OSCAR hope Heath Ledger is giving in to his ongoing battle with Sydney's paparazzi, packing up his Bronte home and placing it on the market.

Just two years after buying the beachside home for $4.45 million and spending almost a year renovating it in an effort to avoid the prying lenses of the media, Ledger appears to be giving up on Sydney altogether.


The property, listed with McGrath agent Bethwyn Richards, is expected to fetch more than $6 million and a "for sale" sign will be erected on the front lawn within days.

Ledger is believed to have made the decision to sell up directly after being attacked with water pistols by paparazzi photographer Peter Carette and his offsiders at the Sydney premiere for his Oscar-nominated film Brokeback Mountain last month.

The feisty star and his partner Michelle Williams flew out to Los Angeles for the Screen Actors Guild Awards the day after the humiliating red carpet incident and and have not returned.
"Bronte is scaring me at the moment," Ledger told Hollywood reporters late last year. "I feel like the paparazzi are going to kick me out of that city," he said.

Ledger last year sold his sprawling mansion in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles and bought in Brooklyn, New York, so the then pregnant Williams could be closer to her family.


Now, with the sale of the Bronte home, speculation is mounting that he will turn his back on Australia altogether.

"I don't feel like living there any more. It's a shame because I obviously love it. It's breaking my heart because you can't go back there. You can't do anything. You don't want to go with your wife and kids down to the beach and swim when there are 10 people photographing you.

"It really is awful so ... that's keeping me away from Australia."
While the "goldfish bowl" was extensively renovated a year ago from the "pooey-beige" colour to a dark grey with tinted windows throughout, Ledger stayed in a Bondi apartment. He has spent just a matter of weeks in the home.
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