Sovereign Islands: Ultra luxury development by billionaire Ching Chiat Kwong to be built in 2025
Next-level luxury Gold Coast units with eye-watering prices are being unveiled as a major property figure why developers aren’t building affordable projects. FIND OUT WHY
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Next-level luxury Gold Coast units with eye-watering prices are being unveiled as a major property figure says it is not affordable for developers to focus on much other than the market top-end.
Homecorp boss Ron Bakir‘s warning about market fundamentals stacked against creating affordable housing, comes as the Gold Coast’s most luxurious units to date, earmarked for the city’s most exclusive enclave, hit the market with an eye-watering price tag and jaw-dropping features.
Singapore billionaire Ching Chiat Kwong’s ultra-luxury Sovereign Islands unit complex is expected to begin construction in early 2025, with cashed-up buyers putting forward jaw-dropping requests.
The $155m Sovereign collection is being built by Core Property Partners and Mr Ching’s Sovereign Treasure Investment Trust and is attracting interest from buyers locally, nationally and overseas.
The four-storey complex will feature 10 units, including four opulent “royal pavilions” – each 1200 square metre four-bedroom palaces which start from $25m each.
Each is three levels, plus a rooftop with pool and a private basement with six-car garages.
The six remaining three-bedroom “imperial” and “jubilee” units are 550sq m each, with prices from $9m.
A pair of units, one from each category, have already sold, with Mr Ching understood to be taking one of the pavilions.
Core Property boss Nathan Andersen said construction was expected to be completed by Christmas 2026, with cashed-up buyers making requests for bespoke features unimaginable to the average homeowner.
It’s understood one potential buyer asked whether their 100-foot superyacht could be moored at the complex’s marina, while another wants to park their supercar inside their unit.
“It is a customisable space and we are working with each of the buyers but there is the ability to have a (car-sized) lift go up from the private garage into the unit, that’s one of the features people are looking at,” he said.
“These are extravagant, (these units) are mansions within themselves and will incorporate the highest-end finishes.
“You are aware from the general public, it is a gated community and a private place.”
Patrick Pancur, who has sold some of the city’s most expensive penthouses and leading sales for the project, said the units were exclusively being aimed at the ultra-wealthy.
“Southeast Queensland has never seen something of this caliber brought to the market and the butler’s pantries alone are bigger than most kitchens in other Sovereign Islands homes,” he said.
“Requests are ranging from having bespoke wine cellars, cold rooms which can be walked into with private bars which exist in minus five degree celsius temperatures.
“A car lift can be in the apartment which allows you to bring your McLaren up into it to create an art feature.”
The project will replace the existing real estate and boat sales office buildings at the site which were constructed more than 20 years ago next to the bridge connecting the enclave with the mainland.
Lewis Land, which developed Sovereign Islands in the 1990s, had planned to build a unit complex on the site but it failed to progress after company founder Bernie Lewis died in 2004.
Mr Ching has owned the site for nearly a decade and said he was looking forward to construction beginning.
“I am pleased to say we are now poised to bring this vision to life and will soon create a landmark development that will redefine luxury living in Australia,” he said.
A builder is yet to be appointed but Core Property is understood to be in negotiations.
The Sovereign Islands are home to some of the state’s most expensive property and some of the Coast’s most wealthy and influential figures with notable residents have included billionaire businessman and former politician Clive Palmer and V8 Supercars legend Dick Johnson.
The high-end project is the latest in an increasing move towards ultra luxury unit towers by developers.
High-density projects have largely been eschewed in favour of large skyhome-style units including single or multi-floor apartments rather than high density.
Mr Bakir, an experienced developer and CEO of Homecorp, said few in the development game were keen to invest in the lower end of the market.
“There is an undersupply of product and of quality builders in the market,” he said.
“We have certainly got a massive lack of affordable products in the market and not many are working in that space,” he said.
“From (a developer’s) perspective, the only one that is working for us (financially speaking) is the up-market product.
“It’s because costs are so high, so it just doesn’t work otherwise.”
City planning boss Cr Mark Hammel has long called for measures to be introduced to ensure developers deliver more high-density affordable housing.
“If we cannot, it has a very real impact on how many nurses we have in hospitals, how many teachers we have in schools and enough cops on the beat because they need to be able to afford to buy where they work,” he said in April.
“Tourism and hospitality rely on tens of thousands of workers who struggle to afford to live here already and if we do not increase the supply, where will they live?
“It cannot be a blanket increase in density everywhere, it must be targeted in the right locations served by infrastructure, quality public transport and all the necessary ingredients to serve the people.”
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