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.

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[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=152737]

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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.

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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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The movie-making casino billionaire James Packer has bought a house in Israel, following his friendship with one of Hollywood’s high profile independent film producers Arnon Milchan.
Packer told The Daily Telegraph in early March that he had bought a house in Tel Aviv.
The Australian media diarist Sharri Markson pinpointed it yesterday as in Caesarea, halfway between Haifa and Tel Aviv. But its purchase price and other details have yet to emerge.
It has emerged Packer has also befriended Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who lives in the suburb, dining with him several times.
“Spending time with Arnon and Prime Minister Netanyahu has been an amazing eye-opener for me and it reinforces how lucky we all are in Australia,’’ he told The Daily Telegraph columnist John Lehmann in the must read, Lehmann at Large column.
James Packer now divides his time between Israel, the United States, Asia and Australia where his Bondi Beach pad was withdrawn from recent marketing. 
<a href="https://www.realestatecaesarea.com/searchForm.php?l=&amp;ls=&amp;search_PropertyType=&amp;ListingID=&amp;MinPrice=&amp;MaxPrice=&amp;rooms1=&amp;rooms2=&amp;bath1=&amp;bath2=&amp;AgentID=&amp;before=&amp;Access=&amp;Suitability=&amp;HomeAge=" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://www.sothebysrealty.com/eng/sales/caesarea-il-isr" target="_blank">Sotheby's International</a> have listings in the suburb of up to US$12.5 million (A$16.45 million). One of the offerings was the onetime home of the painter Reuven Rubin and his wife Esther designed by the architect Arie Elhanani together with Rubin in 1967.
James Packer is believed to have been introduced to the Netanyahu family through Milchan, who the casino tycoon has described to confidants as his “best friend”. 
Arnon Milchan produced Pretty Woman, Natural Born Killers and L.A. Confidential.
Caesarea has the country's only full-size golf course, which originated after James de Rothschild was reminded by the dunes surrounding Caesarea of Scotland's sandy links golf courses.
On his death, the James de Rothschild Foundation established the course in the late 1950s with American professional golfer Herman Barron, the first Jewish golfer to win a PGA Tour event, helping develop the course.
Wikipedia noted: "Modern Caesarea had a population of 4,500 people, the only Israeli locality managed by a private organization, the Caesarea Development Corporation.
"The town was built by Herod the Great about 25–13 BCE as the port city Caesarea Maritima. It served as an administrative center of Judaea Province of the Roman Empire, and later the capital of the Byzantine Palaestina Prima province during the classic period.
"Following the Muslim conquest in the 7th century, the city had an Arab majority until Crusader renovation, but was again abandoned after the Mamluk conquest.
"It was populated in 1884 by Bosniak immigrants, who settled in a small fishing village.
"In 1940, kibbutz Sdot Yam was established next to the village.
"In February 1948 the village was conquered by a Palmachunit commanded by Yitzhak Rabin, its people already having fled following an attack by the Stern Gang.
"In 1952, a Jewish town of Caesarea was established near the ruins of the old city, which were made into the national park of Caesarea Maritima."
"The Phoenicians discovered it, Herod fell in love with it and dedicated it to the Roman Caesar," the local leading agent website said. 
"Augustus gazed upon it and said, ‘‘hasten slowly‘‘.
"He was followed by Tiberius and Marcus Aurelius, Caesars from the West and Caesars from the East, Arabs and Crusaders, the Seljuk and Turks, Genefal Allen by, Hanna Senesh and Yehuda Amihai... everyone wanted it, settled here and left behind their own mark of love. The antiquities, the sea, the serene bay -nature‘s very own offering of beauty,"<a href="https://www.caesarea-realestate.co.il/eng/art.asp?art_type_id=149" target="_blank"> agent Chana Kristal said on here website.</a> "Caesarea was purchased by Baron Edmond de Rothschild during the 19th century and donated to the Caesarea Edmond Bengamin de Rothschild Foundation upon the establishment of the State of Israel, with the aim of developing Caesarea into a unique and qualitative neighborhood, to become one of the finest residential, tourist and industrial areas in the world," she said.
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jchancellor-FAypfDUnLy

