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Cintamani, the redundant Noosa hinterland weekender of US-based music producer and songwriter Mike Chapman, has sold for $4.25 million through Tom Offermann Real Estate agents Eric Seetoo and Tom Offermann.
Chapman bought for the 35 hectare property just over a decade ago for $8 million. He was willing to take $5.7 million last year.
Cintimani was built by Austrian tennis champion Thomas Muster in the mid-1990s, so of course features a championship tennis court.
Is it a replica of centre court at Flushing Meadows in New York, home of the US Open. The net posts were once installed at the All England Club in Wimbledon.
The single level, five bedroom retreat offers over 1,400 sqm of living space.
The music room and studio were sure to be a driving force behind Chapman's purchase, who famously helped pen Tina Turner's hit song Simply the Best.
Muster paid $1 million for the parcel in 1994 and sold his newly built home for $7.6 million in 2002 to Stephen Walker, the co-founder of debt collection agency Collection House, and his wife Sue.
Offermann indicated the iconic Noosa country estate was selling for substantially less than replacement costs.
This article was first published in The Weekend Australian.
 
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jchancellor-FAypfDUnLy

Cintamani, the Noosa hinterland trophy estate, sells

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Renters want stability and security of tenure for the same reasons property owners do. 
They seek a stable location that enables the household to stay connected with their family, friends, schools, jobs and community. 
Moving frequently is also inconvenient and expensive, so the ongoing threat of not having leases renewed leaves renters, especially low-income renters, vulnerable. 
There is now a new concept that aims to alleviate some of the issues. 
Build to rent is where investors build multi-unit buildings and, instead of selling the units, they are retained to rent. 
Build to rent is well established in the UK and USA, but never really taken up in Australia by large scale investors.
Indeed rental housing supply has been primarily come from individuals rather than or large investors or even government in Australia. It's been mostly left to mum and dad investors. 
There have been very few large scale investors with the capacity or preparedness to take it on. Certainly Harry Triguboff leads the way given the many apartments he has kept in his private portfolio. While such apartment developments increase rental supply, they do not target lower income households. 
Unlike many European countries where public/social housing is a major component of the housing profile, social housing has never exceeded more than six percent of Australia’s housing stock. 
An Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute study indicated big Australian investor institutions had no experience of large scale investment in rental housing in to judge Australian outcomes. Untried investment niches normally require a pioneering investor and a novelty premium on the rate of return. 
The recent announcement by NSW Minister for Social Housing, Pru Goward of a project in Redfern provides such a positive start towards the aim of providing a more diverse supply of housing for Sydney. The site will accommodate social, affordable and market rental housing on land provided by the NSW government.
The government to retain the land while investors, in partnership with community housing providers will fund, build and manage the site under a 40 year lease.
The Elizabeth Street site, which includes the Police Citizens Youth Club premises, will be exempt from land tax. It’s expected 500 dwellings will be built with 30 per cent earmarked for affordable housing.
The Property Council NSW executive director Jane Fitzgerald said the government has put its money where its mouth is. “They’re not only giving the land but also giving a full land tax exemption for the project which should really make a difference for making the financials stack up,” Ms Fitzgerald said.
One of the key reasons for Australia's slow embrace has been the perceived low returns. High property management costs are another barrier, coupled by the illiquidity that comes with all property assets.   
There also remains a perceived high risk, of public policy changes. Unlike commercial property, the current GST rules won't help the roll out of build-to-rent.
That's something for Treasurer Scott Morrison to address. The shadow treasurer Chris Bowen has sought a parliamentary review as it "would be a shame to see this sector get killed by policy."
This article first appeared in The Daily Telegraph.
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NSW State Government backed build to rent will offer renters stability

