November
Harry Kewell reportedly kicks off Brighton rental
Soccer champion Harry Kewell has reportedly taken a $3,250 a week newly built Brighton rental property as his Melbourne base. The Nicholas Day-designed property was briefly marketed by Hocking Stuart as the "finest fusion of style, space and quality", with a $3.3 million asking price. But the three-level house has been withdrawn and reportedly the Kewell family will move into the rental residence, according to The Sunday Age. It would reflect a 5% yield if the undisclosed, unconfirmed figures are correct. The Brighton suburb was identified as the location in an earlier Herald Sun report. Since his arrival last month to play for the Melbourne Victory, Kewell has been staying at Crown. The couple, Kewell and his wife, the soap star Sheree Murphy
October
New Yorks deserted “Rat Island” sells for US$160,000
Rat Island, a 10,117-square-metre rocky outcrop off the Bronx, New York, has been sold for US$160,000.
Ozzie Crisalli, the Syracuse Realty selling agent, says it was a rare chance to own a unique piece of real estate with a history dating back over 350 years.
Originally part of Thomas Pell’s land purchase from the Siwanoy Indians in 1654, the island did not become part of the city until the 1880s.
It was used in the mid-17th century as a typhoid quarantine hospital and was called the Pelham Pesthouse.
It was a writers’ and artists’ colony in the early 1900s.
It was sold by Red Brennen, a retired marine contractor who bought it for about $5,000 in 1972 and used it to store equipment and salvage barges.
It comes with no jetty, no electricity and no power. Much of it is underwater during high tide. Located on City Island Harbour, part of Long Island Sound, the island is zoned residential.
Its buyer can see it from his back garden on nearby City Island.
The land was most recently officially valued by the city at $426,000.
The New York Times suggests the name was related to prisoners, called rats, escaping from Hart Island, swimming with cardboard boxes over their heads to look like bobbing trash, but it is not clear if that is true.
October
The Renoavtors ambitiously seek secrecy on auction results
The first two of the six auction offerings that precede the October finale of the Channel Ten series The Renovators have been put to auction. The other four houses also face the auction reality test this week.
The Century 21 listing agents are under confidentiality agreements until the October 9 auction screening finale. And even those who attended the onsite auctions have been asked to keep the prices under wraps. The sale amount over the undisclosed reserves goes into the collective prize pool for the eventual winner to keep. While the auctions were underway some 803,000 viewers were tuned into the latest elimination. Melbourne’s audience was the highest at 302,000, followed by Sydney’s 164,000 and Brisbane’s 162,000.
SPOILER ALERT
Suggesting Sydney’s spring sales market is a pricing test, both did sell, but barely above cost price. The weatherboard, at 51 Franklin Street, Parramatta, was sold at an auction with 100-plus attendees for $575,000. It had been bought at $460,500, with stamp duty taking it to $478,000. It had been in the same family for five decades. It is now a modern family home with three bedrooms, two bathrooms with an entertaining space and backyard area. Its renovation budget was $95,000, making the breakeven point before its auction campaign conveyancing costs $573,000.
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October
Apple unveils new “iphone 4S”, no iphone 5
Apple shares dropped more than four percent on Wall Street on Tuesday as the California gadget-maker unveiled an updated version of the iPhone but not a new model many had been expecting. Apple’s new chief executive Tim Cook, who replaced ailing founder Steve Jobs in August, presided over the launch of the iPhone 4S at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California. The iPhone 4S features a speedier processor, a built-in "personal assistant" that responds to voice commands and a more powerful camera, but it was not the revamped next-generation iPhone 5 smartphone many Apple fans had hoped for. The iPhone 4S will be available in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Britain on October 14 with pre-orders commencing a week earlier.
September
Westpac calls for interest rate cut to aid manufacturing
Economists at one of Australia’s biggest banks are urging the central bank to cut interest rates before the end of the year after a new survey showed the manufacturing sector continues to deteriorate. But two speeches from the Reserve Bank of Australia’s top brass in recent days suggest it is in no haste to move rates, let alone cut them. The Westpac-Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry quarterly survey of industrial trends recorded a second consecutive quarterly contraction in manufacturing conditions. Westpac chief economist Bill Evans said the survey sent a very clear message on interest rates.
