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Six years on, Opal Tower owners are still suffering

The structural cracking calamity that took place on Christmas Eve in 2018 continues to haunt the victims of one of Australia’s dodgiest buildings.

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The structural cracking calamity that took place on Christmas Eve at Sydney’s Opal Tower four months after its completion in 2018, continues to cast a pall.

Six years on, the 392 apartment owners at Sydney Olympic Park are still suffering. There was a recent report that prices were heading towards profitability for sellers, i.e. better than its off the plan sale prices, but this has proved premature.

All 10 sales this year were at losses on their off the plan prices in the troubled Ecove-developed tower.

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An apartment listed for sale in Opal Tower.
An apartment listed for sale in Opal Tower.

The latest loss making sale was a $1.72m four bedroom, three bathroom penthouse that had first sold at $2.1m, down $380,000 reflecting an 18 per cent drop.

The biggest loss came in 2023 when a 22nd-floor, three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment fetched $1.11m after having cost $1.61m off the plan in 2014, so backwards by $500,000 or 31 per cent.

There has just been one profit taker among the 23 resales since the dramatic evacuation of occupants from the complex at 1 Brushbox Avenue. The only apartment to ever sell for a profit was the most damaged 10th floor apartment which was a one-off purchase in 2019 by the besieged builder of the tower, Icon Co, with its $950,000 price $158,000 more than the $742,000 paid in 2014.

Thankfully off-the-plan buyers across NSW are less vulnerable these days after important ongoing endeavours by consecutive state governments for better strata building construction outcomes.

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All 10 sales this year were at losses on their off the plan prices in the troubled Ecove-developed tower. Picture: David Swift.
All 10 sales this year were at losses on their off the plan prices in the troubled Ecove-developed tower. Picture: David Swift.

There are now serious ramifications in NSW when building professionals let consumers down. The state governments have passed legislation establishing a continuing duty of care for all those involved including builders, architects, engineers and certifiers in the design and construction of new apartments.

NSW has the iCirt star-rating system for developers, builders and contractors, which hopefully gains awareness among OTP buyers who should be increasingly wary of the risks of buying from the non-rated.

Buyers should also favour developers taking latent defects insurance (LDI) for their apartment buildings, providing the prospect of 10-year liability insurance.

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The news is still mostly bad for Opal Tower owners. Picture: Jonathan Ng
The news is still mostly bad for Opal Tower owners. Picture: Jonathan Ng

The NSW Building Commission is no longer headed by the dynamic inaugural commissioner David Chandler who despite departing in August after five years still uses his LinkedIn profile to comment.

“Now NSW is the preferred market to purchase new off the plan,” Chandler suggested after the High Court affirmed the substantive thrust of his reforms in the recent Pafburn Judgement.

“It is also leading in risk abatement.

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Ex-NSW Building Commission head David Chandler NSW is the preferred market to purchase new off the plan. Picture: Tim Hunter.
Ex-NSW Building Commission head David Chandler NSW is the preferred market to purchase new off the plan. Picture: Tim Hunter.

“There is still much to do to completely cement public and consumer confidence in the NSW housing market,” he noted.

Indeed the commission undertook a recent concrete quality safety blitz which found defects in 12 buildings across Sydney.

Chandler’s successor James Sherrard only started this month amid heightened concerns his workforce of 450 has been swamped by the commission’s expanded oversight of the construction of private home builds. There have been 3300 defects reported so far this year in stand-alone houses reported so far this year.

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Originally published as Six years on, Opal Tower owners are still suffering

Original URL: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/parramatta/six-years-on-opal-tower-owners-are-still-suffering/news-story/6d0797eb16910e5e89a5c5d70a910e42