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As the property cycle currently sits, regional NSW is a stronger property market than Sydney, but beware it has more pitfalls.
The last financial year saw regional NSW values up 3.2 percent, while metropolitan Sydney was down 4.5 percent.
There'd been strong price growth in the 2016-17 financial year too when regional growth was up 11.9 percent, on the coat tail of the stellar 16 percent growth in Sydney, according to CoreLogic.
But scratch below the headline statistics, and the regions are rife with loss taking.
Yes Sydney is now feeling the pinch with some vendors selling their properties at less than they originally paid.
But not at anywhere near the levels experienced in the regions.
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Over the first quarter of 2018, the proportion of resales at a loss across Sydney was 2.4 percent. 
Botany Bay, Hunters Hill, Mosman and Willoughby had no resales at a loss over the quarter while Burwood, Canterbury and Hurstville had the highest proportion of losses.
The proportion of resales at a loss across the NSW regional markets sat at 4.2 percent.
So even in times of continued regional strength, its loss taking was almost double; and at a time when the share of resales at a loss in regional NSW was at its lowest since 2005.
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The resales at a loss were up in the Illawarra, Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, but down on the Mid North Coast.
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CoreLogic research analyst Cameron Kusher forecasts the price decline in Sydney was now resulting in a significant deceleration in growth in regional markets. 
"These regions may see values fall on an annual basis over the coming months," he anticipates.
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Loss taking remained higher among regional investors than owner occupiers. 
Investors, because of taxation rules, are more prepared to incur a loss because they can offset loses against future capital gains.
As declines set in, CoreLogic noted investors, who have been increasingly active in the housing market, may make for the exits which in turn could result in much more supply becoming available for purchase at a time when demand for housing falls because values are declining.
The key demographic backdrop remains unchanged, with the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics population figures. They show around two-thirds or 15.8 million of all 24.6 million Australians live in Sydney, then Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide prompting Simon Kuestenmacher, the director of research at The Demographics Group, to note Australia's fortunes depended heavily on a handful of cities.
"We built one big city with one big central business district in each state, gave each a few satellite cities (for example Wollongong) and also threw in some small towns to manage farming and mining … and, voila, that’s the Australian urban landscape," he suggested.
The silliest thing for cashed up investors to do at this point in the cycle is speculative regional buying which seeks to time the market.
The best risk mitigator is a long-term strategy.... and don't for one moment think we are seeing any permanent passing of the baton from Sydney to the regions.
This article first appeared in The Daily Telegraph.
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Regional NSW remains a riskier property investment than Sydney

