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Sydney studio apartments may prove tempting to investors and home buyers given both buying classes are being affected by rising rents across the city.
Property Observer has hit the listings sites to find the 10 cheapest studio apartments in Sydney’s CBD postcode 2000.
Buyers and investors should take note though, it may be hard to secure a fully funded loan when buying at the cheapest end of the market.
Apartments under 50 square metres typically require deposits of 20%, compared to the standard 10%. Some buying situations may need upwards of 30%.
And the same applies to studios off-the-plan.
So if buyers and investors can secure a loan then this is the list to see.
The apartments are spread all through the CBD. The very cheapest of the lot come from 8 Dixon Street near Chinatown.
#1
$255,000
<a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-studio-nsw-sydney-110993711">124/8 Dixon Street </a><a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-studio-nsw-sydney-110993711" target="_blank"></a>
The cheapest of the 10 is this 25 square metre apartment. It earns $410 a week and outgoings total $1253 per quarter for strata, council and water fees. It comes with air-conditioning, an internal laundry, a “spacious” bathroom and a kitchenette. It is small but it’s going to suit someone. It’s being sold by Alan Cheung from LJ Hooker Chinatown.
#2
$265,000
<a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-serviced+apartment-nsw-sydney-106659143">318/8 Dixon Street</a> <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-serviced+apartment-nsw-sydney-106659143" target="_blank"></a>
Number two is in the same building but ever so slightly bigger. It’s a 28 square metre studio on level three of the building. The property currently earns $14,502 per year in rent from Quest Apartments, which is set to increase to $15,082 next year. That works out to about $280 a week. Agent David Tsang from Friendly Properties says outgoings would total around $250 a quarter.
#3
$275,000
<a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-studio-nsw-sydney-107037659">94/8 Dixon Street</a>  <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-studio-nsw-sydney-107037659" target="_blank"></a>
In the same building again here, but back down to 25 square metres. It’s a similar deal to the cheapest on the list but it earns slightly less rent at $400 a week. Total quarterly outgoings are $1,296. It’s being sold by Alan Cheung from LJ Hooker Chinatown who says the vendor for apartment 124 is just slightly more motivated.
#4
$285,000
<a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-studio-nsw-sydney-108003436">252-258 Sussex Street </a>
This is in the Seasons Darling Harbour building, 500 metres north of the other offerings. For your money you can buy a 33 square metre studio that earns approximately $370 a week, guaranteed by building management. Management also pay all outgoings for the apartment. The studio is being sold by Jessica Chen from Domain Direct Real Estate Burwood.
#5
$310,000
<a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-studio-nsw-sydney-110968611">361 Pitt Street </a><a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-studio-nsw-sydney-110968611" target="_blank"></a>
This top floor studio earns approximately $400 a week with quarterly outgoings of $1,400. The north-facing apartment comes with high ceilings and large windows, both somewhat rare for a studio apartment. The room was recently renovated and has a new floor, bathroom, kitchen and paint-job. Alex Dharma from Citiwise Property is selling the property.
#6
$355,000
<a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-studio-nsw-sydney-110054733">1009/148 Elizabeth Street</a>
Back towards the same meridian as Quest building, but about 300 metres east is this 49 square metre apartment in 148 Elizabeth Street. The room comes with an east-facing balcony, a modern kitchen, built-in wardrobes, air-conditioning and an internal laundry. Outgoings total $2,141 per quarter and the apartment earns $430 per week.
#7
$355,000
<a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-studio-nsw-sydney-105933708">31/361 Pitt Street </a>
Nearby is this offering in Pitt Street. The current tenants are paying $380-$400 a week, a figure likely to increase slightly. Outgoings for the apartment are around $1,000 a quarter. It’s 37 square metres which includes a 1.5 square metre balcony. Central Sydney Realty Ultimo has the listing.
#8
<a href="https://www.homehound.com.au/38+bridge+street+sydney+nsw+2000/19134168/">38 Bridge Street </a><a href="https://www.homehound.com.au/38+bridge+street+sydney+nsw+2000/19134168/" target="_blank"></a>
$359,000
An offering here right up the north of the city on Bridge Street. Agent Bryn Fowler from Sydney Cove Property says the building has one of the cheapest strata fees in the area. Total outgoings for the property are around $1,000 per quarter. The 29 square metre apartment is currently renting some below market value at $395 per week.
#9
$379,000
<a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-studio-nsw-sydney-110972111">1602/38 Bridge Street</a> <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-studio-nsw-sydney-110972111" target="_blank"></a>
In the same building and offered by the same agent, this apartment is offering a higher rental at $485 a week. It’s currently set up as a short-term serviced apartment but that can be changed on sale. Total outgoings for the 30 square metres are around $1,100 per quarter.
#10
$392,000
<a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-apartment-nsw-sydney-110753883">298 Sussex Street </a><a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-apartment-nsw-sydney-110753883" target="_blank"></a>
And heading back down, almost to where we started, is this offering on Sussex Street. The 54 square metre studio earns $490 a week in rent with total outgoings of around $1,330 per quarter. The lounge area leads onto a balcony over Bathurst Street and the building comes with the usual amenities. Stephen Marshall from Oaks Property Sales has the listing.
For further investment advice about studio apartments download Property Observer's free eBook: <a href="http://propertyobserver.com.au/ebooks/free-ebook-investing-outside-the-square">Investing outside the square</a>.
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awalsh-7Ub9EypybQ

