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The latest listing of the Regency Revival-style mansion Jenner House in Potts Point will be a three ring circus.
It has been listed with $20 million hopes by Barry Goldman of Raine &amp; Horne Double Bay, Jason Boon of Richardson &amp; Wrench Elizabeth Bay, and Michael Pallier of Sotheby's International.
<a href="https://www.rwebay.com.au/1600085/" target="_blank">The restored heritage-listed residence </a>has held the Potts Point record at $15 million since 2009 when luxury car dealer Terry Mullens and his wife Wendy bought the imposing property.
It had been sold unrenovated by horse breeder Tony Peterson.
<a href="/news/jenner-house-potts-point-record-setting-trophy-home-listing">It was briefly listed for sale</a> in May 2013.
Recent research suggests the home was once occupied by King George V while he was serving in the Royal Navy.
Peterson had secured the property from the Department of Defence for around $6 million when it sold its redundant Garden Island precinct holdings in the mid-1990s.
The now three-storey home is set on a 1970-square-metre Macleay Street block.
Built with a mix of Victorian and Italianate styles for wealthy merchant Lebbeus Hordern, the 1870s home is one of the district's surviving marine villas.
Originally known as Stramshall, named after patriach Anthony Hordern's English birthplace, Jenner was built by the colonial architect Edmund Blacket. It was also known as Kurrahjeen from 1880 to 1885 and Lugano from 1888 to 1911. Its current name was bestowed on it in 1914.
In the meantime <a href="/news/nsw/bomera-the-potts-point-italianate-sandstone-beauty-sells">Bomera on Wylde Street</a> was sold for $12.5 million after its restoration by Jorge and Monica Fernandez to Leanne Catelan, the daughter of the late property data entrepreneur Ray Catelan.
<a href="/news/miner-stephen-turner-mooted-rockwall-house-potts-point-trophy-home-buyer">Lilian Barclay sold her Georgian villa, Rockwall House for around $11 million to a local mining tycoon</a> earlier this year.
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jchancellor-FAypfDUnLy

Jenner House, Potts Point seeks $20 million buyers

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Millionaire property developer Ronald Medich has sold his Point Piper harbourfront house, understood to be for about $38 million, just shy of its revised $40 million asking price.
The sale occurred at around 9pm last night. 
The 112 Wolseley Road property has been on the market for several years. Its sale ranks as Sydney's highest since Altona sold last March for $52 million elsewhere in Point Piper. A $28.5 million sale took place last month, just a few doors along Wolseley Road, nicknamed Millionaire’s Row, was a nascent sign that the prestige market activity was finally gaining slight momentum.
The buyer was not immediately identified, but was Australian, according to The Australian newspaper exclusive report which then inaccurately reported its sale price as $48.5 million, around $10 million plus more than Property Observer quickly gleaned it actually fetched. The News Ltd publication subsequently amended its likely selling price to $38.5 million and advised the buyer was the SummitCare Australia aged care provider Peter Wohl.
<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/2014/06/11/medich-screenshot-june-11-two.jpg" alt="">
Source: The Australian
First listed in 2011, Ron and Odetta Medich had hoped for $55 million for the property. 
Agents had estimated the Medich home was worth close to $40 million in February 2011 when <a href="/news/nsw/ron-medich-seeks-40-million-plus-for-harbourfront-point-piper-home">Title Tattle</a> first reported its offering. 
The initial and eventual selling agents were Ken Jacobs of Christie's International and Bill Malouf of LJ Hooker Double Bay, with prestige conjunctional agents having periodically introduced potential buyers. One agent was due there this week with a buyer, so was advised not to bother.
Title Tattle gathers the buyer first saw the property two years ago.
Inspections have been difficult to secure given the acute sensitivity of the listing.
It is understood the local buyer was introduced by Savills International agent Martin Schiller. 
Seemingly going against the trend towards Chinese acquisitions, estate agents who'd taken international Chinese buyers through the home, indicated they had faced buyer hesitation given the circumstance of the listing. They also had fears that FIRB approval would not be forthcoming. It ought be noted that while the nationality of the buyer is on record, their ancestry has not yet emerged.  
It was May 2012 when the property was officially listed, having been listed quietly listed for sale, without publicly marketed in print or internet over the prior year.
The Australian architectural studio Katon Redgen Mathieson completed the Point Piper project in 2009 for Ron Medich, who made a fortune with his brother developing industrial sites in Sydney’s west.
His estranged wife, Odetta, has been one of the country's most generous patrons of the arts.
The David Katon-designed house replaced the house bought from the restaurateur Wolfie Pizem in 2003 for $15.1 million.
Pizem had bought the 780-square-metre property for $160,000 in 1978.
At the time of its initial listing, one agent quipped that the Medichs' art collection was worth far more than the house. The artworks include poolside Tasmanian tiger sculptures by Caroline Rothwell. The internal walls of the four-storey house come with extensive artworks of mostly photographic works.
Despite all the ructions, there's been no caveats or refinancing on the official land title for the past three years. The last refinancing was in mid-2009.
Pleading not guilty, Medich, has been charged with the September 2009 murder of businessman Michael McGurk, who was killed by a single gunshot outside <a href="/expert-insights/investing/cremorne-house-of-the-murdered-michael-mcgurk-sold">his Cremorne home on Sydney's lower north shore</a>.
He will stand trial in the Supreme Court on August 25 with the proceedings expected to last three to four months.
The Crown alleges Medich, who was embroiled in legal disputes with Mr McGurk, conscripted then friend and associate ex-boxer Lucky Gattellari to carry out a hit.
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Ron Medich finally sells Point Piper harbourfront trophy home