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The longtime home of the boxing legend Johnny Famechon at Frankston South sold before its scheduled weekend auction.
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The boxing hall of fame inductee’s home (top) came <a id="x_mcntLPlnk84713" href="https://www.realestateview.com.au/real-estate/9-wandana-crt-frankston-south-vic/property-details-sold-residential-11910624/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable">with $1.2 million to $1.3 million price hopes</a>.
A nearby Mount Eliza buyer put in a strong offer to snap it up on Friday.
It was built in the 1970s with Mediterranean touches, as a family home after Famechon had been crowned world featherweight champ in 1969.
He was inducted in the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame in 2003, having recorded 56 wins, six draws and five losses over his impressive 20-year career.
There were only a few traces of photographic memorabilia hanging on the walls dating back to the triumphs of the 73-year-old who has been immortalised in a statue at Frankston’s Ballam Park.
Famechon had custom built the four bedroom home on the 2809sq m property, with a pool and tennis court.
Meanwhile the AFL Richmond star Alex Rance sold his Niche, Richmond investment apartment (below.)
The two bedroom pad at 606/120 Palmer Street fetched $678,000, after being announced on the market at $672,000.
<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/2018/7/9/rance.jpg" alt="">
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Three bidders competed for <a id="x_mcntLPlnk481375" href="https://www.realestateview.com.au/real-estate/606-120-palmer-street-richmond-vic/property-details-sold-residential-11917587/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable">the apartment</a> which Rance bought to liver in after his debut season for $675,000 off the plan in 2009.  
<div>The top floor apartment, with two balconies with district views, had recently been a $580 a week rental.</div>
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<div>The price guidance quoted had been $620,000 to $680,000.</div>
The slow down in offerings continued deeper into winter and school holidays, with a total of 1,400 auctions held across the capital cities, down from the prior week when 1,671 auctions took place.
CoreLogic calculated a preliminary auction clearance of 55.9 per cent, which was up on the previous week’s 52.6 per cent final clearance rate.
"The weighted average has remained within the mid-50 per cent range for each of the last 8 weeks, while one year ago 65 to 70 per cent of homes were selling," CoreLogic auction analyst Kevin Brogan said.
"Although the capital city weighted average is substantially lower than a year ago, auction results are holding stronger relative to the 2010-2012 downturn in home values when the capital city clearance rate held below 50 per cent between mid- 2011 and early 2012," he added.
There were 632 Melbourne homes taken to auction, returning a preliminary clearance rate of 58.2 percent. Last week, 791 auctions were held across Melbourne with a lower 57.2 per cent success rate.
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Melbourne's most expensive result was on <a id="x_mcntLPlnk760746" href="https://www.realestateview.com.au/real-estate/124-stanhope-street-malvern-vic/property-details-sold-residential-11906893/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable">Stanhope Street, Malvern</a> when a Shanghai buyer paid $2.74 million for a four bedroom home (below).
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The classic 1893 Victorian period home, Hye House had been expected to sell for between $2.6 and $2.8 million.
It last sold at $1,115,000 in 2005.
In Sydney, 55.1 per cent of properties sold, up from last week when final result saw less than half of Sydney homes successful at auction at just 49.7 per cent.
Click here <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2018/7/9/Cap-Cities-July-9.jpg" target="_blank">to enlarge.</a>
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There were fewer Sydney auctions held this week compared to last, with 544 homes taken to market down from the 634 auctions last week as of final figures.
The highest Sydney weekend sale was <a id="x_mcntLPlnk86675" href="https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-house-nsw-cronulla-128615330" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable">11 Darook Park Road, Cronulla</a>, a likely knockdown home, which sold for $5.8 million.  The four bedroom, three house on Gunnamatta Bay had last sold in 2013 for $3.8 million and $3.2 million in 2008.
Some five of the 11 registered bidders competed for the beachfront on over 1000 sqm. It was the seventh sale on the road above $5 million over the past decade.
Canberra returned the strongest preliminary clearance rate of 64.7 per cent while only 30.8 per cent of homes sold in Perth.
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Johnny Famechon's Frankston South House sells pre-auction