Sydney CBD's 10 cheapest studio apartments starting from $255,000 

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This 10-seat formal theatre room is part of a five-bedroom Dalkeith home, <a target="_parent" href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-wa-dalkeith-109542401">The Manhattan</a>.
The house comes with a communications centre, separate casual and forming dining areas, a formal library and a full wet bar.
The brand new home was built by multi-award winning Zorzi Builders, who believe modern homes have at least one key theme dictating the design.
To some it is generalised as "entertainment", of either a resort feel with various bodies of water and lush landscaping, a "food lovers" paradise of kitchens and alfresco dining, or dedicated spaces for the enjoyment of music and film. Or, combinations of these elements and more.
Zorzi believes home theatres have replaced the television and radio sitting atop a piece of furniture in the lounge rooms of old.
The property has $10 million-plus hopes through Libby Bridge at Area Team Real Estate Subiaco.
<img src="/images/stories/2012/07/hometheatre2.jpg" width="470">
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Popcorn and property: Australia's third best home cinema in Perth Zorzi-built home

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Watching a movie in a home cinema is a truly immersive experience, in every sense of the word for this Queensland offering.
It comes with four sleeper beds, with matching carpet and wall patterns.
The state of the art home cinema is in <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-qld-sorrento-106075522">a six-bedroom Sorrento, Queensland mansion</a> that spreads out over three levels on its 2,025 square metre block.
Created for family living and grand entertaining, it was marketed as both stylish and inviting.
The marketing by Toni Rich and Jamie Bourke at First National Paradise Point noted the cinema was award-winning.
There is 1,300 square metre internal space at the property that comes with a private tennis court, a pool room with its own wetbar and mooring facilities on its 37-metre water frontage.
It sold in 2010 at $4 million, having been listed in 2009 with $6.8 million hopes. 
<img src="/images/stories/2012/07/hometheatre3.jpg" width="470">
To see which cinema came in fifth <a href="/news">click here</a>.
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Sleeper beds cap off the fourth best in Property Observer's top 20 home cinemas list

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<img width="400" height="225" alt="6204626854_b5d47fa8dd" src="/images/stories/2012/6204626854_b5d47fa8dd.gif">Aussie know-how helped build the London Olympic village with Westfield, Lend Lease and people like the former Lend Lease head David Higgins investing their expertise and their dollars into the more significant assets at the London Olympic Park.
CBRE’s head of East London, Matthew Black, has worked on the London Olympics project since 2002 and says the property expertise and influence of Australians is unsurpassed.
''Westfield built the biggest mall under one roof in Europe at the height of the worse recession in the UK for many decades and the crowds stream in daily,'' Black told Fairfax.
<img width="400" height="225" alt="6176523160_b3d75d0ac1" src="/images/stories/2012/6176523160_b3d75d0ac1.gif">The 17.6 hectare Westfield Stratford City is so big that it has been issued with its own postcode.
The £1.45 billion shopping centre opened in September and is expected to earn £1 billion in its first year.
That figure will no doubt be bolstered by its proximity to the Olympic complex. Of the 10 million people expected to attend the games, seven million will transit through the shopping centre, walking through “retail avenues” to attend the events.
The centre is part of the Stratford City redevelopment which is being undertaken predominately by Westfield.
The £4 billion development covers 73 hectares and is due to be built over the next 15 years. As well as commercial developments like the shopping centre, the development also includes urban districts to house 11,000 residents and 30,000 workers. And it includes the Olympic athletes village.
Australian design firm, Norman, Disney &amp; Young designed the lighting strategy for the whole development.
Matthew Black says Australians like David Higgins brought unparalleled expertise to the Olympic Development Authority.
"Having David Higgins at the helm of the Olympic Development Authority also brought knowledge that many here did not have. He and Sebastian Coe have brought the area together seamlessly.''
Coe, the London organising committee boss, says he sees the Sydney Olympics as the gold standard, and is drawing on the expertise of Australians who worked on those games.
"John Coates (Australian Olympic Committee president and IOC executive member) is a wise old bird and I always remember him saying to me early on in this journey that if you get the athlete-generated atmosphere at the stadiums then the rest sort of happens," he told News Limited.
"We have been really conscious of that. If you take as much of the operational difficulty as possible out of their lives you've got a good chance of them competing well."
<img width="400" height="225" alt="7545623154_9c657fafa5" src="/images/stories/2012/7545623154_9c657fafa5.gif">
Without expertise from Sydney, he said he might have spent three years "sitting in front of Parliamentary select committees explaining why I had spent 30 million pounds on a bid that finished second".
Australian developers Lend Lease were chosen as the developers for the London Olympic village. They built the complex which has since sold to the Qatari royal family, UK developer Delancey and Triathlon Homes.
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Aussie know-how a boost to the London Olympics infrastructure