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The besieged Queensland government has moved to retrospectively legalise the state's "differential council rates" system which was recently found by the Supreme Court to be illegal.
The anti-investor legislation covers the 20 Queensland Councils that charge higher rates for investor ratepayers. <a href="/news/qld/mackay-investors-gear-up-for-council-rates-legal-challenge">Property Observer reported the pending challenge</a> last October.
The Local Government Minister David Crisafulli introduced amendments to prevent ratepayers from having the money returned to them, and to allow councils to continue using the differential rates system after letters from the Local Government Association and Brisbane City Council.
Up to $300 million in higher rates are collected annually from “non-owner occupied homes” across Queensland by councils
Crisafulli said it was not up to him as local government minister to decide if it was "good policy for councils" to use a differential residential rating system.
But the amendments cleared up "any doubt about whether councils are able to issue differential rates for owner occupied versus investors".
<a href="/news/qld/the-queensland-councils-charging-higher-rates-for-investors">Twenty of Queensland's largest councils</a> including Brisbane, Gold Coast, Townsville, and Moreton Bay Regional Council use differential rates policy for residential homes and units.
Brisbane City Council introduced the policy under former lord mayor Jim Soorley in 1992 and Mackay Regional Council was the last of 20 councils to introduce it for 2012-13.
The Local Government Association - on behalf of other councils - is challenging the Supreme Court's ruling that Mackay was wrong to introduce the scheme, however Queensland councils need to bring down budgets within the next month. 
It has emerged there is throughout Queensland councils a little-known residential rates category that sees people who own a property - but do not live in it -  being hit with a larger rates bill than people who live in the home they own.
Some councils call it an "investor" residential rates category, others called it the "non-owner occupier" rates category.
The Supreme Court ruled last month that Mackay Regional Council's decision to apply the "differential rates" system was illegal. Mackay investment home owners were being charged an extra $200 a year above the normal rates.
The ratepayers, who call themselves the Mackay Investor Rates Committee, welcomed Supreme Court judge Justice Duncan McMeekin who ruled it was illegal for Mackay to charge a different rate.
Mackay Regional Council faces a refund bill of $1.6 million on 7,700 properties for 2013-14.
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Queensland government entrenches higher council rates for property investors

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Sydney's cheapest long weekend sale was $348,000 at Auburn.
It sold pre-auction, as did many of the weekend offerings.
As soon as it was sold by First National Auburn Waters &amp; Carpenter, the investor buyer put <a href="https://www.firstnational.com.au/buy-residential-real-estate/apartment-unit-3-88-station-road-auburn-nsw-11421100562" target="_blank">the three bedroom 88 Station Road apartment</a> for lease pending its settlement.
Seeking $400 a week, the sale thereby reflects a 5.9% rental yield. It last sold at $230,000 in 2005.
Sydney agents secured 73.7% success rate from the initial 300 results. There are another 93 results yet to be tabulated by Australian Property Monitors.
<a href="/news/leichhardt-forges-another-residential-record-for-former-fire-station">Leichhardt has a new suburb record</a> with the current record-holder home selling on the long weekend for $3.05 million.
Set on 658 square metres, the four-bedroom, four-bathroom home <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-nsw-leichhardt-116876611" target="_blank">sold through Ray White Inner West's David Eastway</a>. With that much land it is about three times bigger than the typical Leichhardt block.
It was sold by the banker Ashley Salter and his wife, Paspaley Pearls creative director, Christine Salter.
{qtube vid:=ZXtDXy8QCE}
The former Victorian fire station had been renovated by French antique furniture importers Bob and Helen Hargreaves, of Le Forge, who sold in 2007 for<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.mcgrath.com.au/buy/house-leichhardt-nsw-2040/50202" target="_blank"> a record $2.45 million</a> through McGrath.
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Auburn three bedroom apartment sells to investor in weekend's cheapest auction offering

