds-to-questions-on-research-and-funding-78803">viewed here</a>. 
James Leibold is Associate Professor of Politics and Asian Studies, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/la-trobe-university-842" target="_blank">La Trobe University</a>
This article was originally published on <a href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.
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The Australia-China Relations Institute doesn’t belong at UTS

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Property prices on a seemingly never ending upward trajectory; first home buyers priced out of the market; exasperated claims of a lack of available stock; a fear that a major city’s property market may have shifted rapidly from buoyant recovery to spectral bubble.
It’s a story many investors in Australia’s main two major markets – Sydney and Melbourne – have been accustomed to hearing. But likewise the Dutch city of Amsterdam has a similar recent tale of property travails.
Amsterdam house prices rose 22% year on year to October 2016, <a href="https://www.nvm.nl/actueel/persberichten/2016/20161005woningmarkt2016q3" target="_blank">according to</a> the nation’s association of real estate agents. While the latest data from CoreLogic shows that Australian property prices continue to rise. Over the past year prices in Sydney and Melbourne have rise by over 15% and 13% respectively. That stat is one of the many parallels investors can draw between the North Holland city and those in the land once claimed as New Holland.
Price growth in Brisbane and Adelaide hasn’t quite matched those heady double-digit heights, but at about 4% growth year on year, both cities are returning decent dividends for property investors. The only city dragging down CoreLogic’s five city capital average is Perth; a slight uptick in December failing to make up for the price declines earlier last year.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/01/18/CORELOGIC-DEC-19.jpg">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/01/18/CORELOGIC-DEC-19.jpg" alt="">
So what will the average median price buy you in Amsterdam?
Sydney
According to CoreLogic’s December 2016 indices report, Sydney’s all-dwelling median price sat at $1,056,000.
At current exchange rates, the equivalent median price in Amsterdam (approx. €745,624) would put you in the market for <a href="https://www.engelvoelkers.com/en-nl/property/modern-living-in-one-of-the-loveliest-streets-in-amsterdam-3664333.1174577_exp/" target="_blank">a 125 square metre, four room apartment</a> (pictured below) on the trendy inner west Haarlemerstraat, a sector know for its chic cafes, boutique stores and tourist-drawing “coffee” shops.  It comes with double-glazed windows, two-rooftop terraces and a Jacuzzi.
It may be a relatively high price to live in this area, but the prime real estate in Amsterdam is the famous canal houses, which leave little spare after a several million euro outlay.
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/01/25/adm%201.jpg" alt="">
Melbourne
Melbourne’s median price sits at $863,260, according to CoreLogic. The equivalent (€610,000) would put you in the market for <a href="https://www.engelvoelkers.com/en-nl/property/tasteful-flat-in-listed-warehouse-3665296.1174976_exp" target="_blank">a beautiful two bedroom, one bathroom apartment</a> on the inner city Herengracht.
Like many properties in this region, the 105 square metre property (pictured below) is a converted warehouse property.
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/01/25/adm%202.jpg" alt="">
Brisbane
Brisbane’s median dwelling value of $549,630 equates to roughly the price of €390,000.
With an estimated metropolitan population of approximately 2.3 million, Amsterdam is of a relatively equivalent size to Brisbane. However, any Brisbanites looking to decamp to Amsterdam can expect a fair decrease in size ­–<a href="https://www.engelvoelkers.com/en-nl/property/sold-3677474.1179727_exp/" target="_blank"> this central Amsterdam apartment</a> (pictured below) is only 46 square metres in size.
Located in the beautiful Jordaan district, it’s close to many shops, restaurants and has a view of the famous Brouwersgracht.
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/01/25/adm%203.jpg" alt="">
Adelaide
Adelaide has the lowest median dwelling value of the five included in CoreLogic’s aggregate, at $472,000.
The equivalent of €333,271 would have this central Amsterdam apartment, located on the closet western canal to the city centre, in range. Though only 47 square metres, <a href="https://www.engelvoelkers.com/en-nl/property/studio-apartment-with-elevator-3696689.1187116_exp/" target="_blank">this apartment </a>(pictured below) boasts a great location to offset its lack of size.
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/01/25/adm%204.jpg" alt="">
Perth
Perth’s property market may have declined in the wake of the end of the mining boom, but its all-dwelling value still eclipses all bar Sydney and Melbourne in CoreLogic’s five-city aggregate.
Its median value of $581,280 would be put a buyer in the Amsterdam market in the range of this €400,000 listed property. Though only 61 square metres, <a href="https://www.engelvoelkers.com/en-nl/property/whole-building-in-the-centre-of-amsterdam-3696411.1187025_exp/" target="_blank">this apartment</a> comes with two beds and a bathroom and is very close to the centre of the city.
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/01/25/adm%205.jpg" alt="">
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jake-cSmGT7VXVf

