The concrete-and-steel house, last owned by Peter Woodland of Barbeques Galore, has Pacific Ocean views and a helicopter hanger
3 min
The home of an Australian businessman who died tragically in a helicopter crash in 2022 is on the market with a A$9 million (US$5.9 million) price guide.
Peter Woodland, the late director of Barbeques Galore who purchased the expansive family estate just north of Sydney in 2017, was killed in April 2022, when his helicopter crashed in the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales. He was 75.
Woodland, who was a keen pilot and even installed a helicopter hanger and helipad at the residence, bought the home from acclaimed landscape photographer Richard Green, who built the unique property in Terrey Hills in the 1990s. He also died in a helicopter crash in 2015 .
The vast five-bedroom house is located in a lush native bushland setting off Mona Vale Road.
“Sitting right on the cliff’s edge, it looks right out over the bush to the water, and its proximity to the beach and even the city means it’s pretty special,” said listing agent Shayne Hutton of Sydney Country Living, which listed the home earlier this month.
Walls of fireproof glass and dozens of skylights with electronically operated Vergolas mean the natural landscape acts as a dramatic backdrop to every room. The neighbouring national park and 5 acres of landscaped gardens are met with panoramic views stretching to the Pacific Ocean.
“It’s really country living in the city. That’s the only way to describe it. This place is perfect for anyone who is just sick of crowds and wants to get away, even if it’s as a secondary property they’ll use as a weekender,” he added.
The concrete-and-steel trophy home has a Travertine-tiled entrance foyer with 20ft ceilings which leads through to two separate wings; one for living and another for sleeping. With a choice of everyday spaces, each living zone has sweeping district views and doors to the wraparound veranda.
In addition to casual living and dining rooms, there are formal entertaining areas, a library, a home office or extra family room, a professional photographer’s darkroom plus a large artist’s studio that could also be used as a poolside cabana with wet bar.
The granite kitchen has Gaggenau appliances, a grand island bench, a walk-in pantry, and an adjoining central courtyard with water features, perfect for a chef’s herb and vegetable garden.
While two bedrooms sit on the ground floor, four more occupy the upstairs accommodation level including a palatial primary suite. This parents’ retreat has a balcony, a vast dressing room plus walk-in wardrobe and a deluxe ensuite with freestanding bathtub, a double shower and twin vanities. One other bedroom features an ensuite and two more share a full family bathroom and powder room.
Outside, there are multiple entertaining terraces and courtyards, but the icing on the cake is the solar-heated pool and sun deck. Then the property’s standout feature is its state-of-the-art helipad with a fully incorporated turntable and a full-size helicopter hangar. Above the helipad, there is also a treetop viewing platform.
“A lot of people who might live on a farm have helicopters or just want the convenience to get in from the airport. It’s a great feature of the home and could be used for a variety of uses. For buyers without a helicopter, it could be an ideal car showroom,” Hutton said.
Additional features of the Terrey Hills residence include remote-controlled lock-up garages for up to five cars, storerooms, a wine cellar, ducted air conditioning, a security alarm and video intercom.
The Sydney sanctuary is surrounded by walking and biking trails, is a short drive to the transport and shopping hub of Chatswood and is an approximate 15-minute drive to local beaches.
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What a quarter-million dollars gets you in the western capital.
Alexandre de Betak and his wife are focusing on their most personal project yet.
Unmarried home buyers say they are giving priority to a financial foundation over a legal one
4 min
The big wedding can wait. Couples are deciding they would rather take the plunge into homeownership.
In reshuffling the traditional order of adult milestones, some couples may decide not to marry at all, while others say they are willing to delay a wedding. Buying a home is as much, if not more of a commitment, they reason. It helps them build financial stability when the housing market is historically unaffordable.
In 2023, about 555,000 unmarried couples said that they had bought their home in the previous year, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Census Bureau data. That is up 46% from 10 years earlier, when just under 381,000 couples did the same.
Unmarried couples amounted to more than 11% of all U.S. home sales. The percentage has climbed steadily over the past two decades—a period in which marriage rates have fallen. These couples make up triple the share of the housing market that they did in the mid-1980s, according to the National Association of Realtors.
To make it work, couples must look past the significant risk that the relationship could blow up, or something could happen to one partner. Without a marriage certificate, living situations and finances are more likely to fall into limbo, attorneys say.
