Silver lining for struggling Opal Tower owners

Homeowners at the embattled Opal Towers continue to take massive financial hits but there is a silver lining for some.

An investor recently sold their eighth floor apartment in the Opal Tower at Sydney’s Olympic Park for a disheartening loss.

The Zhang family, who were one of the earliest off-the-plan buyers in the troubled tower, secured a $687,000 sale.

But the two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment had cost $741,000 in 2014 so reflected a loss of $54,000.

The 807/1 Brushbox St apartment was on the market for four months with $685,000 price guidance through Andrew Bova of Exclusive Real Estate.

The structural cracking calamity took place in the 36 storey tower in 2018, just four months after its completion, so, six years on, the owners are still suffering.

It was Christmas Eve 2018 when all its residents were dramatically evacuated from the complex which then prompted the important ongoing endeavours by consecutive NSW state governments for better strata building construction outcomes.

There is a silver lining for Opal Tower owners.

Zhang had listed the unit for sale at $800,000 to $850,000 in the months prior to the incident but didn’t get a sale.

The apartment’s rental income improvement has been one saving grace having jumped from $530 per week in 2020 to $790 per week on being offered last year.

There have been far worse losses including one of the two sales secured last year. Last August a 22nd-floor, three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment fetched $1.11m after having cost $1.61m off the plan in 2014, so ranking as the biggest price drop yet, at $500,000.

Numerous legal actions were brought against parties to the project including the original owner, Sydney Olympic Park Authority, the developer Ecove, the builder Icon Co, the structural engineer, the manufacturer of the precast panels, and their respective insurers, along with the NSW Government.

The state government has of course passed legislation establishing a continuing duty of care for all those involved in the design and construction of new apartment complexes. And more importantly the NSW Building Commission, headed by the dynamic David Chandler who has a big team engaged in proactive surveillance of apartment construction sites so that buyers can hopefully be confident that the design and installation certificates issued before occupation certificates can be trusted.

The dynamic David Chandler has a big team engaged in proactive surveillance of apartment construction sites. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Dylan Robinson

Chandler recently did checks on concrete pours. “So far I have yet to see a single engineer on site observing concrete testing,” he said.

“It is regularly reported to me that pump operators direct that up to 40 litres of water get added on site.

“They are not engineers and have no qualifications to tamper with technical specifications.”

He jocularly did a concrete taste test which went viral on social media with more 242,000 views within a week.

“There are serious implications in NSW when building professionals let consumers down,” Chandler warned.