What will Australian property prices get you in Amsterdam?

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Home prices across the US, including distressed sales, increased year over year by 6.2 percent in August 2016 compared with August 2015.
It increased month over month by 1.1 percent in August 2016 compared with July 2016,* according to the CoreLogic HPI.
The CoreLogic HPI Forecast indicates that home prices will increase by 5.3 percent on a year-over-year basis from August 2016 to August 2017, and on a month-over-month basis home prices are expected to increase by 0.4 percent from August 2016 to September 2016.
The CoreLogic HPI Forecast is a projection of home prices using the CoreLogic HPI and other economic variables.
Values are derived from state-level forecasts by weighting indices according to the number of owner-occupied households for each state.
"Home prices are now just 6 percent below the nominal peak reached in April 2006," said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic.
"With prices forecasted to increase by 5 percent over the next year, prices will be back to their peak level in 2017."
"Housing values continue to rise briskly on stronger fundamental and investor-fueled demand, as well as lack of adequate supply," said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic.
"This continued price appreciation is contributing to a growing affordability crisis in many markets around the country."
 
Home Price Change By State
<table style="width: 400px;" border="1" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="3"><tbody>
<tr>
<th rowspan="3" bgcolor="#943634" width="118">State</th>
<th bgcolor="#943634">August 2016 12-Month HPI</th>
</tr>
<tr><th bgcolor="#943634">Year Over Year</th></tr>
<tr><th bgcolor="#943634" width="144">Single-Family </th></tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>National</td>
<td align="right">6.2%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Alabama </td>
<td align="right">3.7%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Alaska </td>
<td align="right">0.6%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Arizona </td>
<td align="right">5.5%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Arkansas </td>
<td align="right">2.8%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>California </td>
<td align="right">5.9%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Colorado </td>
<td align="right">9.1%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Connecticut </td>
<td align="right">-1.1%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Delaware </td>
<td align="right">1.0%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>District of Columbia </td>
<td align="right">2.5%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Florida </td>
<td align="right">7.6%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Georgia </td>
<td align="right">5.5%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Hawaii </td>
<td align="right">4.4%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Idaho </td>
<td align="right">7.4%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Illinois </td>
<td align="right">3.2%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Indiana </td>
<td align="right">4.8%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Iowa </td>
<td align="right">3.8%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Kansas </td>
<td align="right">4.4%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Kentucky </td>
<td align="right">4.7%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Louisiana </td>
<td align="right">2.8%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Maine </td>
<td align="right">1.5%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Maryland </td>
<td align="right">1.2%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Massachusetts </td>
<td align="right">4.3%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Michigan </td>
<td align="right">5.4%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Minnesota </td>
<td align="right">5.3%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Mississippi </td>
<td align="right">3.3%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Missouri </td>
<td align="right">4.2%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Montana </td>
<td align="right">5.9%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Nebraska </td>
<td align="right">5.1%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Nevada </td>
<td align="right">6.7%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>New Hampshire </td>
<td align="right">4.6%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>New Jersey </td>
<td align="right">1.2%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>New Mexico </td>
<td align="right">3.9%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>New York </td>
<td align="right">6.5%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>North Carolina </td>
<td align="right">4.8%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>North Dakota </td>
<td align="right">1.1%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Ohio </td>
<td align="right">3.6%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Oklahoma </td>
<td align="right">1.4%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Oregon </td>
<td align="right">10.3%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Pennsylvania </td>
<td align="right">2.0%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Rhode Island </td>
<td align="right">4.8%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>South Carolina </td>
<td align="right">4.9%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>South Dakota </td>
<td align="right">7.7%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Tennessee </td>
<td align="right">6.5%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Texas </td>
<td align="right">6.6%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Utah </td>
<td align="right">7.7%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Vermont </td>
<td align="right">1.1%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Virginia </td>
<td align="right">2.3%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Washington </td>
<td align="right">10.2%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>West Virginia </td>
<td align="right">7.6%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Wisconsin </td>
<td align="right">5.0%</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="middle">
<td>Wyoming </td>
<td align="right">3.8% 
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
 
