Rebecca Gibney abandons her rafter additions due to packed schedule and lists Clareville home

Jonathan ChancellorNovember 9, 2011

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Packed to the Rafters star Rebecca Gibney and her husband, artist Richard Bell, are selling the Clareville home (pictured above) they bought in 2009, with the couple simply not having time to turn it into their dream home. The family, who recently sold in Tasmania, are intent instead on finding a contemporary house in the Pittwater precinct north of Sydney.

“Due to increasingly busy schedules, we have decided not to renovate our home on the northern beaches,'' Gibney has told the local press on listing the property through Andrew Blake and Cathy Agosti from Andrew Blake Real Estate.

“It has been a real haven and we will miss the privacy and great views. We love the area,” Gibney says.

The four-bedroom house on a 948-square-metre block has views of Pittwater towards Ku-ring-gai Chase national park and is within walking distance of the beach and shops. It cost $1.22 million in 2009.

The couple’s renovation plans, which had been recently approved by Pittwater Council, included a new pool, enclosing the carport and first floor additions and had been projected to cost $414,000.

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Their four-bedroom Tamar Valley home, River Point House (pictured above) – which cost $650,000 in 2003 – was sold for $1.15 million in February 2011 having been listed with a $1.3 million price through Roberts Tamar agent Kerry Sanders in late 2009. It had been available as a $1,700 weekly holiday rental since it came with private beach, boat ramp and boathouse. The couple had paid $650,000 in 2003 for the 1981 house set on seven hectares on a bend of the Tamar River at Kayena, north of Launceston.

In 2007 Gibney shot to local and national attention after attending anti-pulp mill rallies in Launceston protesting against Gunns Limited's planned pulp mill on the Tamar River at Long Reach, some five kilometres downstream from Gibney's then home.

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

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