Property of the Week: Belongil Boom Drives $15 million Luxury Listing

Byron Bay’s most compelling homes have always taken their cues from the climate. They open to the breeze, dissolve the boundary between inside and out and use tropical landscaping to create privacy without shutting out the natural world.

At 17 Kendall Street, those familiar coastal ideas have been elevated into something more architectural.

The five-bedroom residence is designed around a spectacular open-air courtyard, creating a private internal landscape where glass, stone, timber and water meet. Floor-to-ceiling glazing draws natural light into the interiors while framing the heated swimming pool and established tropical gardens from multiple points within the home.

The home was originally built in 2016, but underwent a major renovation last year following its $5.3 million sale in 2023. Sotheby’s Byron Bay agent Will Phillips has a $15 million price guide.

The transformation focused on both the home’s scale and its level of detail. Soaring voids and bold architectural forms create drama, but the material palette keeps the atmosphere warm. Rich timber, natural stone and handcrafted finishes temper the contemporary lines, allowing the residence to feel calm rather than imposing.

A sculptural spiral staircase forms the architectural centrepiece, connecting the home’s different spaces while providing a strong visual counterpoint to the horizontal lines of the courtyard and pool.

The planning is centred on connection. Multiple living and entertaining areas open to covered terraces, enabling the house to expand and contract according to the occasion. Smaller spaces support quiet family life, while the principal living zones and alfresco areas can accommodate considerably larger gatherings.

At the centre, the courtyard operates as more than an impressive arrival feature. It brings light and garden views deep into the plan, provides separation between the home’s different wings and creates a protected outdoor environment for year-round living.

Accommodation comprises five generously proportioned bedroom suites supported by five designer bathrooms. Their distribution through the residence gives family members and guests a greater sense of privacy, while the tropical outlook maintains a consistent connection between rooms.

Wellness Wing

The home’s most distinctive inclusion may be its dedicated wellness wing.

A private sauna, gym, Zen room and traditional Japanese soaking bath combine to create a retreat within the retreat. Rather than treating wellness as a single-purpose gym placed in a leftover room, the design gives it a dedicated sequence of spaces intended to support exercise, recovery and quiet.

The Japanese soaking bath is especially appropriate to the home’s broader architecture. Compact, deep and designed for immersion rather than conventional bathing, it complements the restraint of the Zen room and the calming views into the garden.

Outside, the heated pool and covered dining terraces provide the more social side of resort living. Tropical landscaping creates privacy around the residence, while the courtyard design allows greenery to remain visible throughout much of the interior.

Belongil Boom

The location adds another dimension to the property. Kendall Street sits near the Belongil side of Byron Bay, within walking distance of Belongil Beach and local dining including Belongil Bistro, Treehouse, Féu and the town centre’s broader collection of cafés, restaurants and boutiques.

That northern pocket is increasingly emerging as a prestige counterweight to Wategos and the tightly held Marine Parade strip at the opposite end of Byron Bay.

Much of the most visible investment has centred on nearby Border Street and the Belongil beachfront. Hospitality billionaire Justin Hemmes has assembled four residential holdings in the neighbourhood at a reported combined cost of about $45 million. His acquisitions include a beachfront holding bought for $16 million in 2023 and a subsequent creek-front purchase.

The Block judge and interior designer Darren Palmer and his husband, Olivier Duvillard, have also moved into the precinct, paying $4.2 million for an original home with creek views.

Luxury developer and builder GRAYA has made an even larger commitment. The Brisbane group acquired a substantial Border Street beachfront site for about $20.65 million in 2024, with plans for a major trophy-home project. Part of that holding was subsequently sold in a transaction that underlined how dramatically land values have moved.

The strongest evidence came from Chemist Warehouse director Damien Gance and his wife, Sasha Robertson. The couple paid $33.5 million in cash for the beachfront residence Malia, setting a Byron Bay house-price record and surpassing the $30 million sale of Watermark at Wategos in 2023. They then reportedly spent another $20 million securing the neighbouring vacant parcel, taking their combined Belongil investment to $53.5 million.

Those transactions do not make Kendall Street directly comparable with absolute beachfront property. They do, however, illustrate the growing weight of capital and attention shifting towards Byron Bay’s northern edge.

For decades, Marine Parade at Wategos has been the region’s clearest shorthand for trophy property. Border Street and the wider Belongil precinct are now building a comparable identity, supported by larger holdings, beachfront scarcity and an expanding concentration of prominent owners.

Property details

Address: 17 Kendall Street, Byron Bay, NSW
Location: Near Belongil Beach and Byron Bay town centre
Original construction: 2016
Last sale: $5.3 million in 2023
Renovation: Major renovation completed in 2025
Current price guide: $15 million
Bedrooms: Five
Bathrooms: Five
Key features: Central open-air courtyard, heated swimming pool, tropical landscaping and multiple indoor-outdoor living areas
Wellness facilities: Sauna, Zen room, gym and traditional Japanese soaking bath
Nearby: Belongil Beach, Belongil Bistro, Féu and Treehouse

A long, winding driveway beneath mature gums provides the first indication that The Farm is not a conventional Mornington Peninsula country property.

Rather than immediately revealing the residence, the approach follows the contours of the landscape, moving through established woodland before the house emerges in a secluded clearing at 515 Tucks Road, Shoreham.