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Victorian Consumer Affairs Minister Heidi Victoria has rejected weekend media reports that ­collusive bidding was a problem at weekend auctions.
“Consumer Affairs Victoria is not aware that this practice is currently prevalent ,” she told the Australian Financial Review.
The paper<a href="https://www.afr.com/p/national/buyers_dirty_auction_tricks_exposed_fUcTgsHwP88nAb6vLujfdM" target="_blank"> </a>reported two or more ­bidders representing one buyer at an auction, creating the impression there are multiple buyers, was a common occurrence at Melbourne auctions.
The AFR noted it was more of an issue in Victoria than NSW, where bidders are required to register before auction.
NSW Fair Trading Minister ­Matthew Mason-Cox said collusive bidding was already outlawed, but would consider if new forms of the practice required a legislative update.
The AFR suggested the unscrupulous buyers were working with the help or encouragement of buyer’s agents.
By creating the impression that there are multiple buyers bidding for the same property, one buyer’s agent claimed the tactic worked by reputedly saving their client $300,000 plus at auction to the annoyance of the vendor if they knew. 
“It’s illegal, but very hard to police,” said Rich Harvey, from the Sydney buyer’s agency, propertybuyer.com.au, who slammed the practice in the article.
The ploy also created an impression in the vendor’s mind that there was good activity below the reserve, and so encouraging the vendor to put the property on the market, rather than pass it in.
NSW regulations state that a person must not induce another person to abstain from bidding or do anything in any way which may prevent free and open competition.
Paul Osborne from Melbourne buyer’s agency, The Secret Agent, said he had seen three people representing the same buyer bidding at auction.
"Buyers use all kinds of theatrics that are not transparent,” he said.
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Collusive auction bidding not prevalent: Consumer Affairs Victoria 

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McGrath Estate Agents now expects more than $850,000 for Lara Bingle's Darling Point apartment.
The agency initially was quoting more than $825,000 for the stylish one-bedroom that is set for <a href="https://www.mcgrath.com.au/buy/apartment-darling-point-nsw-2027/225301/?searchID=39312079" target="_blank">14 June auction through Richard Bonouvrie</a>. 
The model bought it from interior designer Blainey North for $882,000 in 2010, soon after her break-up with Test cricket captain Michael Clarke.
It is a Goomerah Court company title art deco apartment apartment with city and harbour views from most of its 65 square metre space. 
There have been two other McGrath sales in the block when $925,000 was secured for <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.mcgrath.com.au/buy/apartment-darling-point-nsw-2027/76865" target="_blank" style="line-height: 1.3em;">a two bedroom unrenovated listing</a> and then a <a href="https://www.mcgrath.com.au/buy/apartment-darling-point-nsw-2027/193910/?searchID=38820498" target="_blank" style="line-height: 1.3em;">renovated two bedroom sale last October</a> at around $800,000 which Title Tattle suggests would explain the initial pricing estimate.
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Lara Bingle Darling Point apartment gets upward price guidance revision

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An offshore buyer is considering paying $25 million off the plan to combine three penthouses atop Sydney’s tallest residential apartment tower.
There will be six penthouses across the top two levels, 81 and 82, of the Greenland Centre currently being developed by the Shanghai-based Greenland Group in Bathurst Street.
Prices range from $5.6 million, starting at 180 square metres, to $9.7 million.
The touted buyer spends three to six months a year in Sydney, the estate agent David Milton, the managing director of selling agents CBRE, advised Fairfax Media.
If the sale proceeds, it will better the reputed off the plan Sydney record when the chief investment officer of boutique fund manager Caledonia Investments, Will Vicars was pinpointed as the possible $21 million buyer of two two-storey lighthouse penthouses in the Pacific Bondi Beach development to create a combined apartment.
At the Greenland Centre, the design by BVN Donovan Hill and Woods Bagot includes a new high-rise invention, ventilated glass-walled balconies off the living areas. 
BVN Donovan Hill ­architect Phillip Rossington says the glass wall was necessitated as the penthouses in the clouds will sit more than 220 metres above street level.
Rossington’s team will install large sheets of glass in the form of a windshield to ­protect the balconies, fixed in place by elegant X-shaped steel-claws, which is hoped will enable residents to keep their furniture intact.
Some 400 apartments of the planned 500 apartments in the $600-million dollar development have already sold off the plan.
Prices started at around $528,000 when announced last October with more than 60 per cent of buyers credited as intending owner-occupiers.
<img src="/images/stories/2013/10/24/sydney-oct-23-one.jpg" alt="sydney-oct-23-one" width="470" height="569" style="line-height: 1.3em;">
It has been marketed as 'Like a diamond in the sky' through<a href="https://www.greenlandcentre.com.au/?utm_source=CBRE&amp;utm_medium=EDM&amp;utm_term=greenland&amp;utm_content=greenland&amp;utm_campaign=231013-greenland_centre_sydney" target="_blank"> CBRE residential director David Milton</a>.
Set on the former Water Board site, the 115 Bathurst Street and 339 Pitt Street site has stage-one development approval for 500 apartments reaching around 235 metres high. 
Beating off Harry Triguboff Meriton's 230-metre tall World Tower, which dates back to 2004, the new tower will appear considerably taller as it is built further up a ridge than World Tower.
As I wrote last year the arrival of the Chinese-based Greenland Group to Australian shores was <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/news/chinese-breathing-competitive-life-into-sydney-high-rise-scene/2013031459857" target="_blank" style="line-height: 1.3em;">an auspicious occasion</a>. 
Registered penthouse buyers will be invited to a VIP event later this month with construction is due to start in late July.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Offshore $25 million Greenland Centre, Sydney penthouse sale prospect