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<img height="225" width="400" src="/images/stories/2012/fallscreek.gif" alt="fallscreek">
It’s been almost a year since Morry Schwartz sold 77 Falls Creek apartments in Australia’s biggest auction of alpine property. With the ski season now well underway Property Observer spoke to local agents to see how the market has reacted to the sales.
In late August 2011, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/residential/falls-creek-snow-bargains-for-the-brave-beautiful-and-blinkered/2011082951319">Schwartz sold all his apartments in the Huski, Silverski and St Falls complexes in one massive auction event </a>with buyers settling on their purchases after the season wrapped up. 
The no-reserve auctions attracted 350 people with 300 registered bidders. The cheapest property sold was a 13.5 square metre unit in the Silverski complex, which sold for $30,000.
RT Edgar Falls Creek agent Christa Zirknitzer says one year down the track things aren’t as bad as expected.
“Yes, it did affect the market, but it was quite limited,” she says. “People have to reset their price expectations based off that auction if they’re motivated to sell.”
“But there are still buyers left, I just sold one down in the village, and I’ve had an offer on another one.”
Now a recent REIV report says property prices in the Alpine region are down 22% for the year ending March.
She says a lot of vendors were upset with the massive auction, but not everyone was angry with Schwartz.
“A lot of them do say it’s good the properties are now off the market.”
Her colleague Rob Ford in Hotham says the soft market makes it hard to see the effect.
“It’s difficult to say whether it affected us or not. The market has been quite soft for a couple of years now. I didn’t actually notice any difference at Hotham.”
“It definitely took 77 buyers out of the market, but at the same time there are a lot of vendors with stock. And with these properties it’s hard to compare the apples with the apples,” Ford says.
The nature of many of the apartments sold put strict requirements on who could buy the properties at Schwartz’s auction.
Some 40 of the properties sold required bidders to have annual incomes of $250,000 or $2.5 million in net assets as they were offered under an unregistered management investment scheme operated pursuant to Australian Securities and Investment Commission instrument 11-0572.
“Because of the management options, they weren’t applicable to lots of people,” Zirknitzer says.
“A lot of people might look at a room that sold for $250,000 but then we would sell a similar apartment for $400,000 if it was free of any title or management charges,” Ford says.
One thing is clear, though. The market here is determined by the weather. The more snow, the more money there is to be made.
Apartments 208 and 209 in the Silverski Lodge are still up for sale for $44,500. The price is the figure the vendor paid for them in Schwartz's mass sell-off.
And apartment 202 in the St Falls building is up for sale for $495,000.
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One year after Morry Schwartz’s no-reserve alpine auction, prices still chilled in Victoria’s ski fields

