Prestige Sydney property sales not deterred by lockdown

Luxury apartment buyers are not deterred by Sydney’s shutdown, with $30m in sales in the last two weeks at one high-profile site.

About $30m worth of sales at Sirius, The Rocks, has been made in the past two weeks.

Prestige apartment buyers have not been deterred by Sydney’s tough lockdown, with agents reporting strong sales, as wealthy Australians purchase property in their own backyards instead of offshore.

CBRE agent Ben Stewart, who is marketing the high-profile ­Sirius development in Sydney’s historic The Rocks enclave, says the lockdown has caused some uncertainty with regard to property inspections, but sales are being made across all the high-profile city and suburban apartment projects he markets.

“Some people don’t want to do inspections, but we have still sold $30m worth of property at Sirius in the past two weeks,” Stewart says.

Only 14 apartments remain for sale in the 76-unit Sirius project at The Rocks.

All up, only 14 apartments remain for sale in the 76-unit Sirius project, with most buyers hailing from Sydney’s upper north shore and eastern suburbs.

The cheapest apartment available is a one-bedder for $1.7m with the most expensive at about $16m.

In the eastern suburbs, developer Danny Avidan is about to launch the 20-apartment Piper House, a joint venture with Fortis. Prices have not been set for the project of two and three-bedroom apartments at 2a Wunulla Rd, Point Piper, but Stewart envisages the two-bedders will start at about $3.5m.

Nearby, a $16m beach penthouse at Avidan’s Kalypso development at 61 Fletcher St, Tamarama, remains on the market, with Avidan recently rejecting a $14m offer.

The penthouse at Kalypso, Tamarama, remains on the market for $16m.

In Kings Cross, Iris Capital CEO Sam Arnout has won approval for his 55-unit Queensgate development on the old Bourbon and Beefsteak site. The $300m-plus project should hit the market in October with one, two and three-bedders with private pools and Opera House views. Arnout is also planning pubs and an up-market hotel on the site, with interior design firms BKH and TZG in tow across the development. “This development of four separate buildings will transform the Paris end of Potts Point,” Stewart says.

Back in the CBD, Colliers managing director, residential, Peter Chittenden has sold one-third of the 101 apartments in the 111 Castlereagh St development atop the former David Jones department store.

About one-third of the 101 apartments in the 111 Castlereagh St development atop the former David Jones department store have been sold.

Despite the lockdown, Chittenden is close to selling a 460sq m, $30m-plus penthouse in the project developed by Cbus Property and overlooking Hyde Park. Chittenden says there has been no offshore money purchasing in the development. Most buyers hail from Sydney’s east as well as regions, with several apartments purchased by high-net-worth farmers.

“We have had a good mix of sales. Every apartment type has had sales on it,” Chittenden says, adding that 90 per cent of the apartments have views over the Hyde Park canopy of green and through to Sydney Heads. The lowest-priced units are one-bedders starting at about $3m apiece. Although construction of the project has begun, there is still scope for buyers to amalgamate apartments and add their bespoke requirements. He says the scale and the position of the apartment block is appealing to locals.

Meanwhile, CoreLogic says the auction clearance rate has remained relatively stable despite the extension of Sydney’s lockdown.

In the past week there were 786 properties taken to auction in Sydney, down 8.5 per cent from the initial predicted count as the city remains in lockdown.

“Of the 681 results collected so far, 77.1 per cent were successful, while 18.6 per cent have been withdrawn. Of the 525 sold results, 64.2 per cent were sold prior to the scheduled auction date,’’ CoreLogic said.

“Last week, 650 Sydney homes were taken to auction, returning a final auction clearance rate of 74.3 per cent.”