 
 
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Oregon offers the best home price change YoY for US states

<html><body><div class="cq-article-content-paras section">
<div class="cq-article-content-paras section">
Australia's largest pension fund, AustralianSuper, has expanded its overseas property investment.
It has secured a 49% stake in a $US1.32 billion ($1.7 billion) portfolio of Washington office buildings, controlled by Brookfield Property Partners.
Five of the assets are located in the East End, the premier submarket in the region. East End assets included 1400 K Street, 1200 K Street, the Victor Building, 650 Massachusetts Ave, and 799 9th Street. The remaining three assets include 1250 Connecticut Ave in the DC Central Business District; 77 K Street in NOMA (North of Massachusetts) and Bethesda Crescent in Bethesda, MD. 
AustralianSuper also teamed with Brookfield in April taking a 49 per cent stake in a $US605 million Boston office tower.
In March AustralianSuper invested $1.1 billion in a Hawaiian shopping centre, representing 25 per cent ownership.
</div>
<div class="cq-article-content-paras section">
Earlier this year it secured a £200 million ($408 million) stake in the mixed-use <a href="/expert-insights/investing/australiansupers-400-million-king-cross-london-deal">King's Cross Central development in London</a>, beating off competition from overseas sovereign wealth funds from the Middle East and investment groups in the Far East.
AustralianSuper has $90 billion in assets under management, with around $7 billion in real estate.
</div>
<div class="cq-article-content-paras section">
<div class="cq-article-content-paras section">
Jack McGougan, the fund's head of property, aims to hit 10 per cent over the next three to four years.
AustralianSuper has more than two million members.
In the latest deal AustralianSuper was represented by Jim Halliwell and Dan Thornton at Principal Real Estate Investors.
</div>
</div>
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jchancellor-FAypfDUnLy