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Leichhardt has a new suburb record with the current record-holder home selling on the long weekend for $3.05 million.
Set on 658 square metres, the four-bedroom, four-bathroom home <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-nsw-leichhardt-116876611" target="_blank">sold through Ray White Inner West's David Eastway</a>. With that much land it is about three times bigger than the typical Leichhardt block.
It was sold by the banker Ashley Salter and his wife, Paspaley Pearls creative director, Christine Salter.
{qtube vid:=ZXtDXy8QCE}
The former Victorian fire station had been renovated by French antique furniture importers Bob and Helen Hargreaves, of Le Forge, who sold in 2007 for<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.mcgrath.com.au/buy/house-leichhardt-nsw-2040/50202" target="_blank"> a record $2.45 million</a> through McGrath.
Title Tattle gleans the highest sale in the interim was $2.25 million on <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.mcgrath.com.au/buy/house-leichhardt-nsw-2040/121074" target="_blank">Henry Street</a> in 2011 through McGrath who had unfulfilled $2.65 million hopes for the colonial home.
The Queens Birthday weekend auction offering came with a swimming pool, Annie Wilkes-designed gardens, separate guest house and French manor-inspired interiors.
The manor home was originally the suburb's 1895 fire station. The property, with frontage on Carlisle and Marlborough streets was bought by the Hargreaves from the army in 1993 for $326,000. It was an army drill hall during World War I. 
Sydney agents secured 73.7% success rate from the initial 300 results. There are another 93 results yet to be tabulated by Australian Property Monitors.
Melbourne agents secured a 69.9% result with the top sale at $1.74 million at Brighton.
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Leichhardt forges another residential record for former fire station

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The NSW government has extended the first home owner grant in its June 17 budget.
First-time buyers who purchase new properties - houses or apartments - worth up to $750,000 will now qualify for the $15,000 payment from July 1. 
The previous threshold had been $650,000 since the June 2012 budget. 
Sydney's runaway median dwelling price has moved from $541,000 as at June 2012 to sit currently at $678,500, according to RP Data, so the catchup decision barely keeps pace with actual price movements.
However Housing Industry Association chief economist Harley Dale said the median price for new homes in NSW was around $650,000 which means most first home buyers will be able to get the full benefit. 
The threshold decision also brings NSW into line with several other states and territories.
Treasurer Andrew Constance initially announced the extended eligibility criteria for the first home owner grant by $100,000 with Premier Mike Baird in a visit to Sydney's north west.
“This will make the dream for young families of owning their own home that bit easier,” Andrew Constance said.
The government claims 100,000 new homes have been built since the March 2011 election. But NSW first home buyers still remain at well below the long term average in their buying habits, in part due to the desire to shift their buying to new homes, and also given affordability issues.
Last year around 7600 home owners secured the $15,000 grant, compared with 36,000 in 2011, after the scheme was restricted to new homes. 
<a href="https://www.osr.nsw.gov.au/grants/fhog" target="_blank">The First Home Owner Grant (New Homes) scheme</a> was established in 2012 to assist eligible first home owners to purchase a new home or build their home by offering a $15,000 grant.
The take-up of the grant scheme has been greater in recent times - some 45 per cent higher in the four months to April compared with the same time in 2013.
The scheme applies to new homes only, houses or apartments, and is scheduled to be reduced to $10,000 on 1 January 2016.
In Victoria first home buyers qualify for the $10,000 First Home Bonus, but the value of the property must not exceed $750,000. Eligible recipients will also qualify for a reduction of up to 40% on stamp duty payable on first homes purchased below $600,000. 
Queensland's Great Start Grant valued at $15,000 is paid to first home buyers who are buying or building a new home valued up to $750,000.
The ACT offers first home buyers $12,500 when purchasing new, off the plan with the grant is capped at $750,000 purchases.
<a href="/expert-insights/buying/the-national-guide-to-first-home-buyer-grants">Last month Property Observer published a national guide for first home buyers.</a>
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NSW first home buyers can buy up to $750,000 under extended FHOG