Mark White, 59 years old, and Sheila Davidson, 62, bought a lakeside townhouse together in Newport News, Va., in 2021. But only her name is on the deed. He sometimes worries about what would happen to the house if something happened to her. They have told their children that he should inherit the property, but don’t have formal documentation.
“We need to get him on the deed at some point,” Davidson said.
White and Davidson both had previous marriages, and decided they don’t want to do it again. They also believe tying the knot would affect their retirement benefits and tax brackets.
Couples that forgo or postpone marriage say they are giving priority to a financial foundation over a legal one. The median homeowner had nearly $400,000 in wealth in 2022, compared with roughly $10,000 for renters, according to the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances.
Even couples that get married first are often focused on the house. Many engaged couples ask for down-payment help in lieu of traditional wedding gifts.
“A mortgage feels like a more concrete step toward their future together than a wedding,” said Emily Luk, co-founder of Plenty, a financial website for couples.
Elise Dixon and Nick Blue, both 29, watched last year as the Fed lifted rates, ostensibly pushing up the monthly costs on a mortgage. The couple, together for four years, decided to use $80,000 of their combined savings, including an unexpected inheritance she received from her grandfather, to buy a split-level condo in Washington, D.C.
“Buying a house is actually a bigger commitment than an engagement,” Dixon said.
They did that, too, getting engaged eight months after their April 2023 closing date. They are planning a small ceremony on the Maryland waterfront next year with around 75 guests, which they expect to cost less than they spent on the home’s down payment and closing costs.
The ages at which people buy homes and enter marriages have both been trending upward. The median age of first marriage for men is 30.2, and for women, 28.6, according to the Census Bureau. That is up from 29.3 and 27.0 a decade earlier. The National Association of Realtors reported this year that the median age of first-time buyers was 38, up from 31 in 2014.
Family lawyers—and parents—sometimes suggest protections in case the unmarried couple breaks up. A prenup-like cohabitation agreement spells out who keeps the house, and how to divide the financial obligations. Without the divorce process, a split can be even messier, legal advisers say.
Family law attorneys say more unmarried people are calling for legal advice, but often balk at planning for a potential split, along with the cost of drawing up such agreements, which can range from $1,000 to $3,000, according to attorney-matching service Legal Match.
Dixon, the Washington condo buyer, said she brushed off her mother’s suggestion that she draft an agreement with Blue detailing how much she invested, figuring that their mutual trust and equal contributions made it unnecessary. (They are planning to get a prenup when they wed, she said.)
There are a lot of questions couples don’t often think about, such as whether one owner has the option to buy the other out, and how quickly they need to identify a real-estate agent if they decide to sell, said Ryan Malet, a real-estate lawyer in the D.C. region.
The legal risks often don’t deter young home buyers.
Peyton Kolb, 26, and her fiancé figured that a 150-person wedding would cost $200,000 or more. Instead, they bought a three-bedroom near Tampa with a down payment of less than $50,000.
“We could spend it all on one day, or we could invest in something that would build equity and give us space to grow,” said Kolb, who works in new-home sales.
Owning a place where guests could sleep in an extra bedroom, instead of on the couch in their old rental, “really solidified us starting our lives together,” Kolb said. Their wedding is set for next May.
Homes and weddings have both gotten more expensive, but there are signs that home prices are rising faster. From 2019 to 2023, the median sales price for existing single-family homes rose by 44%, according to the National Association of Realtors. The average cost of a wedding increased 25% over that time, according to annual survey data from The Knot.
Roughly three quarters of couples move in together before marriage, and may already be considering the trade-offs between buying and renting. The cost of both has risen sharply over the past few years, but rent rises regularly while buying with a fixed-rate mortgage caps at least some of the costs.
An $800 rent hike prompted Sonali Prabhu and Ryan Willis, both 27, to look at buying. They were already paying $3,200 in monthly rent on their two-bedroom Austin, Texas, apartment, and felt they had outgrown it while working from home.
In October, they closed on a $425,000 three-bed, three-bath house. Their mortgage payment is $200 more than their rent would have been, but they have more space. They split the down payment and she paid about $50,000 for some renovations.
Her dad’s one request was that the house face east for good fortune, she said. Both parents are eagerly awaiting an engagement.
“We’re very solid right now,” said Prabhu, who plans to get married in 2026. “The marriage will come when it comes.”