AustralianSuper secures further USA office property acquisitions

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Bellamont Forest near Cootehill, County Cavan, described by Mark Bence-Jones in A Guide to Irish Country Houses as "one of the most perfect examples of a Palladian villa", has been sold. Well sale agreed as the Irish say.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.myhome.ie/residential/brochure/bellamont-forest-cootehill-co-cavan/3117572" target="_blank">The</a> home came with an asking price of €1.35 million on the 18th century palladian villa, but slightly more than €1.5 may have been achieved.
It was Australian John Coote who bought back his ancestral home in 1987 for a reported IR£500,000, then restoring Bellamont before putting it on the market in 2010 with overly ambitious €7.5 million expectations.
Coote died suddenly in 2012, and the house is now for sale on the instructions of receivers for Coote's company, Thameside Holding, this time with its reduced price of €1.35 million.
Earlier this month final offers were being invited with the selling price generating huge interest in Bellamont which was at the centre of the 1991 divorce action between the late owner John Coote and his wife Andrea.
The selling agent Ganly Walters moved quickly to conclude the sale following about 200 enquiries on the property. The final offers process requires unconditional written offers on the property of a minimum of €1.5million.
The agent told the local paper there were at least three interested parties with enquiries from as far away as Australia, the Far East, the US and the UK, mainly from people interested in it as a family residence.
Any possibility the Government might move to buy Bellamont as a public amenity because of its historical and architectural significance was ruled out last month when Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Heather Humphreys said resources were not available to the Department to consider the purchase.
Bloomberg report Irish trophy home values are surging again now, helped by a more stable economy. Sales of Irish homes for more than €1 million jumped 41 per cent to 117 during the first four months of 2015 from a year earlier, Sherry Fitzgerald data showed. 
<div class="cq-article-content-paras section">
Some of the biggest spenders have been from overseas. John Malone, the US cable industry billionaire, spent almost €27 million in January on Castlemartin, an 18th-century estate and stud farm in Kildare.
In one of the biggest residential deals of 2014, Singaporean Cynthia Chua spent almost €8 million on Deepwell, a coastal mansion south of Dublin built by the Guinness family in the 1850s.
<div class="cq-article-content-paras section">
Irish home prices fell by almost 50 per cent after a real estate bubble burst in 2008. Bellamont Forest dates from the 1720s and was built to a design by renowned architect <a class="search" href="https://www.irishtimes.com/search/search-7.1213540?tag_person=Edward%20Lovett%20Pearce&amp;article=true" style="line-height: 1.3em;">Edward Lovett Pearce</a>. It was bought in 1987 by John Coote, an Australian interior designer of international repute and a specialist in the restoration of classical buildings, who restored and refurnished Bellamont, but put it up for sale in 2010 at a guide price of €7.5 million. He died in 2012, and since then the condition of Bellamont has deteriorated. Buyers will need to invest a further €1million to €2 million to restore it fully.
</div>
</div>
Though the property is on 1000 acres, about 400 acres is under lake and a further 450 acres is in woodland which is owned by <a class="search" href="https://www.irishtimes.com/search/search-7.1213540?tag_organisation=Coillte&amp;article=true">Coillte</a> after a previous owner bequeathed the woodland to the State for 150 years.Designed by Edward Lovett Pearce and built between 1725 and 1730, architectural historian Dr Maurice Craig (Country Life, 1964), wrote Pearce's design was based on Palladio’s Villa Rotonda at Vicenza and Villa Pisani at Montagnana. 
The Irish National Trust, An Taisce, has noted the 290 year old building has been vacant for a number of years and "<a href="https://www.antaisce.org/buildingsatrisk/bellamont-forest-cootehill?page=1" target="_blank">does not appear to be maintained</a>." 
Most of the external fabric remains, but there are obvious signs of deterioration, particularly water penetration. 
"There is no immediate danger of collapse but the condition is such that unless urgent remedial works are carried out the building will sharply deteriorate," the Trust noted. 
<a href="https://search.knightfrank.com/gwr100023" target="_blank">Bellamont Forest</a>, the first Palladian house in Ireland, is set amid one thousand acres of parkland, woods and lakes, including sporting rights in the surrounding forestry.
<div class="separator">
It was built for Thomas Coote, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, designed by his nephew, Sir Edward Lovett Pearce, whose other works include the former Houses of Parliament in College Green, now The Bank of Ireland. 
He later became Surveyor General of Ireland, a post which he held until his death in 1733. 
<div title="Page 6">
The house is four bays square, built over two storeys, with a basement. The internal floor area is approximately 1,032 square metres. The house is built of red brick with ashlar facings, and has a Doric limestone portico, with pediments over the windows. 
Title Tattle especially loves the exquisite overhead oval cupola. 
<img src="https://photos-a.propertyimages.ie/media/2/7/5/3117572/31d407a7-06de-49fd-ae4f-dfb2ad3b7a05_l.jpg">
<div title="Page 13">
Bellamont Forest is 110 kms from Dublin and 75 minutes from Dublin International Airport, so listing agent Ganly Walters expect strong international buyer interest.
</div>
</div>
The late John Coote, the jetsetting international designer of Classical 18th-century houses, came from a notorious family.
The first to make his mark in Ireland was Sir Charles Coote, a military adventurer who died in battle at Trim, Co Meath, in 1642, leaving estates in four counties to his four sons. His youngest son, Col Thomas Coote, was granted the O’Reilly lands in Co Cavan at the Act of Settlement in 1662. 
He married a Miss Hill from Hillsborough in Co Down and founded the town of Coote Hill (now Cootehill). On his death in 1671, his estate passed to his nephew, also Thomas Coote, who became a Lord Justice of the Kings Bench in Ireland, and was made a Knight of the Bath ‘in testimony of his good and laudable service in suppressing tumultuous and illegal insurrection in the northern parts of Ireland’. He also established Cootehill as a prosperous linen town.
On marrying his third wife, Ann Lovett, in 1697, Coote became the uncle-in-law of Sir Edward Lovett Pearce, a cousin of Vanbrugh, and by far the most important architect working in Ireland in the early 18th century. 
Its name was later changed to Bellamont Forest by Coote’s grandson, Charles, who inherited in 1764 and became the Earl of Bellamont of the 2nd creation in 1767.
The new Lord Bellamont was a complex figure, being variously described as a man of ‘the highest refinement’, but also as a ‘tyrant’, ‘madman’ and ‘a person of disgusting pomposity’. An inveterate womaniser, he sired at least six illegitimate children, all of whom were provided for in his will. He was tried in 1764 for murdering a man during the 'Oakboy' rebellion which he helped to repress brutally. He got off and is immortalised in a camp portrait by Joshua Reynolds in the National Gallery.
On his death in 1800, the estate passed to these descendants who lived on at Bellamont Forest, becoming gradually ever poorer.
In 1874, Edward Smith JP, having amassed a considerable fortune from the coal trade between Liverpool and Newry, bought the Bellamont house and lands for £145,000. Following his death in 1880, the estate passed through various members of his family until 1984, when what <a href="https://www.countrylife.co.uk/news/property-news/luxury-property-in-ireland-for-sale-24455" target="_blank">Country Life</a> described as the ‘troubles’ in the North finally persuaded the last of them to leave. The IRA had used the estate as a training ground.
Three years later, John Coote seized the chance to buy it.
It was listed in 2010 after Coote’s three children all returned to settle in Australia. John Coote, noting the architect spent three years in Italy in the early eighteenth century where he toured the Veneto and Palladio’s villas, thought La Rotunda was his great inspiration.  
There was considerable sadness at John Coote's death given he was one of the great interior designers who buoyed Melbourne's property credentials, especially during the 1980s. 
His Melbourne client list included the Lews, Foxes, Elliotts and Kimberleys. 
His 1987 Corrie Perkin Good Weekend piece was headlined: "John Coote turns new money into old". 
The Australian born, RMIT-trained, Pimlico Road, London interior designer was last in the local headlines during his divorce from Andrea Coote over the settlement of what was dubbed "Coote Castle."
</div>
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John Coote's 18th century Bellamont Forest, Cavan Ireland ancestral trophy home sold