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With 15,000 suburbs across the country, investors are spoilt for choice.
Especially when – if you had two lots of $9.95 to spend – Australia’s two leading property investor magazines simultaneously published their annual guides on the best 100 suburbs in which to buy.
It’s a year since <a target="_blank" href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/australian-capital-territory/of-15000-suburbs-21-rise-to-the-top-as-worth-a-look-for-investors/2011072750933">Property Observer ascertained there were 21 hotspots that featured on both annual hotspot lists.</a>
The lists represented the shared outlook of two dozen property industry talking heads who helped Australian Property Investor and Your Investment Property compile the lists.
Sadly, few have performed very well, with Property Observer unable to find much evidence of double-digit hotspot growth in the list.
But more than half of the 21 offerings recorded negative momentum.
Ainslie in the ACT was said to be well located, with good services and still affordable, despite 12% average annual growth over the past decade leading to 2011. It all sounds rosy but RP Data figures show the median house price has actually dropped 5% over the last year. Unit prices experienced a slight growth of 1.5%.
Warrnambool in Victoria was said to have good prospects as a town in the centre of a regional Victorian district with gas-fired and geothermal power stations, plus wind farms. It was forecast to have a strong unit market. The figures show house prices have stayed unchanged and unit prices have dropped 5%.
In Queensland, Townsville, Gladstone and Rockhampton were all expected to do well. Townsville wasn’t brilliant – house prices dropped 8.9% and the unit price median plummeted 21.6%. Gladstone has been hot – but just for houses, not units. House prices in Rockhampton have risen 4.4%, while units have dropped 1.0%.
Again in Queensland, this time in the Surat Basin, the mining towns of Toowoomba and Chinchilla were both tipped to do well. In Toowoomba, house prices have risen 4.2%, while unit prices have dropped 5.5%. RP Data shows the median house price in Chinchilla has risen 4.7% but unit prices have dropped 1.1%.
In Brisbane, the suburb of Paddington was the only entrant in the 21. The lists celebrated its easy CBD access and lifestyle at affordable pricing for unit landlords. House prices dropped 5.1% over the year though units grew 4.4%.
Sydney had three suburbs in the list with Dulwich Hill, Tempe and Baulkham Hills. House prices in Dulwich Hill dropped 1.6% and unit prices dropped 1.1%. In Tempe RP Data noted house prices dropped 10.9%. In Baulkham Hills house prices rose 1.4% and unit prices fell 1%.
Bathurst and Port Macquarie were NSW’s two regional appearances on the list. House prices in Bathurst rose 3.4% and unit prices rose 1.3%. Port Macquarie wasn’t so lucky with house prices dropping 3.9% and unit prices down 5.8%.
<img alt="Hotspots-eBookv3-9" src="/images/stories/2012/Hotspots-eBookv3-9.gif" height="689" width="470">
WA’s only appearance on the list was Geraldton, where house prices have slipped 0.3% but unit prices have skyrocketed 27.3%.
Melbourne was expected to do well with the five suburbs, Broadmeadows, Thornbury, St Kilda, Brunswick and Balaclava, all appearing. Broadmeadows house prices fell 9.2% and unit prices dropped 13.9%. In Thornbury, house prices fell 4.2% and units fell 2.9%. In St Kilda house prices fell 3.2% and unit prices fell 2.8%. Brunswick house prices fell 6.5% but unit prices rose 2.4%. And in Balaclava, house prices fell 9.8% and units increased 0.3%.
In South Australia, Kensington and Port Noarlunga both featured on the lists, respectively four and 27 kilometres from the Adelaide CBD. Kensington house prices fell 10% while unit prices increased 1.4%. In Port Noarlunga, house prices slipped 0.1% with no data for units.
So from the 21 offerings, only Gladstone houses and Geraldton units withstood the current downtown. With double-digit growth, they stand, at the moment, above all other nominations.
For advice on navigating hotspots, download our free eBook: <a target="_blank" href="http://propertyobserver.com.au/ebooks/free-ebook-tools-for-getting-through-the-hotspot-tipping-maze">Tools for Getting Through the Hotspot Maze.</a> 
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The 21 hotspots that weren't

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It’s like going to a Gold Class cinema and having it all to yourself. A simple TV in the living room corner just doesn’t suffice for a lot of home owners these days; instead it's a room dedicated to the ultimate audio-visual experience.
This 15-seat home cinema almost has a corporate feel to it but is opulent enough to be included on Property Observer's list of the 20 top home cinemas. It comes with 7.1 Dolby surround sound.
This one is on a 4,000 square metre holding at Wahroonga in Sydney's upper north shore. It boasts six bedrooms with a gymnasium, wine cellar, an undercover spa, tennis courts and swimming pool. It is <a href="https://www.cbdoublebay.com.au/buying/NSW/North-Shore-Upper/WAHROONGA/House/22P0266">available</a> through Kevin and Jayne Whelan at Coldwell Banker Double Bay.
<img src="/images/stories/2012/07/hometheatre4.jpg" width="470">
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Plush 15-seater home cinema at Wahroonga comes in fifth spot in Australia's top 20

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It's perhaps not the most lavish, but this is the home cinema in Australia's priciest sold compound. Property Observer ranks its as the sixth best home cinema among recent listings. The iron ore heiress, Angela Bennett, had this deluxe cinema in her $57.5 million Mosman Park property in Perth. In 2009, she sold the property to fellow mining magnate, Chris Ellison, who set up Crushing Services International, which built and operated ore-crushing plants for mining companies.
The 7,567 square metre riverside mansion has three buildings, a private jetty, a wine cellar, luxurious wood-panelling throughout, a gym, an indoor swimming pool and a tennis court.
Hollywood stars pictured on the walls here include Marilyn Monroe, Peter O’Toole, James Dean, Vivien Leigh and Clarke Gable, suggesting Bennett's tastes were more Hollywood glamour than current day celebrity.
The tiered leather sofas here all look towards a massive projection screen framed by wood panelled cupboards and golden tinged curtains. Just behind the front sofa, hidden from view is a table to rest meals cooked in the well-appointed kitchen or just a few Manhattan cocktails.
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/stories/2012/07/bennettsmansion470.jpg" alt="bennettsmansion470" width="470" height="353">
 
