Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Puts Canberra House Up for Sale for A2.25m; bought in Sep 2010 at A$2.175m
May 31, 2013 Leave a comment
Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Puts House Up for Sale
Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has put his five-bedroom house in Canberra up for sale with an asking price of A$2.25 million ($2.18 million) after abandoning any aspirations to again lead the country.
The 465-square-meter (5,005-square-foot) house in the suburb of Yarralumla, a five-minute drive from Australia’s Parliament House, was listed for sale on May 29, said Shane Killalea, an agent at broker Peter Blackshaw Canberra, who is marketing the property. Rudd and his wife Therese bought the house in 2010. They moved out at the end of 2011 after their son Marcus completed his schooling in Canberra, Rudd’s office said in an e-mailed statement.
Rudd, 55, became prime minister when the Labor party won power in the November 2007 election. The former diplomat, who represents the seat of Griffith in Brisbane where he lives, was ousted in a late-night coup that installed current Prime Minister Julia Gillard in June 2010.Rudd failed to win back power in a February 2012 challenge and resigned his position as foreign minister to serve on Labor’s backbench. He declined to challenge Gillard when she opened up her leadership to a ballot in March, later saying there were “no circumstances” under which he would lead the party again. He said then he would seek re-election to his current seat.
“Mr. Rudd has said on many occasions he will contest the next election and serve a full term,” according to today’s statement. “The current tenants have indicated they would like to purchase another house and therefore it is an appropriate time to put the house on the market.”
Swimming Pool
The average home price in Canberra rose 2.7 percent to A$495,000 in April from a year earlier, according to Brisbane-based researcher RP Data. The median price of detached homes in Yarralumla is A$1 million, according to the allhomes.com.au website.
Rudd bought the property in September 2010 for A$2.175 million, according to the allhomes.com.au website. The house, which has four bathrooms, double ovens in the kitchen and an outdoor entertainment area and swimming pool, will be open for inspection on June 1 and June 5, according to the listing on the realestate.com.au website. The tenants are expected to move out in four weeks, Killalea said by telephone today.
“We’ve had a lot of interest from local and interstate buyers and also from overseas buyers,” he said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Nichola Saminather in Sydney at nsaminather1@bloomberg.net; Jason Scott in Canberra at jscott14@bloomberg.net
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