Chinese pay $45m for Barangaroo luxury

Chinese entrepreneurs are among the seven purchasers of whole-floor apartments in Lendlease’s Barangaroo tower.

Artist’s impression of a Barangaroo penthouse.

Chinese-born entrepreneurs are among the seven purchasers of whole-floor apartments in Lendlease’s Barangaroo tower, paying between $40m and $45m apiece, according to selling agent, Hong Kong-born Denis Wan, director of Apex Investment Alliance.

Although Lendlease has consistently denied it is using an agent to sell the $2bn apartment complex on Sydney Harbour and said all buyers were ­“locals”, Mr Wan said he had negotiated the sale of all seven whole-floor apartments.

He said the buyers had not wanted to create “palaces” by knocking down the original proposal of three units per 600sq m-plus floor space made up of two four-bedroom units and one three-bedroom unit.

Instead, the buyers insisted the three separate apartments on each floor remain in place so they could accommodate extended members of their families. Mr Wan said none of the buyers were investors and all planned to make Barangaroo their home.

Apex Investment Alliance has long worked for Lendlease and states on its website it was the 2017 and 2018 Lendlease No 1 Master Agent for NSW and Victoria.

“Yes, I am definitely selling these apartments for Lendlease,” Mr Wan told The Australian, adding he had negotiated lots of sales for Lendlease in Melbourne.

“In Sydney we are doing the exclusive marketing at the moment and not advertising in newspapers,” he said. Mr Wan said all buyers were from Sydney and prospective buyers were sourced through different channels, including solicitors and banks.

He would then approach Lendlease with the prospective buyer and the developer would release an appropriate apartment for them to buy.

Mr Wan said he was the only agent working for Lendlease at the moment and buyers were asked to put down a deposit of 30 per cent upon the initial exchange.

The second instalment was due when the tower started construction and the third instalment was due on completion, which is around the third quarter of 2023.

Mr Wan said the seven apartment buyers, some of whom were born in China, were entrepreneurs, with some involved in the manufacture of electronic products. Another was in the mining industry and a third was involved in investment funds. Another was in manufacturing.

He said the buyers were ­attracted by the tower’s “northeast iconic views”.

Mr Wan said he negotiated the $140m sale of the three-level penthouse, the highest sale price of any residential dwelling in Australia, but would not be drawn on the buyer’s identity. Sources have speculated that the penthouse buyer was born in China.

However, local agents have criticised Lendlease for using an Asian real estate broker to sell its Barangaroo apartments, calling on the development behemoth to hire local sales talent.

All up, Lendlease’s One Sydney Harbour development, which was designed by Renzo Piano, the Italian architect who won the 1998 Pritzker Architecture prize, will comprise 808 apartments split across three towers. The number eight is prized in Chinese culture because it means long life and prosperity. In a nod to its partly Asian customer base, Lendlease has removed floor numbers that use the number 4, which is considered unlucky in Chinese culture.

Lendlease said more than half the apartments had been sold to locals. Three quarters of apartment sales in Crown’s One Barangaroo luxury residential tower nearby have sold to Australian buyers, with the remainder of the opulent residences picked up by offshore purchasers.

Releasing its financial results recently, Crown said it had contracted exchanged sales worth more than $450m on the 82-unit apartment tower.

One Barangaroo partner Erin van Tuil, who heads sales and marketing, would not divulge how many of the 82 apartments had sold, but said she was pleased with the high level of exchanged contracts since marketing began in May last year.

While she would not comment on the identity of buyers, they are said to include James Packer, who has purchased a $60m apartment at One Barangaroo. Another four buyers have reportedly paid $40m apiece.

“We are really happy that, with 18 months to run on the project, we have achieved $450m in sales. It’s a great result and one that has not been achieved anywhere else in the country,” Ms van Tuil said.

“It’s a very strong owner-occupier demographic. They are predominantly Sydneysiders, people who love this harbour and love living on the water.”

Prices start from $9.5m for a two-bedroom unit. One $100m penthouse remains on the market.