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The Swan River, Mosman Park home cinema in Australia's priciest sold residential compound

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{yoogallery src=[images/stories/2012/07/Forte]}

Despite sunny conditions in Docklands, high winds again temporarily put a halt on construction work on Lend Lease’s timber high-rise development Forte.
Workers took refuge in a makeshift wind shelter but there’s no ignoring their hard work over the last few weeks.
In week eight of construction the building has hit new heights, with work starting on the seventh floor.
The building, set to be the tallest timber residential tower in the world, uses technology developed in Europe.
The building is made from cross-laminated timber, an engineered wood product fabricated by bonding together timber boards, alternating the grain direction of each layer. The criss-cross pattern works to produce a solid wooden panel.
A project director for British company Eurban which supplies CLT services, Philipp Zumbrunnen spoke at a Lend Lease seminar recently.
''It's a sort of jumbo ply. The glued, crossed pattern is very stable,'' Zumbrunnen says.
''CLT is less a wood product, more a building system.''
He says unlike glued laminated timber where several layers of timber are glued together in one direction, CLT does not warp as much.
Forte will reach 10-storeys but Zumbrunnen says there’s no reason the system can’t be used on buildings of 10-20 storeys.
He says his company undertook a feasibility study for a 19-storey tower in London but the developer pulled out.
{module Would you buy an apartment in a timber building?}
To view the building's progress from previous weeks click here. 
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Winds briefly stop Forte's jumbo ply timber construction

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Persistent and widespread weakness in the home-building market had put the new home construction sector in recession - triggering the highest availability of skilled labour since at least 2002, according to HIA’s latest report.
The HIA Trades Report found a significant increase in the availability of skilled labour in the June 2012 quarter.
“Tens of thousands of tradespeople are feeling the pressure of persistently weak residential building activity, while the loss of skilled labour to the resources sector will intensify the longer recessionary conditions persist,” says HIA’s Harley Dale.
He called for government policy to support the sector.
“Governments have a crucial role to play in delivering investment and reform to boost housing activity. Furthermore, now is the time, during cyclical weakness, for policy makers to accelerate reform and investment in skills and training to avoid labour re-emerging as a constraint on a future housing recovery.”
He says the climate is good for homebuilders with increasing competition between labourers.
The HIA Trade Availability Index was at +0.20 for the June 2012 quarter, meaning that trades were in moderate oversupply, while the HIA Trade Prices Index eased by 0.7%, putting it at just 0.1% growth for the year.
The report is a quarterly measure of trade prices and availability on a capital city and rest of state basis for 13 different trade categories in the five largest states.
If you're thinking of buying a house and doing your own plastering, read our free ebook on<a href="http://propertyobserver.com.au/ebooks/free-ebook-10-tips-for-buying-house-and-land-packages-what-investors-need-to-know"> buying a house and land package</a>.
<img src="/images/stories/2012/Snapshot_2012-07-26_14-30-30.jpg" alt="Snapshot_2012-07-26_14-30-30" height="238" width="469">
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Trade availability at highest levels – especially plasterers – since at least 2002: HIA

For most new apartment buildings, the Owners Corporation starts life with little more than a bank account and the first quarterly strata levies.

At <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/buildings/9-gay-street-castle-hill-9-gay-street-castle-hill-nsw-2154">9 Gay Street</a> in <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/castle-hill-nsw-2154">Castle Hill</a>, it starts with around $7 million in reserve.

It's an unusual legacy of what was once one of Sydney's highest-profile apartment remediation projects. When the development, originally known as Skyview and built by disgraced developer Top Place, came under scrutiny by then NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler, an $11 million remediation bond was negotiated to ensure any building defects could be fully rectified.

The building underwent an 18-month remediation program, during which around $4 million of that bond was spent bringing the building up to the standard it should have been in from the outset.

After extensive inspections, all active rectification orders have been lifted. What's more, around $7.2 million remains secured for the Owners Corporation for the next 15 years.

In a twist few would have predicted, what began as a significant concern for purchasers has left the building with something almost unheard of in the apartment market: a multi-million-dollar financial reserve from day one.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=147685 project_image_fid=359136]

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/project-marketer/equitifund-group">Equitifund</a> Executive Chairman Greg Huxley said the structure offers buyers a level of certainty that is difficult to replicate.

"The $11 million bond established for the Skyview Castle Hill development represents exceptional value, providing genuine financial security for purchasers," Huxley said.

"Unlike a standard insurance policy, this bond consists of real funds held in trust for the Owners Corporation, offering a tangible layer of protection and added peace of mind."