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It was a bit like a five setter, but tennis star Lleyton Hewitt has finally sold his long-vacated $3 million West Lakes house in Adelaide.
The home in Adelaide’s west had been listed through <a href="https://www.harcourts.com.au/Property/534402/SSM081008/29-Martin-Court" target="_blank">Harcourts Aqua agent Steve von der Borch</a>.
His hometown Adelaide property was first listed in November 2008 with a $2.95 million to $3.24 million price range.
It has been sold for about $2.5 million, Fairfax Media reported. The 29 Martin Court property with its 801 square metre block was bought in 2003 for $3.2 million.
It has been vacant for most of the time with Hewitt and his wife Bec having no plans to return to the luxury home. The poolside mural featured on Property Observer's recent roundup of <a href="/expert-insights/should-you-paint-over-that-artwork-before-selling-your-home-five-examples-of-murals-currently-on-the-market">homes with murals currently on the market</a>.
RP Data puts the <a href="/developments/west-lakes-sa-5021">West Lakes</a> median house price at about $610,000.<a href="/news"> </a>
The home was delisted last October when Hewitt’s parents Glynn and Cherilyn Hewitt gave permission to upload interior photos of the 29 Martin Court property as part of the marketing.
“We’re not selling a secret anymore and we can make a bit of noise about it, so we’ve put it up online and will put it up on an international website and very likely it will form part of what we’ll take to China for a property exhibition in Shanghai in December,” Mr von der Borch told the local paper.
The family live in Nassau, in the Bahamas, with their three children — Ava, Cruz and Mia. They retain homes at Kenthurst and Palm Beach in Sydney. Their St Kilda Road, Melbourne apartment on the 19th floor of Yve is quietly for sale.
The home with 700 square metres of living space has five bedrooms, four bathrooms, an indoor lap pool, spa, and sauna area with mural, rock wall water feature.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/stories/2013/10/02/west-lakes-oct-2-floorplan-big.gif" title="Click to enlarge" rel="shadowbox"><img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/stories/2013/10/02/west-lakes-oct-2-floorplan-small.gif"></a>
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Lleyton Hewitt sells long vacated West Lakes, Adelaide former home for a loss

Kew has long been regarded as one of Melbourne's premier residential suburbs. It's a location defined by its grand period homes, leafy streets and some of the city's most prestigious schools, yet it has often sat just outside the spotlight cast on neighbouring Hawthorn and Camberwell.

Increasingly, however, buyers are recognising that Kew offers much of what draws people to those suburbs, with a quieter residential setting, exceptional amenity and long-term owner-occupier appeal.

Within a few minutes' walk, residents can access Kew Junction, one of Melbourne's most established village centres. Cafés, bakeries, restaurants, supermarkets, boutique retailers and everyday services are all on the doorstep, with local favourites including Centonove, Adeney Milk Bar Cafe, and Frank &amp; Harri creating the type of walkable lifestyle that has become increasingly difficult to find in Melbourne's inner east. Beyond the immediate neighbourhood, Glenferrie Road's renowned shopping and dining precinct in Hawthorn and the retail, dining and entertainment offerings of Camberwell Junction are both just a short drive or tram ride away.

The suburb is equally well connected. Tram routes 48 and 109 provide direct access to the CBD, while High Street and Cotham Road connect residents to the wider inner east.&nbsp;Nearby access to the Eastern Freeway also places the Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula and Melbourne Airport within easy reach, adding another layer of convenience for weekend travel.&nbsp;It's a rare combination of connectivity and tranquillity, where quiet residential streets sit just moments from some of Melbourne's most established shopping and lifestyle precincts.

For families, Kew remains one of Melbourne's most tightly held addresses. Carey Baptist Grammar School, Xavier College, Methodist Ladies' College, Trinity Grammar, Ruyton Girls' School and Genazzano FCJ College are all nearby, while the Yarra River parklands, walking trails and sporting clubs provide another layer of lifestyle appeal.

It's within this established pocket that developer Ricdanic is delivering <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/wimba-ave-kew-9-11-wimba-avenue-kew-vic-3101">Wimba Ave</a>, a boutique collection of just 13 residences across two buildings named after its location on the tree-lined Wimba Avenue,&nbsp;within one of Kew's most prestigious pockets where homes have been known to sell up to and above $8 million.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=140755 project_image_fid=354809]

The residences prioritise the space that buyers are increasingly searching for but struggling to find in established suburbs. Living areas extend beyond five metres in width, ceiling heights range from three to five metres, and apartments open onto private gardens averaging around 125 sqm. Selected residences also feature balconies of approximately 60 sqm, while premium inclusions include Miele appliances, double-glazed windows, EV readiness, fully electric systems and a 7.2 NatHERS energy rating.

