Bondi’s beachfront apartments like honey to a bee this spring

Border restrictions coupled with the looming approach of spring are stimulating an increase in the popularity of Bondi beachfront apartments.

This penthouse on Campbell Parade in Bondi has a price tag of about $5.5m.

The coronavirus-driven border restrictions coupled with the looming approach of spring are stimulating an increase in the popularity of Bondi beachfront apartments.

And it’s coming from two fronts.

Buyers who are working from home are looking to increase the size of their beachside apartments, while purchasers from surrounding suburbs in Sydney want a beachside bolthole, given they are restricted from holidaying offshore.

“There’s definitely a pick-up in Bondi as we go into spring. A lot of people are looking to upsize because of COVID-19,” according to Ray White Double Bay agent James Ledgerwood on Friday.

“People are also buying in Bondi because they are not flying overseas to holiday so they are buying into a beach suburb, which means they have their own holiday pad with their own parking and their own private shower,” Ledgerwood says.

However, he adds there are fewer apartments coming on to the market this spring in Bondi than you would normally expect as there are also a lot of people deciding to stay put.

“While there are travel restrictions and the normal downsizers coming out of Double Bay and Bellevue Hill who have always gone and bought at the beach, there is a shortage of ­supply.”

Ledgerwood says prices had stabilised but in some instances were up slightly because of the lack of supply and a stronger demand.

Ledgerwood is marketing a Bondi penthouse at 407/186 Campbell Parade with a price tag of around $5.5m.

The vendor of the Pacific Bondi apartment is Fitness First Australia founder Tony de Leede who has bought elsewhere in the beachside suburb — an apartment in The Bondi in February for $6.15m from Sunny Ngai, scion of the Ngai toilet paper empire established by his late father, Henry Ngai.

Ledgerwood says there had been a lot of interest in de Leede’s three-bedroom and three-bathroom Pacific Bondi apartment, which comes with a double car space.

He is also about to list a penthouse apartment with Harbour Bridge views covering more than 300sq m with price expectations of around $9m.

Meanwhile, The Agency’s Ben Collier says there had certainly been a spike in interest in lifestyle properties and it’s not just beaches. “Any of those regional lifestyle areas are proving to be very popular,” Collier says.

“I am assisting a couple with a Paddington terrace move to the NSW Southern Highlands, because COVID-19 has made them evaluate where they are at the moment. Having gone through the lockdown they are reassessing what they consider to be more important.

“They are talking about working from home, rather than going into the office. The virus has forced people to reassess a number of different things like work and family life.

“There’s going to be a longstanding reduction in international travel, COVID-19 has recalibrated how we go about things.”