The apartments themselves have been designed with a focus on practical, contemporary living. Interiors feature Smeg appliances, stone benchtops, tiled living areas, carpeted bedrooms, 2.7-metre ceilings, floor-to-ceiling glazing, and ducted heating and cooling throughout.

Residents also have access to a range of shared amenities, including two rooftop barbecue areas, a swimming pool, children's playgrounds, secure building access, storage cages, and visitor parking.

The location continues to be one of the project's strongest drawcards. Castle Hill Metro Station sits virtually on the doorstep, providing direct connections across Sydney's expanding Metro network, while Castle Towers offers extensive retail, dining, entertainment, and service amenities within walking distance.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=147685 project_image_fid=359127]

The building, now named after its location at 9 Gay Street, comprises a diverse mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments starting from just under $600,000.

Equitifund National Sales Director Ben Hamblett said demand in the Hills District continues to be driven by buyers seeking convenience and connectivity.

"Interest from both owner-occupiers and investors in Castle Hill remains exceptionally strong, with buyers consistently prioritising developments in close proximity to the Metro station and Castle Towers Shopping Centre," Hamblett said.

"There is a clear trend in the market, with purchasers seeking convenient access to transport and lifestyle amenities that support a seamless, low-maintenance way of living."

On top of the long-term protection afforded by the remaining $7.2 million bond, Equitifund is offering a limited-time stamp duty rebate on selected apartments.

Eligible purchasers can also secure finance options, including a 3.99 per cent two-year variable rate, loan-to-value ratios of up to 90 per cent, and interest-only lending options through EquitiCredit.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=147685]

Joel Robinson

Why this Castle Hill apartment building starts with a $7 million advantage

For much of the past few years, conversations about Australia's property market have centred on the rapid growth seen in Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast, and Perth. <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/melbourne-vic-3004">Melbourne</a> has followed a different trajectory.

That relative underperformance is now encouraging some buyers to reassess the city, particularly those willing to look beyond short-term market movements and focus on quality property in established locations, along with the long-term growth prospects of a city expected to overtake Sydney as Australia’s most populous.

John Bekiaris, Research &amp; Market Insights at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/project-marketer/equitifund-group">Projects by Equitifund</a>, said Melbourne's current position is attracting increasingly sophisticated purchasers.

"Melbourne continues to present one of Australia's strongest long-term investment stories," Bekiaris says.

"While other capital cities have experienced stronger recent growth, that relative underperformance is exactly what's attracting sophisticated counter-cyclical investors."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=1979 project_image_fid=363268]

Equitifund isn't just commenting on Melbourne's property market, it's investing in it.

The Sydney-headquartered capital partner has taken over the remaining apartments at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/buildings/victoriana-melbourne-20-queens-road-melbourne-vic-3004">Victoriana</a>, the recently completed glass-encased development opposite Albert Park Lake in Melbourne's tightly held St Kilda Road precinct.

Designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/rothelowman">Rothelowman</a> and built by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/builders/hickory">Hickory</a>, Victoriana places residents between one of Melbourne's most recognised parklands and the CBD, offering oversized two and three-bedroom apartments aimed at owner-occupiers seeking a genuine alternative to a traditional family home.

The development comprises 232 completed residences alongside a suite of resident amenities, including a 25-metre indoor swimming pool, gymnasium, landscaped entertaining areas, resident lounges, EV charging, secure basement parking and a concierge-style arrival experience.

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The apartments have been designed with owner-occupiers firmly in mind.&nbsp;Open-plan living and dining areas flow onto generous balconies framing views across Albert Park Lake, Fawkner Park, the Royal Botanic Gardens and the Melbourne skyline.

Kitchens feature Gaggenau appliances, stone benchtops and generous preparation space. Bedrooms include built-in robes, while bathrooms feature full-height textured tiling. Hardwood flooring and ducted air conditioning complete residences designed for long-term living.

Rothelowman's architecture takes its cues from the landscape opposite the site. Sweeping horizontal glazing references the movement of Albert Park Lake, while generous balconies and expansive glazing strengthen the connection between the apartments and the surrounding parklands. The result is a building designed to deliver the scale and amenity expected of luxury apartment living, while offering the larger floorplans increasingly sought by owner-occupiers.

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The location is one of Victoriana's defining characteristics. Positioned on Queens Road, residents are directly opposite Albert Park Lake and within easy reach of Fawkner Park, the Royal Botanic Gardens, South Melbourne, St Kilda Road and the CBD. With few comparable development opportunities remaining in the precinct, buyers are increasingly placing value on outlooks that are unlikely to be interrupted by future construction.

Greg Huxley, Founder of Equitifund, believes those qualities become even more valuable over time.

"Premium real estate has always rewarded buyers who take a long-term view," Huxley said.

"Victoriana represents the kind of asset that's increasingly difficult to recreate today, particularly in an established location like Queens Road."