Billionaire James Packer's Israeli trophy home suburb

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Omaha Beach, one of the leading summer playgrounds for New Zealand's rich and famous, has secured a recent NZ$3 million (A$2.95 million) sale price, a record for the northern end of Omaha.
The concrete block and cedar, three bedroom, two bathroom retreat pad bought by an Auckland family through Bayleys agent Mark Macky.
He told the New Zealand Herald the record price was evidence prices on the seaside spit had bounced back from the global financial crisis.
Omaha Beach is one of the leading playgrounds for New Zealand's rich and famous including Prime Minister John Key, former Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker, and one of New Zealand's wealthiest women, Diane Foreman - a popular area because it is less than an hour from Auckland.
James Wilson of Quotable Value noted the Auckland coastal holiday market showed signs of strengthening but the gains were modest compared to residential areas in Auckland.
The recent NZ$3 million sale price for the '<a href="https://www.newzealand.com/au/feature/new-zealand-bach/" target="_blank">bach</a>' in sand dunes at 39 The Southern Isle at the northern end of Omaha showed it is closing in on the flashier southern end where prices already top NZ$4 million (A$3.93 million), the paper reported.
Fringed by pohotukawa trees, the house was a <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.bayleys.co.nz/Listings/Auckland/Rodney/Omaha/1810451" target="_blank">stylish award winning Lindy Leuschke contemporary design</a> built in 2006 offering single level living some 20 paces though the dunes brings you to that spectacular white sandy beach.
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 New Zealand holiday homes shrug off global financial crisis

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More first time buyers in the United States are turning to parents for financial assistance when buying a home, and the ways parents contribute are likely to shift to some degree, according to a <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/trend-of-parents-helping-millennial-children-buy-first-home-is-on-the-rise-300054767" target="_blank">survey commissioned by nonbank lender loanDepot LLC</a>.
17% of parents with adult children between the ages of 18 and 35 expect to help their children buy a home in the next five years, compared to 13% in the past five years — an increase of 31%.
First time home buyer activity is already close to an all-time low, but the share of home sales attributable to that group would be even smaller if not for the financial assistance parents have provided to many young adults, said Dave Norris, president and chief operations officer at loanDepot LLC.
75% of millennial-age respondents who said they have received financial support from their parents when buying a home said that assistance made it possible for them to buy a home, he said.
But the ways that parents provide this assistance may be shifting, the results suggested.
<div id="attachment_152315" class="wp-caption aligncenter">
<a href="https://inmannews.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/how-parents-are-helping-loandepot.png" target="_blank"><img class="wp-image-152315 size-full" src="https://inmannews.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/how-parents-are-helping-loandepot.png" alt="how parents are helping loandepot" width="881" height="322"></a>
Source: loanDepot
65% of parents who helped their kids buy a home in the last five years chipped in by putting money toward a down payment, with almost two in 10 of that group covering nearly 90% of a down payment, according to the survey.
But only half of parents who expect to help their children buy homes in the future anticipate subsidizing a down payment, with less than one in 10 indicating that they expect to contribute 90% or more of a down payment.
The survey suggests that parents who lend a helping hand to their children who buy homes in the years ahead will be more likely to provide assistance by paying off student loan debt or letting their kids live at home so they can save money than they were in the past, according to the survey.
<a href="https://inmannews.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/obilgation-to-repay.png" target="_blank" style="line-height: 1.3em;"><img class="wp-image-152305 size-full" src="https://inmannews.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/obilgation-to-repay.png" alt="obilgation to repay" width="729" height="238"></a>
Source: loanDepot 
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United States first time home buyers turning to parents: loanDepot

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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 listed for sale.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.myhome.ie/residential/brochure/bellamont-forest-cootehill-co-cavan/3117572" target="_blank">There is</a> an asking price of €1.35 million on the 18th century palladian villa.
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.
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.
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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. 
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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">
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Bellamont Forest is 110 kms from Dublin and 75 minutes from Dublin International Airport, so listing agent Ganly Walters expect strong international buyer interest.
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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."
The local paper noted this week that some months after Coote's death, Cavan County Council issued enforcement orders regarding the removal of marble busts from the house. The statues, which occupied alcoves in the entrance hall, depicted generations of old Cootes. 
Their whereabouts are known.
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John Coote's 18th century Bellamont Forest, Cavan Ireland ancestral trophy home relisted

