Singer-songwriter Tones and I drops $3.3m on Byron Bay retreat

Pop superstar Tones and I has joined a growing list of celebrities splashing cash in Byron Bay, purchasing a $3.3 million luxury property in the trendy coastal destination.

Singer-songwriter sensation Toni Watson snapped up the residence late last year, adding it to her growing multi-million dollar property portfolio.

The latest purchase is a testament to the 27-year-old’s monumental success in recent years, and a far cry from her humble beginnings.

Watson, originally from the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, spent a year honing her craft as a musician, busking in the streets of Byron Bay while living out of a van.

Now the artist is the owner of a lavish quarter-acre property set just a few streets back from Byron’s foreshore. Boasting two separate character homes on the one block, with a combined 12 bedrooms and six bathrooms, the property offers considerable space.

Both houses are renovated and have high ceilings throughout, double-hung timber windows and hardwood timber floors. Each home overlooks a private garden oasis and separate pools.

Title documents reveal the property was purchased in late September through the artist’s corporate entity Johnny Run Away, which is also the name of a Tones and I hit single released last year.

The agency that handled the sale, First National, declined to comment.

Byron Bay has proven popular with celebrities and wealthy professionals since the onset of the pandemic, with house prices skyrocketing 22 per cent in the last year to a median house price of $1.44 million, according to Domain data.

Tones & I achieved international success with the release of the breakout single, Dance Monkey. The multiple Aria Award-winning artist went on to sell out worldwide tours and perform on US talk show The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

The artist spent $5.1 million on a five-bedroom home in Mount Eliza on the Mornington Peninsula in March last year.

In 2019, she also bought a Frankston home for $800,000, reportedly for a family member or friend.

Ms Watson’s management was contacted for comment.