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The Australian division of Purplebricks has reported an EBITDA loss of £11.8 million ($21.1 million), but with average revenue per listing instruction being up 22% to £3,170 it expects to reach monthly profitability within 12 months.
The group says it was seeing a "seachange" in consumer acceptance.
It has have now facilitated the sale and completion of over $2.1 bn of properties in Australia, $1.76bn of which was in the latest financial year.
There were 4544 listings in the financial year.
The loss was bigger than expected, but the group surprised with fewer agents, that they call local property experts.
"We now expect that Australia will reach monthly profitability within 12 months," the company chairman Paul Pindar advised.
The disruptor claims to have saved Australian's over $36 million in traditional agents commission all the time <a href="/news/low-commission-model-under-scrutiny-as-purplebricks-defectors-leak-internal-sales-documents">meeting critical headwinds</a> from within and long established rivals.
"Our business in Australia continues to grow, having only recently completed its first full year in the five key target states.   
"We believe we can create a strong, market leading, profitable business in Australia and will continue to invest in growing our market share," Pindar advised.
The disruptor reported its Australian revenues rose 285% to £13.5 million ($24.1 million) in the year to April.
"Whilst the markets in the UK and Australia have been and continue to be challenging for the industry, with overall transaction volume and sentiment down year on year, we have managed to gain market share, increase revenues and grow customer engagement in all three countries in which we operate," its chief executive Michael Bruce noted. 
"We have made the progress we expected in Australia during this financial year. 
"Revenue has increased by 285% year on year to £13.5m ($24m) and the average revenue run rate has increased by 137%.  
"Average revenue per instruction has increased by 22% to £3,170 ($5680).  
The number of agents sat at 90 although there was a change in strategy during the year to introduce sales associates with a view to increasing the productivity of the lead agents.
A total of 88 sales associates have been recruited.
"Whilst the Australian market overall is challenging for the industry there remains a big opportunity for Purplebricks to capitalise on the significant sea-change in consumer thinking, as they move away from high cost traditional estate agency to saving thousands of dollars and getting great service with Purplebricks. 
"We are investing more in advertising, technology and the advancement of our service in Australia to grow our market share," Bruce said.
Its establishment investment as at 30 April 2018 came to a total of £19.3m ($34.5m) invested by the group in Australia.
Adjusted operating costs increased from £3.9m to £6.7m (70.7%) as the scale of operations increased. 
The loss from operating activities includes the charge of £0.6m (2017: Nil) arising from grant of share options to incentivise and retain Australian employees and agents. 
Marketing costs increased from £3.8m to £11.4m as the business invested in growing market share. 
"This increase of 198.4% compares favourably to the increase in revenue," the accounts noted.
Last December the UK disruptor reported some $1.1 billion of residential real estate – around 2200 homes – had been sold in its first 14 months of operations in Australia.
Australian interim losses more than doubled to £5.1 million as the company ramped up its marketing budget.
The company disclosed as part of its latest interim results that revenue from its Australian business surged to £6.8 million ($11.9 million) for the six months ended October 31.
It was up from £400,000 in the prior corresponding period, when it had only been trading for two months.
Its full-year revenue was forecast to hit £12 million. Its first results were announced <a href="/news/purplebricks-reports-10-million-losses-in-australia">last June</a>.
It suggested the percentage market share in Australia as at last October was higher than UK after first anniversary.
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It had 105 local property experts across five states. 
"We are fast building a brand, with unprompted brand awareness reaching 10%, a level which it took the UK two years to reach. 
"Our aim is to replicate the success that Purplebricks is having in the UK," he advised.
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The five states were New South Wales, Victoria, <a href="/news/queensland-ranks-as-purplebricks-listing-heartland">Queensland</a>, South Australia and Western Australia.
As at last December Purplebricks charged a flat sales fee of £2,708 ($4,500AUD) everywhere other than New South Wales where it charged £3,309 ($5,500 AUD) which includes professional photography, marketing and advertising on platforms Domain.com.au and RealEstate.com.au, as well as the Purplebricks Australia website. 
Given the role of auctions in the Australian property market, Purplebricks offers an additional auction facility with a top-up fee, which includes an auctioneer and all viewings held by a local agent or their experienced viewing assistant.
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Purplebricks Australia sees profitability within next year

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Grenfell, a Kooyong home with rich publishing history, has hit the market.
It was built in the early 1930s for Hugh Randall Syme, a grandson of David Syme whose family held The Age for decades.
He was a highly decorated bomb detection naval officer in World War II and later became general manager of David Syme &amp; Co.
The <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-vic-kooyong-128374370" target="_blank">Mernda Road arts-and-crafts-style home</a>, (above and below) in Edna Walling-designed gardens, was designed by Godfrey &amp; Spowers.
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The home was sold by the Syme family to its current vendors in 2001 for $1.49 milliom.
The four bedroom home is built with timber beamed ceilings, open fireplaces, rustic stonework, tapestry bricks and leadlight windows.
Kay &amp; Burton's Ross Savas and Steven Rode has a guide of between $5.5 million and $6 million.
Meanwhile the site of the former Syme mansion, Rockingham, offloaded in the 1940s has been developed into the Rockingham Townhouses complex.
There is only one of the five <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-vic-kew-121459982" target="_blank">Coy Yiontis Architects-designed townhouses left</a>, priced at $3.2 million through Kay &amp; Burton agent Michael Armstrong.
This article was first published in the Weekend Australian.
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Kooyong trophy Grenfell built for The Age's Syme family listed