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Savills International has taken time to take a close look at 12 leading world cities, particularly at urbanisation.
They all command world city status and attract, for different reasons, a wide variety of overseas investment while playing host to a wide range of international companies and enterprises.
"US real estate trends often lead the way for other parts of the globe and the repopulation, regeneration and city renaissance experienced in so many US cities over the past 20 years has been echoed in Europe and other ‘old world’ regions, while the urban growth in many ‘new world’ cities has tended to emulate an earlier, mid-20th century auto-oriented and high-rise US model of city-making," the report said.
Click to open in new window:
<a href="/images/2015/03/25/chart-mar-25-one.png" target="_blank"><img src="/images/2015/03/25/chart-mar-25-one.png" alt=""></a>
Source: Savills
The report noted the predominant theme in the West, or rather in the ‘old world’ – the pre 20th century cities of North America, Europe, Australia and Japan – has been the rediscovery of the city.
"Since the 1990s, patterns of depopulation dating from various points in the 20th century have been almost universally reversed in these old cities and businesses of many types have once again created revenues and wealth after previous decades of population decline, and in some cases, urban decay," Savills noted.
"The shift in city economies during the mid-1980s away from manufacturing and toward financial and business services made the location of goods and markets less important and once again put the interactions of people at centre stage.
"This has given cities a new currency: there is value in human interaction and the marketplaces that cities provide.
"Little wonder that London and New York rose from the ashes at this time to dominate the world city scene.
"This economic, geographical and financial phenomenon had big impacts on the real estate industry and these cities remain heavily invested by institutions, funds, private companies and individuals.
"In the 21st century, the emphasis on and need for human interaction on city streets is as great as ever."
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The cities investing in urbanisation around the world: Savills International

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Some 36,342 London properties covering a total of 2.25 square miles are held by hidden companies registered in offshore havens, Transparency International research has shown.
The research – analysing data from the Land Registry and Metropolitan Police Proceeds of Corruption Unit – found that 75% of properties whose owners are under investigation for corruption made use of offshore corporate secrecy to hide their identities.
Transparency International has published a report titled<a href="https://www.transparency.org.uk/our-work/publications/15-publications/1230-corruption-on-your-doorstep" target="_blank"> Corruption on your Doorstep: How corrupt capital is used to buy property in the UK</a>.
It has launched an online campaign about corrupt money entering the UK property market. The report noted estate agents contributed to only 0.05% of all Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) submitted. 
A visual story of this journey and interactive map detailing the number of offshore-owned homes per London borough can be viewed at <a href="https://www.ukunmaskthecorrupt.org/" target="_blank">ukunmaskthecorrupt.org</a>
"There is growing evidence that the UK property market has become a safe haven for corrupt capital stolen from around the world, facilitated by the laws which allow UK property to be owned by secret offshore companies," said Robert Barrington, executive director of Transparency International UK.
“This has a devastating effect on the countries from which the money has been stolen, and it’s hard to see how welcoming in the world’s corrupt elite is beneficial to communities in the UK.  
"It is astonishing that the UK has sleep-walked into this situation, and the government needs to act quickly to make sure that the UK does not become the destination of choice for global corruption. 
"Some relatively simple measures would be a good start, such as the Land Registry requiring transparency over who owns the companies that own so much UK property.”
Key statistics
<ul>
<li>
£180 million plus worth of property in UK have been brought under criminal investigation as the suspected proceeds of corruption since 2004. This is believed to be only the tip of the iceberg of the scale of proceeds of corruption invested in UK property. Over 75% of the properties under criminal investigation use offshore corporate secrecy. 
</li>
<li>The average price of a property under criminal investigation in the UK is £1.5 million. The minimum is £130,000, the maximum is £9 million and the median is £910,000. 48% of properties investigated were valued at over £1 million. 
</li>
<li>
36,342 London properties totalling 2.25 square miles are held by offshore haven companies. Of these, 38% in the British Virgin Islands, 16% in Jersey, 9.5% in Isle of Man, and 9% in Guernsey. 
</li>
<li>Almost one in ten properties in the City of Westminster (9.3%), 7.3% of properties in Kensington &amp; Chelsea, and 4.5% in the City of London are owned by companies registered in an offshore secrecy jurisdiction. Today, TI-UK launched an interactive map of London which reveals the statistics for each borough – <a href="https://www.ukunmaskthecorrupt.org/">ukunmaskthecorrupt.org</a>. 
</li>
<li>In 2011 alone, £3.8bn worth of UK property was bought by British Virgin Islands-registered companies. 
</li>
<li>According to the latest figures, which cover October 2013 to September 2014, estate agents contributed to only 0.05% of all Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) submitted. This figure does not match the risks posed by money launderers to the UK property market.</li>
</ul>
Transparency International makes 10 recommendations for reform, calling for buy in from the UK government, lawyers, and estate agents to ensure that the UK property market is no longer a safe haven for corrupt funds. Action from the British Overseas Territories is also necessary to end this crisis. The key recommendation is that transparency should be established over who owns the companies that own so much property in the UK through making such transparency a Land Registry requirement.
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London estate agents turn blind eye to suspicious, offshore property purchasing