He said rising construction costs are also changing the way buyers assess completed developments.

"When you combine an irreplaceable location with thoughtful architecture and premium finishes, you create something that becomes increasingly difficult to reproduce as construction costs continue to rise."

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According to National Sales Director Ben Hamblett, enquiry has been driven largely by Melbourne downsizers and buyers upgrading from smaller apartments.

"Interest in Victoriana continues to build, with strong buyer focus on the larger owner-occupier residences within the development," Hamblett says.

"Enquiry is increasingly driven by local buyers who recognise the rarity of what's on offer: park-facing apartments in an established neighbourhood where new development opportunities are becoming increasingly scarce. At Victoriana, the view is not just a feature; it's an appreciating asset in its own right."

He said interstate enquiry has also strengthened as buyers reassess Melbourne's position within the national property cycle.

"Melbourne currently stands as the most compelling entry point of any major Australian capital, and discerning buyers are beginning to recognise what those who move early always understand: the best opportunities are taken before the price rise confirms them."

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Why now is the time to buy in Melbourne's premium apartment market

Developers and apartment buyers have a narrowing window of opportunity before Brisbane's Olympic infrastructure pipeline begins competing directly with residential construction, pushing up costs, tightening labour supply and making new projects increasingly difficult to deliver.

While Brisbane's apartment market continues to benefit from strong population growth and limited housing supply, industry research suggests the years leading up to 2027 could prove to be the most important period for developers looking to secure builders and buyers hoping to purchase before the next wave of price increases.

A new Colliers report, Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games: Creating Solutions, highlights the scale of the challenge. While thousands of new homes are planned across South East Queensland, the Brisbane Olympic Athletes Village alone will deliver more than 10,500 beds during the Games before being converted into around 1,750 to 2,000 apartments. Equivalent to almost two years of typical inner-city apartment supply, the project will also absorb a significant share of the construction workforce and building materials.

The broader construction pipeline paints an even clearer picture.

Construction Skills Queensland's Horizon 2032 report forecasts Queensland's annual construction pipeline will average $69 billion over the coming years before peaking at $75 billion in 2027-28. Demand for construction workers is expected to increase by 17 per cent to almost 150,000 people, with the industry facing an annual shortfall of around 19,000 workers that could blow out to as many as 35,000 during the peak construction period.

The Olympic venues, athletes village and supporting infrastructure will account for billions of dollars worth of work across South East Queensland through to 2032, creating intense competition for labour at a time when Australia's residential construction sector is already under pressure.

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Colliers Queensland Residential Director Andrew Scriven said the convergence of these projects is creating a clear window of opportunity for both developers and buyers.

"From 2027 onwards, the market will shift dramatically," Scriven said.

"Labour will increasingly be locked into government-led infrastructure and Olympic projects, which means private residential developments will face higher costs and tighter margins. The developers who move now are the ones most likely to get projects off the ground."

Scriven said the same dynamic would also affect buyers, with fewer apartment projects expected to launch once construction capacity tightens.

"If you're looking to change your lifestyle over the next five years, now is your window of opportunity to buy."

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Developers are already positioning themselves ahead of that window.

Following the success of Monarch at Toowong, Consolidated Properties is preparing to launch two new Brisbane apartment projects in the second half of 2026. They include <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/gloriette-30-bedivere-street-yeerongpilly-qld-4105">Gloriette</a> at Yeerongpilly Green, a 25-storey tower within one of Brisbane's key Olympic precincts, and <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/castile-47-skyring-terrace-newstead-qld-4006">Castile</a>, a recently approved 25-storey riverfront development at 47 Skyring Terrace in Newstead.

Hutchinson Builders will deliver both projects, with early works already underway at Yeerongpilly and Newstead expected to commence later this year.

The timing comes as Brisbane's fundamentals continue to strengthen, with strong interstate migration, population growth and vacancy rates remaining below 1.5 per cent.

Colliers Queensland researcher Pragya Sharma said Greater Brisbane is forecast to require around 40,000 new apartments between 2021 and 2031.

"There's a real mismatch emerging between when housing is needed and when it will be feasible to build," Sharma said.

"As a result, the period leading up to 2027 presents a key window of opportunity for developers to secure approvals, funding and construction capacity, while buyers will have greater choice before supply constraints intensify."

Colliers research outlines a critical pre-2027 window to start residential projects before labour squeeze: now is the time to buy

Developers, buyers on watch in South East Queensland ahead of construction crunch: Colliers

It's taken less than nine months for developer Sherpa Property Group to sell out all 51 apartments in its <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/flourish-oasis-palm-beach-7-9-sixth-avenue-palm-beach-qld-4221">Flourish Oasis</a> development in <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/palm-beach-qld-4221">Palm Beach</a>, over a year before its anticipated completion.