Architect Chris Idle says opportunities to deliver homes of this scale within established suburbs have become increasingly uncommon.

"There are very few opportunities to do these kinds of developments in leafy, established suburbs," he says. "To get this level of amenity, natural light, and architectural freedom in such a setting is extremely rare."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=140755 project_image_fid=366267]

The architecture draws on Kew's established character through the use of handmade Krause bricks, while landscaping by John Patrick introduces 23 plant species, including nine native varieties, creating an environment which focuses just as much on nature as it does the building.

Construction on Wimba Ave is well underway by renowned high-end builder Sinjen, with completion expected in late 2027. Prices start from $2.22 million.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=140755]

Joel Robinson

The enduring appeal of Kew's tree-lined streets and village lifestyle

"For me, it's the location." That was the first thing Chris pointed to when reflecting on why he and his wife Marita decided to purchase at Candela Ivanhoe, the under-construction new apartment development by Salter Brothers in the heart of the north-eastern M​elb​ourne​ suburb. ​

"We've lived here before… everything is here," Chris said.

"Our doctor is around the corner, there's dentists, pilates, everything we need, restaurants, fast food places, two train stations, Ivanhoe and Darebin, both in walking distance. You don't need anything else."

<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X8K0Bozug7A?si=Puwc6vx_ZO0qQZF8" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>

Just 10 kilometres from Melbo​urn​e's CBD, Ivanhoe combines direct city connectivity with the amenity of an established village community. Residents have access to highly regarded schools, expansive parklands, public transport, and a thriving retail and hospitality precinct centred around Upper Heidelberg Road, all within a neighbourhood that has retained its leafy character despite its proximity to the city.

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/candela-ivanhoe-40-upper-heidelberg-road-ivanhoe-vic-3079">Candela Ivanhoe</a> sits within the heart of this established landscape, positioned just moments from Ivanhoe Village and within walking distance of many of the suburb's most sought-after amenities.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=342 project_image_fid=364553]

From Candela, residents can access cafés, grocers, wine bars, restaurants and essential services on foot, while Ivanhoe Station and Darebin Station provide direct connectivity across Mel​bour​ne. The development is also surrounded by some of the suburb's best-known lifestyle destinations, including Pinkie, Laurent, Enni, Docasa and Woodfire Pizza e Cucina, alongside Ivanhoe Plaza, Woolworths, pharmacies and specialty retailers.

Green space is another defining feature of the suburb. Darebin Parklands, Ivanhoe Park, Nellie Ibbot Park and the Yarra River trail network provide extensive opportunities for recreation, while Ivanhoe Golf Course and Ivanhoe Tennis Club continue to underpin the area's long-established lifestyle appeal.

The suburb's education offering further strengthens demand. Ivanhoe Grammar School, Ivanhoe Girls' Grammar School, Mary Immaculate Primary School and Ivanhoe Primary School have helped establish the area as one of Melbou​​rne's most sought-after schooling precincts, attracting families and downsizers alike who want to remain connected to the area.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=342 project_image_fid=357510]

While location was the priority for Marita and Chris, the project itself also needed to meet their expectations.

"Whilst location was paramount, I was also looking at design of the environment and Candela ticked every box," Marita said.

"We're just thrilled with our choice."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=342 project_image_fid=336455]

Developed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/salter-brothers">Salter Brothers</a>, Candela Ivanhoe has been designed to complement its village setting, with an emphasis on generous floorplans, natural light and practical everyday living.

Residents will have access to a range of shared amenities, including a communal rooftop garden and dedicated residential lounge, complemented by a ground-floor café and lifestyle wellbeing centre, helping foster the sense of community already emerging among future owners.

That approach has resonated strongly with the market. More than 90 per cent of purchasers at Candela Ivanhoe are owner-occupiers, with buyers ranging from downsizers and second-home buyers to young families and first home buyers, creating a genuinely multi-generational community of grandparents, parents and children. It reflects a broader shift across Melbo​​urne's apartment market, where buyers are increasingly prioritising neighbourhood quality, lifestyle amenity and long-term liveability.

Currently under construction by Ironside, Candela Ivanhoe comprises 58 apartments. Candela Ivanhoe is scheduled for completion in the coming months, and residents can move in from September. One to four bedroom residences, prices from $649,000 and limited opportunities remaining.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=342]

Location and lifestyle drive demand at Candela Ivanhoe

As apartment buyers increasingly look beyond the four walls of their residence, the quality and depth of shared amenity has become a defining factor in how developments are designed and experienced, particularly in the high-rise, new apartment development space.