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All eyes are on Hollywood today.
Will Julianne Moore finally get her Oscar? What will she wear? Birdman or Boyhood?
In case you're wondering, our tips: Yes; Tom Ford (unfortunately, it turned out to be Chanel); Birdman.
To celebrate the 2015 Academy Awards, Property Observer nominates five outstanding Hollywood homes.
Stahl House 
 <img src="/images/2015/02/23/800px-Case_Study_House_No._22.JPG" alt="">
Source: Ovs, Wikimedia Commons.
Stahl House, aka Case Study House #22, is one of the most famous homes in the Hollywood Hills. Designed by Pierre Koenig and built in 1959 as part of the Case Study Houses program, the glass and steel modernist house has an "L" shape, and offers panoramic views of Los Angeles from its hillside perch.
The home has also been the set of many commercials and films (though none, to our knowledge, that have been nominated for an Academy Award).
Photograph: Julius Schulman
The Chemosphere
<img src="/images/2015/02/23/John_Lautners_Chemosphere_8189866290.jpg" alt="">
Source: evdropkick, Wikimedia Commons. 
The Chemosphere is not only a famous Hollywood home but a home made famous in Hollywood films.
Lautner's modern works are both a favourite of filmmakers, with Elrod House featuring in Diamonds are Forever, and the Schaffer residence appearing in A Single Man.
The Chemosphere is a one-storey octagon, set on a concrete pole. The feat of engineering and its distinctive look has seen the home often imitated in film - it was the direct inspiration for Sam Rockwell's pad in the Charlie's Angels film.
Hollyhock House
 <img src="/images/2015/02/23/Hollyhock_House.JPG" alt="">
Source: Sfoskett, Wikimedia Commons.
Frank Lloyd Wright's first Los Angeles project was Hollyhock House in East Hollywood. The home, which Wright described as being of a "California Romanza" style, was built for oil heiress Aline Barnsdall.
Completed in 1921, the house is set around a central courtyard, with tilted walls at the exterior. The hollyhock itself is a motif used throughout the house.
3028 Paulcrest Drive, Hollywood Hills
<img src="/images/2015/02/23/mila%20kunis%20house.jpg" alt="">
Actress Mila Kunis sold her contemporary Mediterranean style home late last year for a reported US$3.995 million sum.
The <a href="https://www.estately.com/sold/3028-paulcrest-drive--2" target="_blank">house off Mullholland Drive</a> has five bedrooms, five bathrooms, a pool and an eight-seat movie theatre. It features vaulted ceilings with exposed timber beams throughout.
Moorcrest
<img src="/images/phocagallery/2014/07/moorcrest-july-22/moorcrest_0000_1.jpg.jpg" alt="">
The incredible former house of Charlie Chaplin is now owned by musician Joanna Newsom and her husband, Emmy winning comedian and actor Andy Samberg.
The <a href="/news/from-incredibad-to-chaplins-pad-andy-samberg-and-joanna-newsom-buy-legendary-hollywood-home">Beachwood Canyon home</a> was originally built as part of the Krotona Colony, the national headquarters of an esoteric philosophical group called the Theosophical Society.
The home has Moorish, Gothic, Mission-revivalist and Art Nouveau influences. It was designed in the early 20s by Marie Russak Hotchener.
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jrichardson-uRX5hFdKfN