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Dolly Lenz has long been the real estate agent in New York City, but the crown became even brighter when she was appointed to sell Rupert Murdoch's redundant US$72 million (A$91.9 million) penthouse (pictured above).
By mid last year she had sold over US$8.5 billion (A$10.85 billion) in property over her years in the industry, including her record-setting sale of the US$57 million (A$72.75 million) triplex penthouse to the billionaire Rupert Murdoch.
Indeed Murdoch, who recently acquired the US realtor website, dubbed Lenz "<a href="https://www.dollylenz.com/videos/" target="_blank">a force of nature</a>" while speaking at the Inman conference.
"My friend and personal agent, Dolly Lenz, she has put me into some very nice homes and I have written her some very nice cheques," Murdoch said.
Having bought through her, <a href="https://www.dollylenz.com/property/ny/new-york/10010/-/one-madison/553132deb1c93c059b000002/" target="_blank">Murdoch returns the task</a> to Lenz, who was born in the Bronx to a Spanish immigrant father and changed her name from Idaliz Camino.
<img src="/images/2015/04/27/Dolly_Lenz1.jpg" alt="">
Source: Lezno
According to Wikipedia: "She bought her first apartment at age 18 on Park Avenue in the Murray Hill neighborhood.
"She was an accountant at United Artists where she struck up a friendship with Barbra Streisand.
"She began selling real estate in various agencies including Sotheby's before moving to Prudential's Douglas Elliman agency in 1999. 
"Lenz left Douglas Elliman to start her eponymous firm in June 2013. 
"She has been used frequently by Donald Trump to sell property.
"In 2005 she sold the Burnt Point mansion in Wainscott, New York to billionaire Stewart Rahr for $45 million."
That was the year The Economist magazine described Lenz as the top real-estate agent in a city that is obsessed by real estate to the point of derangement.
With technology in the palm of her hand she spends more time in a car than in an office setting. She sleeps with her BlackBerry, especially as over half her clients are based in Asia.
She recently said many of the wealthy clients she deals with are no nonsense.
"The clients I deal with are extremely intelligent and savvy, and they negotiate mega-deals for a living," <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.cnbc.com/id/48463406" target="_blank">she told CNBC</a> with six selling tips.
"But one of the main reasons they seek me out is I have something they don’t have, and that’s specific information.
"And it is my job to listen to their preconceived ideas and give them the good, the bad and the ugly of what they are telling me.
"I don’t tell them what I think they want to hear, I tell them what they need to hear."
Dennis Kozlowski, the former CEO of Tyco nicknamed her “Jaws” and when asked by Bill Griffeth, the CNBC anchor, whether she liked that name she responded: “I don’t know if I like it, but sometimes it’s necessary.”
<img src="/images/2015/05/07/tweet-may-7-two.jpg" alt="">
"Your client is watching and evaluating your performance and couldn’t care less about your comfort zone," Lenz said.
"Get the job done, no excuses, and you will have a client for life.
"If you want to make it in the high-end pressure cooker that is New York real estate, that’s what it takes."
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Dolly Lenz, Rupert Murdoch's New York listing agent

