Artists Patricia Piccinini and Peter Hennessey get sweet deal selling in Fitzroy: Title Tattle

Boutique property developers Bob and Margaret Rose have sold what’s considered the best pied-a-terre in Australia. Using limestone from Western Australia, their three-bedroom, four-bathroom Point Piper harbourfront (pictured above and below), listed through Ken Jacobs from Christie's International in conjunction with LJ Hooker Double Bay agent Bill Malouf, was constructed seven years ago.

The French Provincial-style house snugs closer to the harbour than neighbouring residences that are built behind the traditional building set-back.

The Wunulla Road property sale price hasn’t been disclosed, but it’s understood to have fetched about $15 million for the couple, who are building at Darling Point. The north-westerly oriented 582-sq-metre holding comes with views from the Harbour Bridge across to Shark Island and north towards the Heads.

The block cost $5,594,000 in 2000. Its deep-water jetty is shared with the next-door Altona estate.

Title Tattle would have thought the Roses’ house perfect for the downsizing executive headhunter Julia Ross, but apparently she won’t be buying until she sells her Point Piper non-waterfront Villa del Mare (picture above and below), the vast limestone hilltop palazzo on 1,508 square metres. Villa del Mare's $21.5 million non-waterfront price record when sold to Ross by Nati and Miki Stoliar in 2005 was bettered in 2008 when businessman Ben Tilley sold Craig-y-Mor, a neighbouring house on the non-waterfront side of Wolseley Road, for $32.4 million to Jiang Mei, the wife of Zeng Wei, the son of Zeng Qinghong, a former influential vice-president of China.

Now they say Ross wants more than $40 million through Ken Jacobs of Christie's International and LJ Hooker Double Bay's Bill Malouf. But the marketing campaign – overseen by the spin maestro Max Markson – got off to a shaky start when one local publication compared its envisaged $40 million plus pricing to the supposed $44 million sale of the nearby even more imposing Villa Veneto, which of course sits on the harbourfront, not the hill. Those in the know reckon Villa Veneto’s complicated secretive sale price documentation would show closer to $52 million, which would make Ross's hopes more attainable.

Artists Patricia Piccinini and Peter Hennessey knocked back $790,000 when their 150-square-metre two-level apartment (pictured above) in the old MacRobertson chocolate factory in Fitzroy went to auction last weekend through Nelson Alexander agent Peter Stephens. The couple paid $410,000 in 2000 for the property. There had been a $780,000 vendor bid placed by Stephens, who was  quoting $780,000 to $850,000. It sold soon after auction at an undisclosed price. It was between 1993 and 1996 when the historic MacRobertson Chocolate factory warehouse, just off Smith Street’s shopping and entertainment precinct, was developed by Barcor Pty Ltd into warehouse shells.

Macquarie Group director Laurie Macri and his wife, Christine, are seeking more than $9 million for their five-bedroom South Coogee oceanfront house. The Bunya Parade house has been listed through McGrath agent Bethwyn Richards. It was last sold in 2005 when offloaded by entrenpruer John Singleton and his then wife Julie through McGrath agent James Dack for $7.5 million.

The three-level palace is a glass, concrete and steel residence, standing on an 800-square-metre clifftop block overlooking Wedding Cake Island, designed by architect Renato D'Ettore for his sister Yolanda and brother-in-law Orazio Camuglia. Title Tattle recalls the house, laden with polished travertine marble, was a 10-year labour of love for Orazio, a former toy importer who gave up his business and took out his owner/builder licence to oversee its construction, completed in 1999. The house received a commendation in the NSW Institute of Architects' Wilkinson Award for 2000. Its international renown was enhanced when the late celebrity snapper Herb Ritts flew in to take photos of the then Hollywood couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman for their Eyes Wide Shut promotions at the property.

Channel 7 Sunrise sports presenter Mark Beretta has adjusted his Mosman house price expectations. He’d previously been seeking more than $2 million for the property (pictured above). Beretta has been wholesome in his praise for the Sydney suburb, saying it was a really nice, quiet area that was safe and secure. Beretta, who comes from a family of plumbers, and his wife Rachel have been at the property since 2005 when they paid $1.47 million. More than $1.9 million is being sought through Piers van Hamburg at McGrath Estate Agents. It’s a single storey house on a 610-square-metre block.