And the Oscar for best house goes to: Five great Hollywood trophy homes

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Investors who are looking for the highest returns will continue to look for development opportunities, and Savills particularly favour outer London and the key regional cities as development opportunities in 2015. Speculative development activity will remain sparse, due to investor and lender caution, but those who are brave enough to undertake it will do well, it said.
Overall Savills expect that 2015 will be another strong year for UK real estate, but investors are going to have to work harder to identify markets and sectors that will deliver high returns.
"The commercial markets in 2015 will still offer opportunities for both risk-averse and risk-embracing investors, though the stronger than expected bounce in capital values in 2014 will diminish," the report said.
In London offices, the low level of availability will continue to deliver strong rental growth.
"We expect to see continuing strong demand from risk-averse international investors," said the report.
"Strong capital value growth was undoubtedly the key theme of 2014, with growth across all sectors stronger than we were forecasting at the beginning of the year.
"We expect to see continuing capital value growth across all prime sectors in 2015, albeit at a slower rate.
"The general election in spring 2015 will definitely have some effect on sentiment, though in the agricultural and commercial sectors we expect the effects to be relatively muted."
In the residential markets the threat of mansion tax, combined with the Mortgage Market Review could lead to a more sustained hiatus in capital value growth in 2015.
Generally Savills expect that the macro- economic story for the UK will remain benign, with base rates remaining unchanged until early 2016, and the combination of low oil prices and recovering incomes giving a boost to the UK consumer.
Savills expect that UK real estate will continue to deliver high returns in comparison to other asset classes.
"This will mean that domestic and international demand for prime and good secondary assets will be strong, though we expect to see more focus on supply and demand fundamentals in 2015, rather than just the potential for yield shift."
Savills top picks across all sectors are for markets with structural or impending undersupply.
Click to open in new window:
<a href="/images/2015/02/18/save%20feb%2018%20one.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/images/2015/02/18/save%20feb%2018%20one.jpg" alt=""></a>
Source: Savills
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Savills suggest UK commercial investment strategies for 2015

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A cliff-top site known as the Ho Tung Garden sold last month for a record for a development site in Hong Kong. 
75 Peak Road sold at HK$5.1 billion (A$840 million), the largest deal in Hong Kong private residential market representing HK$82,258 (A$13,574) per square foot. 
Hong Kong media named the buyer as mainland tycoon Cheung Chung-kiu, chairman of listed Chinese property developer C C Land Holding, through the official buyer was listed as "Season Glitter".
The 1.15 hectare site at Victoria Park was offered through Savills International last month by the granddaughter of British-educated Hong Kong businessman Sir Robert Hotung, who built the complex in 1927. He was one of the first very successful Eurasian businessmen in colonial Hong Kong.
Sir Robert Ho Tung was the first non-European to receive permission from the Hong Kong government to reside in the Peak area. 
Its villa, known by its Cantonese name Hiu Kok Yuen, was controversially demolished in 2013. It had been on the list of 1 444 historic building in Hong Kong.
The main house of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ho_Tung_Gardens" target="_blank">Ho Tung Gardens</a> was designed by a local architectural practice, Palmer and Turner. Before the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Government had used the premises to house one of its military units. During the Japanese invasion in December 1941, the site received several direct hits. The house underwent renovation after the war. 
It was built in the Chinese Renaissance style, with a square tower with a Chinese tiled roof but resembling an Italianate campanile. 
The record deal for Hong Kong was brokered by Raymond Lee, CEO of Savills Greater China, and Patrick Chau, a director of residential development and investment at Savills Greater China.
Hotung's son, Robert, lived on the property between the 1960s and 1990s, and ownership passed onto granddaughter Ho Min-kwan in 2003, who unsuccessfully tried to sell it at a higher price several years ago.
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Ho Tung Garden site sold by Savills Hong Kong

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One in every three wealthy Chinese has property overseas, most of them residential properties, according to the luxury publishing and events group Huran Report.
As the domestic Chinese property market continues to slump, more and more wealthy Chinese investors have shifted their focus to overseas property markets.
Chinese investors invested over US$5.4 billion (A$6.91 billion) in overseas properties in the first half of 2014, and despite tension between China and Japan, Chinese investors flocked to Japan.
Australia as a destination ranked ninth.
<img src="/images/2014/07/04/yellow-ten.jpg" alt="">Canada
<img src="/images/2014/07/04/yellow-nine.jpg" alt="">Australia
<img src="/images/2014/07/04/yellow-eight.jpg" alt="">Britain
<img src="/images/2014/07/04/yellow-seven.jpg" alt="">Singapore
<img src="/images/2014/07/04/yellow-six.jpg" alt="">Malaysia.
<img src="/images/2014/07/04/yellow-five.jpg" alt="">Cyprus
<img src="/images/2014/07/04/yellow-four.jpg" alt="">New Zealand
<img src="/images/2014/07/04/yellow-three.jpg" alt="">US
<img src="/images/2014/07/04/yellow-two.jpg" alt="">South Korea
<img src="/images/2014/07/04/yellow-one.jpg" alt="">Japan
Source: Huran Report.
According to <a href="https://www.hurun.net/en/Default.aspx" target="_blank">Huran Report</a>, Japan became the top investment destination for Chinese property investment in 2014 mostly because of the depreciation of the Japanese Yen and a decade of deflation that squeezed the bubble out of the property market in Japan, the asiaone.com website noted.
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