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Positioned high above Madison Square Park crowning the One Madison Condominium, media tycoon Rupert Murdoch has decided to sell his grand-scale penthouse before he moves in.
Perhaps he's thinking of his new puppy?
With nearly 7,600 square feet of interior and terraced luxury, it comes with a US$72 million (A$92.15 million) asking price some 58 floors up.
It is marketed as featuring a double height Great Room with a sweeping staircase, an oversized gracious master suite, four additional bedrooms, and a private internal elevator.
The home will offer cinematic 360-degree Park, River and New York City skyline views in the doorman block.
Dolly Lenz has the five bedroom, five bathroom listing.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Murdoch paid US$57.25 million (A$73.24 million) for the penthouse as well as a three-bedroom apartment on level 57 in February 2014. 
The chairman of News Corp and 21st Century Fox and owner of the Move Inc realestate website then commissioned architect Jose Ramirez to fit out the 636-square-metre abode.
Murdoch is keeping the 57th floor apartment for now, but will instead move to a restored downtown townhouse, his spokesman told the WSJ.
According to public records, Rupert Murdoch paid US$25 million (A$32 million)for the townhouse in a deal that closed last month.
The Greek Revival house recently renovated by developer George Agiovlasitis dates back to 1913, when newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst owned the site.
It bit of it went on the market last year for $30 million with Brown Harris Stevens.
The townhouse is 6,500 square feet, with an elevator, a roof deck, a 1,200-bottle wine cellar, a media room and a gym.
That would seem more suitable for Rupert Murdoch's golden doodle.
Title Tattle gleans <a href="https://murdochhere.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Rupert has a new puppy</a> as his Rhodesian Ridgeback died four years ago. 
And did you know he's ruthless at Monopoly? 
<img src="/images/2015/04/20/murdoch%20april%2020%20bre.jpg" alt="">
Source: Tumblr <a href="https://murdochhere.tumblr.com/rupertmurdoch" target="_blank">murdochhere</a>
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Not finished, but peek inside Rupert Murdoch's redundant $92 million New York penthouse

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The sale of 30 St Mary Axe, otherwise known as The Gherkin, was arguably the most iconic building sold in London, and perhaps the world, during 2014.
Selling agents Savills said it was unique because it was an extremely well-known building internationally, it was 100% leased, 100% income producing, and a triple-net lease which means that all of the costs were covered by the tenants.
"So you could say, as an investment, it was 100%," Savills' Stepehn Down said.
It was, however, quite a complicated asset sale. 
"We had to tailor our campaign carefully so that we could be sure we had reached all the stakeholders out there. 95% of our audience could be reached with a normal campaign but it was the remaining five% that required us to really prove our outstanding global reach," Down said.
"We wanted it to be a swift transaction; we wanted the investors to come in and make their bid on an educated basis so that there were no questions, no conditionality or limited conditionality to their bids.
"We received just over 10 bids. 
"The Gherkin had been valued a year or so previously at about £580 million and we thought that we could get closer to £650 million.
"Eventually The Gherkin was sold for £700 million, exceeding almost everyone’s expectation."
On November 10, 2014, contracts were exchanged on The Gherkin.
<a href="https://www.savills.co.uk/blog/article/185219/commercial-property/how-savills-sold-the-gherkin.aspx" target="_blank">A video produced by Savills </a>explaining the process is viewable on their website.
Photo: Creative Commons
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How Savills International sold The Gherkin