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House price growth is typically regarded as a good thing. It creates a feel good wealth effect which triggers spending across the Sydney economy.
But over the past few weeks, ANZ, Moody's Analytics, BIS Oxford, Macquarie Securities, HSBC, Citi, JP Morgan and UBS have all adjusted their price forecasts downwards for the Sydney residential market outlook. 
Most of these economists are saying prices will fall by somewhere up to 10% from peak to trough.
For most property owners who are happy where they are, its not something that is going to directly affect their bottom line. They might just think they are not as wealthy.
The reduced values could certainly affect existing homeowners refinancing mortgage loans in what is already a tougher post-royal commission lending landscape.
The sellers this spring who have owned their home for an extended time are on the whole likely to come up a little short of the stellar price that their new neighbour paid last year.
But with huge 75% gains made during the five year long post-2012 boom, they will be fine.
This downturn, if it stays moderately quarantined, will only truly impact those who bought in the past two years, paying over the odds, and now wanting to sell.
These resales are actually few and far between, although I spotted one in Surry Hills.
The ninth floor, one bedder sold for $753,000 having sold in early 2017 at $770,000.
All up when the $20,000 loss is added to costs, the seller would be down by $70,000.
But at least there was activity arising from the listing which highlights home buying is more affordable for buyers.
There were three bidders for the apartment, so two are still looking.
The NSW Treasury actually anticipates a slowdown in sales activity, which could limit the price falls, but will unquestionably affect many more players in the property market.
Treasury expect just 183,000 annual sales, as property transactions are put on hold.
This figure is down on the prior 210,000 annual sales tally.
That means 27,000 fewer agency commissions and solicitor contracts.
Less bank or mortgage broker loans.
Fewer tradies tasked to fix up those long overdue unhelpful selling issues like the leaking gutters.
No need for those fresh flowers for the Saturday open for inspections. 
Maybe no need for 54,000 bottles of champagne - one for every seller and buyer.
It is this ripple effect which affects the wider economy and potentially triggers a recession.
The Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe recently suggested the current decline was "manageable".
Australia had gone through "plenty of periods" in the last two decades where prices have declined," Dr Lowe said.
"That's what happens in the housing market – we have these big run-ups, prices stabilise, sometimes they might fall, stabilise and then they'll rise again.
“We are watching it carefully.
"As long as it's not a very large decline – it's manageable."
Of course, full time secure jobs have traditionally been the key to owning and holding the family home.
So it is to be hoped the 8,000 layoffs announced this month by Telstra don't become endemic.
This article first appeared in The Daily Telegraph. 
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Sydney property price falls could have rippled effect across economy