In Southbank, where high-density living continues to evolve, developers are placing greater emphasis on creating environments that support wellbeing, connection, and convenience as part of everyday life.

That approach sits at the heart of <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/aura-at-melbourne-square-7-hoff-boulevard-southbank-vic-3006">AURA</a>, the latest residential tower in <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/osk-property">OSK Property</a>’s $3.5 billion Melbourne Square precinct. Rising 67 storeys above Hoff Boulevard, the 673-apartment development has been conceived around what OSK describes as a “vertical wellness ecosystem”, a layered collection of amenities that extends throughout the building rather than being confined to a single podium level.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=151921 project_image_fid=370263]

The amenity offering begins on the seventh level within the AURA Club, a dedicated resident hub focused on health, relaxation, and daily convenience. Here, residents will have access to an indoor swimming pool, cold plunge, spa, sauna, and steam room, alongside a fully equipped gym, reformer Pilates studio, and yoga room.

The wellness facilities are complemented by a range of spaces that acknowledge the changing ways people live and work. Work-from-home lounges and co-working areas sit alongside a library, music room, games room, cinema facilities, and open-air terrace spaces, providing residents with flexible environments that can adapt throughout the day.

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Beyond the internal amenity, AURA introduces a series of Japanese-inspired gardens that form a quieter counterpoint to the tower’s social spaces.

Landscaped retreats feature curated outdoor dining, tranquil courtyard seating, fire pit, and a tea house pavilion. Rather than functioning as simple recreational areas, the gardens have been designed as places for reflection and informal gathering, drawing on principles of balance, nature, and calm that underpin the project's broader design philosophy.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=151921 project_image_fid=367810]

The social amenity continues to evolve as residents move higher through the building. Levels 49 and 50 house the Meridian Club, where a lounge bar, conservatory spaces, and private dining rooms take advantage of elevated city views. At the summit of the tower, the exclusive Cumulus Club spans Levels 66 and 67, offering additional lounges, private dining, and meditation and treatment rooms positioned above Melbourne’s skyline.

For OSK Property, the extensive amenity offering reflects a broader focus on wellbeing as a core component of apartment living rather than an added feature.

“Aura stands tall as an exemplar of holistic wellness – its focus on social, physical and mental health culminate in a building that is calming, restorative and relaxing, where residents will have their own sanctuary within the well-connected and sought-after Southbank,” says OSK Property CEO Chong Boon Woon.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=151921 project_image_fid=367796]

AURA’s amenity strategy extends beyond the tower itself through its integration with the wider Melbourne Square precinct.

Residents will have direct access to Kennedy Park, Southbank’s 3,745 sqm landscaped public park, alongside a full-line Woolworths supermarket, childcare centre, hospitality venues, and approximately 1,600 sqm of additional retail planned within AURA’s lower levels. Together, these elements create a highly connected residential environment where daily needs, recreation, and wellness are woven into the fabric of the community.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=151921 project_image_fid=370253]

As Melbourne’s apartment market continues to mature, developments are increasingly judged by the lifestyle they provide beyond individual residences.

Through its combination of wellness facilities, landscaped retreats, social clubs, and precinct-wide amenity, AURA represents a shift toward a more comprehensive model of vertical living, one where shared spaces play as significant a role as the homes themselves.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=151921]

AURA elevates amenity living at Melbourne Square

Builder-developer Scion is the latest to target Sydney's booming Hills Showground Metro precinct, filing plans for more than 100 apartments within walking distance of the station.

Scion has lodged a concurrent rezoning and State Significant Development Application for <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/27-33-middleton-avenue-castle-hill-nsw-2154">27–33 Middleton Avenue</a>, where it plans to replace four existing homes with an 11 and 14-storey mixed-use development comprising 109 apartments, six affordable housing dwellings, and a ground-floor café.

Designed by BHK Architects, the proposal includes three levels of basement parking with 174 spaces, more than 1,200 sqm of communal open space, and extensive landscaping across the 3,791 sqm site.

The development has been designed as two buildings connected by a recessed wintergarden spine, with the 14-storey building positioned to the south and the 11-storey building to the north.

<img alt="Scion" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="64dc359d-736b-43b8-87a8-70a8285cab47" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-06-25%20at%208.47.01%E2%80%AFPM.png?VersionId=PXh.m8id_aevBPHEckPf88wQ2RQThPos" />

The apartment mix has been weighted towards owner-occupiers, with 13 one-bedroom apartments, 55 two-bedroom residences, 31 three-bedroom apartments, six three-bedroom lofts, and four four-bedroom homes. Six apartments will be dedicated as affordable housing in line with the NSW Housing SEPP.