Completed in 2025, the five-bedroom estate has now been listed through Buxton’s James Redfern and Holly Longmuir with expressions of interest and an indicative price range of $18 million to $19.8 million.

At the upper end of that guide, the property could establish a new residential record for Shoreham. The existing benchmark has been reported at $16.5 million.

Set across approximately 20.64 hectares—or about 51 acres—The Farm is a contemporary interpretation of the Australian rural homestead, designed by Wolveridge Architects and constructed by award-winning Mornington Peninsula builder S. Smith Builders.

The property’s vendors, builders Vicki and Steve Smith, reportedly acquired the land through Smith Investments Australia for $4.2 million in 2019. They moved into the completed home in April 2025 and are now selling as they prepare to relocate to Portsea.

A farmhouse reduced to two buildings

Rather than allowing the estate to develop as a scattered collection of rural structures, Wolveridge Architects consolidated its principal functions into two carefully positioned buildings: the main residence and a substantial farm shed.

The structures face a broad central forecourt and sit within a larger composition of native woodland, productive pasture and views towards Western Port Bay.

It is an approach informed by the way Australian farms traditionally evolve, but made more deliberate. Instead of accumulated sheds and outbuildings, the property presents as a resolved architectural precinct.

The principal residence spans approximately 638 square metres. Its defining feature is an inverted radial roofline supported by a visible grid of ironbark posts and beams.

The roof rises towards the tree canopy and open sky, lending an unexpected lightness to a house of considerable scale. Blackbutt cladding, extensive glazing and timber detailing further soften the relationship between the building and its surroundings.

Wolveridge Architects describes the property’s location as Bunurong country and credits Jerry Wolveridge, Laura Tindall and Jessica Corbett as members of the project team.

The Farm was shortlisted in the New House Over 200 Square Metres category of the 2026 Houses Awards and in the Living Space category of the 2026 INDE Awards. Its published architectural photography is by Jack Carlin.

Designed around the landscape

Throughout the house, long internal sightlines and carefully framed openings maintain a connection with the surrounding gums, paddocks and distant water.

The central living, dining and kitchen space sits beneath soaring timber-lined ceilings. A monumental fireplace formed from Dromana granite anchors the room, while a second wood-burning fireplace serves a more intimate living zone.

The kitchen combines stained Tasmanian oak cabinetry with Austral Dream Dolomite and Pilbara Green Dolomite surfaces. A suite of Swiss V-Zug appliances supports its practical role, while a temperature-controlled, timber-lined wine cellar provides a dedicated space for collectors.

Belgian French oak flooring, Swiss wool carpet, Eco Outdoor stone paving, brushed-nickel fittings and extensive custom joinery continue the natural, materially rich palette.

A sheltered internal courtyard introduces northern light into the centre of the floor plan. Conceived as a protected garden within the wider landscape, it provides an outdoor space removed from the property’s more exposed rural environment.

The architecture repeatedly shifts between those two conditions: the openness of a large rural holding and the security of carefully protected interior and courtyard spaces.

A resort within a working estate

The Farm’s lifestyle credentials extend well beyond its principal living areas.

A fully tiled 14-metre swimming pool and adjoining spa sit within landscaped surrounds, creating a private resort zone connected to multiple outdoor entertaining spaces.

The grounds include indigenous planting, native woodland and productive pasture, together with approximately 591 metres of frontage to Stony Creek.

A separate 216-square-metre farm shed, fencing, cattle infrastructure, water systems and multiple access points ensure the estate has genuine rural capability. This is not merely a large house styled to resemble a farm.

Technology has been integrated throughout the property via a Control4 system governing lighting, climate, security, gates, blinds, irrigation and pool functions. The house also includes hydronic heating, zoned reverse-cycle airconditioning, motorised window furnishings, monitored security, video intercom and Starlink connectivity.

Its sustainability infrastructure is similarly substantial. More than 235,000 litres of water storage is paired with a 70-panel, 30.8kWp solar system, Tesla Powerwall battery storage and electric-vehicle charging.

The result is a house capable of delivering the comfort and automation expected of a contemporary trophy residence while maintaining a high degree of self-sufficiency.

That balance may be The Farm’s greatest achievement. Despite its scale, luxury finishes and extensive technology, the residence does not attempt to overpower its setting.

Its architecture instead directs attention outwards—to the tree canopy, the cattle in the paddocks, Western Port Bay and the changing conditions of the surrounding landscape.

For buyers seeking a private Mornington Peninsula estate with architectural credibility and room for a genuine rural life, The Farm represents one of the region’s most compelling new offerings.

The Farm at a glance

Address: 515 Tucks Road, Shoreham, Victoria
Property type: Acreage/semi-rural estate
Price guide: $18 million to $19.8 million
Sale method: Expressions of interest
Bedrooms: Five
Bathrooms: Five
Parking: Five cars
Land: Approximately 20.64 hectares or 51 acres
Residence: Approximately 638sqm
Farm shed: Approximately 216sqm
Architect: Wolveridge Architects
Builder: S. Smith Builders
Completed: 2025
Pool: Fully tiled 14-metre pool with adjoining spa
Creek frontage: Approximately 591 metres to Stony Creek
Water storage: More than 235,000 litres
Energy: 70-panel, 30.8kWp solar system with Tesla Powerwall storage
Selling agents: James Redfern and Holly Longmuir, Buxton Mornington Peninsula–Flinders
Listing: View the live property campaign