&nbsp;

Located at 7-9 Sixth Avenue, the $67 million development has resonated strongly with both local owner-occupiers and downsizers seeking high-quality apartments within walking distance of the beach, dining precincts and everyday amenities.

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Christie Leet, Founder of <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/sherpa-property-group">Sherpa Group</a>, said the sell-out reflected both the strength of the Palm Beach market and the success of Sherpa's community-first approach to development.

"The sell-out of Oasis is a fantastic outcome and reinforces the strong demand we're seeing for thoughtfully designed apartments in lifestyle locations," Leet said.

"From the outset, our vision was to create a development that genuinely enhanced the Palm Beach community while providing residents with exceptional homes and wellness-focused amenities.

"We've been incredibly encouraged by the level of local support throughout the campaign, 72.5 per cent of buyers are locals, with a significant proportion of purchasers choosing Oasis as their future home rather than an investment."

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Construction is now progressing following development approval, with trusted builder LPS Group delivering the project and completion anticipated in Q3 2027.

Oasis forms part of Sherpa Group's successful Flourish collection, which has become recognised for its focus on wellness, community and elevated coastal living.

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Residents will have private access to a rooftop amenity space featuring a pool, gym, sauna, steam room, hot and cold plunge pools, spa and barbecue facilities.

"The success of Oasis demonstrates that buyers continue to prioritise quality, location and lifestyle," Leet said.

"We are proud to have delivered a project that has resonated so strongly with the market and look forward to bringing Oasis to life for our future residents."

Sherpa recently launched <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/flourish-soleira-palm-beach-1150-1160-gold-coast-highway-palm-beach-qld-4221">Flourish Soleira</a>, its third instalment of the Flourish brand in Palm Beach following Flourish Oasis and <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/amargo-6-12-sixth-avenue-palm-beach-qld-4221">Flourish Amargo</a>.

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Sherpa sells out Flourish Oasis in booming Palm Beach

Urban Property Group's <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/la-vera-macquarie-park-94-talavera-road-macquarie-park-nsw-2113">La Vera</a> is leading the next phase of Macquarie Park's residential evolution, with the new apartment development set to become the first of several new apartment projects in the precinct to complete.

The 169-apartment building has now topped out ahead of its scheduled completion in the third quarter of 2026, as new residential investment continues to reshape one of Sydney's largest employment hubs into a true mixed-use precinct.

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Cox Architecture has designed La Vera to capture the best of its unique positioning on Talavera Road, orienting the building towards Lane Cove National Park.&nbsp;The building features a sculpted northern façade with flowing curves inspired by the surrounding landscape, while its city-facing elevation adopts a more structured architectural expression to maximise skyline views.

"The vision for the project was to conceive a building that adopted an organic and curvilinear form to the northern portion that faces the Lane Cove National Park," <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/cox-architecture">Cox Architecture</a> Director Felipe Miranda said.

"The residents that reside in the northern portion of the building benefit by having beautifully crafted curved balconies that speak to the natural context and heighten the relationship of their internal living spaces to the external balconies."

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La Vera offers a diverse mix of one, two, three, and four-bedroom configurations, with prices currently starting from $740,000. Buyers so far have been a mix of Sydney-based investors,&nbsp;metro commuters, owner-occupiers and downsizers from surrounding North Shore suburbs.

Both investors and owner-occupiers have been drawn to La Vera's proximity to Macquarie University, Macquarie University Hospital, Macquarie Centre and the Sydney Metro, infrastructure that supports both strong rental demand and a convenient lifestyle for residents.

The apartments feature full-height glazing, timber flooring throughout living areas, stone kitchen benchtops, SMEG appliances, floor-to-ceiling bathroom tiling and ducted air conditioning.

Residents will have access to a rooftop recreation level featuring a swimming pool, sauna, barbecue facilities and landscaped relaxation areas, complemented by additional communal space at ground level. Many apartments enjoy uninterrupted views across Lane Cove National Park, reinforcing the project's connection to its natural setting.

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<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/urban-property-group">Urban Property Group</a>, a family-owned developer and builder with nearly four decades of experience, holds a 4.5-star iCIRT rating and was Australia's first developer to introduce 10-Year Latent Defects Insurance (LDI). La Vera is the first apartment development in <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/macquarie-park-nsw-2113">Macquarie Park</a> approved to offer the additional insurance protection, alongside a five-year warranty on SMEG appliances.

Urban Property Group CEO Patrick Elias said the additional protection reflects changing buyer expectations in the off the plan market.

"Consumers are a lot more weary and a lot more concerned in buying off the plan than they ever have been. Having LDI is a tool to portray the confidence that we have in our product, and a confidence we want buyers to share," Elias said.

Following completion of the building later this year, buyers will move into their apartments well before Christmas.

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Alistair Walsh

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