According to the Architectural Design Report by BKH, the proposal seeks to create "a place-responsive architecture" inspired by the natural landscape surrounding Cattai Creek, while strengthening the public domain through landscaping, active frontages and a neighbourhood café.

Atlas Urban, in its Urban Design Report, says the proposal takes a different approach to increasing density around Hills Showground Station by favouring a more slender, vertically articulated built form over a conventional mid-rise outcome. The report argues this allows for greater deep soil planting, improved solar access and a better public domain outcome, while still delivering additional housing close to rapid public transport.

The site sits around 500 metres from Hills Showground Metro Station, within a precinct earmarked for significant residential intensification following the opening of the Sydney Metro Northwest line. Planning documents accompanying the application note that Greater Sydney's population has grown by more than one million people since planning for the precinct first began, reinforcing the need to accelerate housing delivery around existing transport infrastructure.

Scion is expanding its development pipeline which also includes <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/chatham-west-ryde-2-6-chatham-road-west-ryde-nsw-2114">Chatham in West Ryde</a>, 62 apartments which are approaching completion. They also have a State Significant Development Application with the NSW Government's Housing Delivery Authority for <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/96-anzac-avenue-west-ryde-nsw-2114">145 apartments on Anzac Avenue</a>, also in West Ryde.

First look: Scion plots Castle Hill apartment development near Hills Showground Metro Station

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/urban-property-group">Urban Property Group</a>&nbsp;has unveiled its scaled-back plans for a pair of towers rising up to 49 storeys directly opposite Bella Vista Metro Station.

The builder-developer will deliver 674 apartments and a new mixed-use hub at the gateway to the station precinct.

The State Significant Development Application has been lodged under the Housing Delivery Authority pathway for the 6,979 sqm site at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/9-11-mawson-avenue-bella-vista-nsw-2153">9-11 Mawson Avenue</a>, with the apartments sitting above a mixed-use podium. Initial plans were for closer to 900 apartments across two 40-storey towers.

Located around 30 metres from the Bella Vista Metro Station entrance, the development is intended to act as a catalyst for the long-planned Bella Vista Station Precinct, transforming a vacant site into a transit-oriented residential and commercial destination.

Planning documents describe the project as delivering "a high-density mixed use destination that combines housing, retail and community-serving uses in a highly accessible setting."

<img alt="First look: Urban Property Group plans 674-apartment Bella Vista towers opposite Metro station" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="21c08216-589e-490d-ad08-2d88b6fa62d9" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/bella%20vista%20podium.png?VersionId=3TnwjjQCNwTsmyQRaWnFrLTSAF0CJeka" />

Designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/turner-studio">Turner</a>, with landscape architecture by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/landscape-architect/arcadia-landscape-architecture">Arcadia</a>, the project comprises 674 apartments, including 102 affordable housing dwellings representing 15 per cent of the residential floor space. The housing mix spans studios, one, two and three-bedroom apartments, alongside a collection of townhouse-style residences integrated into the podium levels. The development also includes specialist disability accommodation and an elevated provision of adaptable and liveable housing.

The mixed-use podium has been designed to create an active urban centre around the Metro station, incorporating a 1,423 sqm supermarket, a 3,029 sqm gym, specialty retail spaces, a 100-place childcare centre and a publicly accessible "city room" community space. A secondary laneway, active frontages and landscaped public areas are intended to improve pedestrian connectivity through the site and strengthen links between the station precinct and surrounding neighbourhood.

In the project's design report, Turner said the proposal responds to Bella Vista's emerging role as a higher-density centre within Sydney's north-west growth corridor.

"The project transforms a strategically located site into a high-density mixed use destination that combines housing, retail and community-serving uses in a highly accessible setting," the report states.

"Active frontages, a publicly accessible city room, a secondary laneway and a mix of uses including a local supermarket, child care centre and gym create a more complete and socially useful urban environment for residents, workers and the wider community."

<img alt="First look: Urban Property Group plans 674-apartment Bella Vista towers opposite Metro station" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="0fde6220-82de-4f6a-9b63-d0fd8157acc9" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/bella%20vista%20da.png?VersionId=7hEmuSutH8plTd_RqqdmPu055F6qe554" />

Urban Property Group has been one of the busiest developers across Greater Sydney this year.

The developer is progressing around 1,000 apartments across <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/news/nsw/first-look-urban-property-group-plans-next-major-wollongong-tower">two projects in Wollongong</a>, with several thousand more homes in the pipeline across Newcastle, Castle Hill, Little Bay and Penrith.

Jonathan Chancellor

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