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A 1926 Hollywood regency style home credited as Australian actor Errol Flynn's former home has been listed for sale at US$5.95 million (A$7.83 million).
It is set in the desirable Bird Streets of the Hollywood Hills with city views to downtown LA.
Listing agents include <a href="https://instagram.com/p/1d-41enLos/" target="_blank">Chad Rogers</a> at Hilton &amp; Hyland.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.redfin.com/CA/Los-Angeles/9250-Cordell-Dr-90069/home/6835374" target="_blank">Redfin</a> suggest it last sold at US$2.85 million (A$3.75 million) in 2013, then in 2008 at US$2.95 million (A$3.88 million), then US$1.27 million (A$1.67 million) in 2001.
Designer John Elgin Wolfe was responsible for the 1950s makeover of the 1920s Italian-style villa for the late comedian-actor Paul Lynde after Flynn's ownership.
The main floor features silver-leaf wood floors, original marble fireplace, antique chandelier suspended from the high ceilings and five pairs of arched french doors that overlook the city from all terraces.
The entire second floor is a lavish master suite with sitting room with his and hers closets.
There are also two master baths both having walls covered in hand-antiqued mirrors
The pool level features Woolf's signature domed roof cabana and trapezoidal pool.
Owners have included musician Moby and the Alice + Olivia clothing designer Stacey Bendet.
The John Elgin Wolfe-designed home better associated with Errol Flynn is 7740 Mulholland Drive, Los Angeles, which was sold in 1959 for $180,000.
Errol Flynn was born in 1909 in Hobart and died in 1959.
There's a webpage on the Errol Flynn blog devoted to t<a href="https://www.theerrolflynnblog.com/?s=cordell+drive" target="_blank">he addresses with a ink to Errol</a>!
It suggests Flynn bought it for the family of his second wife, Nora Eddingtton.
Specific Addresses Associated with Errol
8946 Appian Way – Tiger Lil’s Lair, On the Crest of Lookout Mountain 4320 Cedarhurst Circle – The Cedars 9250 Cordell Drive – Home Errol Bought for Eddington Family 5930 Franklin Avenue – Chateau Elysee 2000 No. Fuller Avenue – The Pines (Guesthouse) 7245 Hillside Avenue – Reported Residence 6654 Hollywood Boulevard – Walk of Fame Star (Motion Pictures) 7008 Hollywood Boulevard – Walk of Fame Star (Television) 1714 Ivar Avenue – Knickerbocker Hotel 2450 Laurel Canyon Boulevard – Reputed Location for Parties 2451 Laurel Canyon Boulevard – Reputed Location for Parties 7740 Mulholland Drive – Mulholland Farm 1652 North Cherokee Avenue – Boardner’s Bar 601 North Linden Drive – Roz Russel Home, rented by Errol &amp; Niv 801 North Linden Drive – Private Home, Association Unknown to Me 3400 Riverside Drive – Warner Brothers Studios, Burbank 1357 Schuyler Road – Allegedly Built By Errol, But Unconfirmed 1712 South Glendale Avenue – Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale 345 St. Pierre Road – Colleen Moore’s Mansion in Bel Air 1709 Tropical Avenue – Resided with Lili 6525 West Sunset Boulevard – Hollywood Athletic Club 8152 West Sunset Boulevard – The Garden of Allah 8221 West Sunset Boulevard – Chateau Marmont 8245 West Sunset Boulevard – Private Home, Association Unknown to Me 8358 West Sunset Boulevard – Sunset Towers
Locations without Specific Addresses
Balboa Yacht Basin (Newport Beach) Three Arches Beach (Laguna Beach)
 
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