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The $65.2 million sale of Phoenix Acres at Vaucluse by Singaporean businessman CK Ow to nearby resident Dr Jerry Schwartz and his wife Debbie topped Sydney’s prestige sales during the past financial year.
The price reflected 10 per cent ­annual growth for the 3700sqm ­estate that ranks as Australia’s third priciest all time sale. The six-bedroom, six-bathroom home sold 22 years prior for $7,001,000 through the same selling agent Craig Pontey.
Schwartz is yet to sell his redundant $32 ­million Vaucluse waterfront estate Loch Maree.
The financial year’s next priciest sale was around $43 million-plus through agent Brad Pillinger when the now Bermuda-based retailing billionaire Brett Blundy sold in Rose Bay to Dover Heights couple Sylvia and Lawrence Myers, who took ­vendor finance. It was one of the few sales that have occurred in the six months following the Phoenix Acres sale.
The $39 million Deauville, Point Piper, sale sat in third place when car importer Neville Crichton secured the beachfront home subject to its construction completion. Crichton’s redundant home on Wolseley Rd was offloaded at $36 million to a near-neighbour, Andrew Potter.
The Vaucluse-based, Australian-Chinese billionaire Dr Chau Chak Wing’s family snapped up the Darling Point trophy home of freight and transport boss Terry Tzaneros for $31.8 million through agent ­Alison Coopes.
The sixth dearest sale for the year was $30,263,400 in Darling Point when John Roth and wife Jillian Segal bought out their neighbours last July.
The seventh dearest was back in Rose Bay with the off-market $30 million Bayview Hill Rd sale of the home of the late Sonja Lyneham to Samira Jeihooni, wife of property developer Arash Tavakoli.
The eighth place $29 million sale saw The Boatshed, on Wunulla Rd, Point Piper, sold after three years on the market by the O’Neil family, and after six decades ownership, to the Point Piper-based former car dealer Paul Scharrer and his wife Pam.
The highest north shore sale ­remains a mystery after the former Foxtel chief executive Richard Freudenstein and his wife Jane sold their Mosman mansion reportedly for a record $23 million.
Sydney’s top sale remains $71 million for Elaine at Double Bay when Pyrmont tech billionaire Scott Farquhar bought the beachfront from publisher John B Fairfax early last year through Ken Jacobs.
Sydney now has a slowing trophy home market in which local buyers have dominated the last top eight purchases.
Despite the hoopla of attracting interest from Beijing, New York, even India, all the known deals were struck with local buyers from next door to just 7km away.
This article was first published in the Sunday Telegraph.
 
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Slowdown hits prestige sales in wake of Phoenix Acres, Vaucluse sale last December 

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The Sydney property developer Sid Londish, the 94 year old giant of the property industry, has died.
He still had all his charm when we last caught up in Milsons Point, one of the many suburbs that he helped transformed through the decades. He'd walked across from his Grandview apartment.
The raconteur wanted to talk about his plan for a $130 million residential retirement devel­opment at Woodend, 70km from Melbourne.
Always sharply dressed in a navy reefer jacket, often with cashmere cardigan, along with personalised cuff links, and gold watch, the ever forthright Londish was a true pioneer of the industry.
"I like being out in front,'' said Londish of his 60 plus years in property. He was the grandfather of the industry, taking over the mantle from Sir Paul Strasser in 1989.
I first came across him in 1986 when he paid $11 million for the air space above the Kings Cross tunnel with his initial plans to construct a luxury 500-room international hotel on the one hectare site sold by the NSW Department of Main Roads site. He was, at the time, a 62-year-old self made millionaire, who shunned my comparison to any likeness to Blake Carrington, the coiffured oil mogul from the then hit television series, Dynasty.
The workaholic, thick-skinned property developer was born in April 1924 at Tientsin, in northern China, arriving in Australia as an 11 month old. His British father, who had come to Australia in 1885 as a 17 year old, had been in China to set up a typewriter factory where he'd met his Russian wife.
His father introduced him to the phrase from Euripides: "Men honor property above all else; it has the greatest power in human life."
He pioneered a range of visionary commercial and residential property developments across Sydney. 
He'd built NSW's first shopping centre at St Ives in 1960, then went onto develop Australia's first village-style shopping centre in Kings Cross. There was the 1963 Southside Plaza, the £800,000 development which included the popular Rockdale Bowl.
In the early 1980s he developed the Tower Square Village at North Sydney which SMH writer Valerie Lawson noted was aimed at people with plenty of disposal income and were attracted by glitter and glamour. The Big Bear office and retail complex in Neutral Bay came in the late 1980s too.
He developed the Hunter Connection, the major pedestrian retail food court thoroughfare to Wynyard Station, where retailers are currently unhappy with how Brookfield is dealing with the pending redevelopment distruption.
Then it was creating Australia's first bulky goods Supa Centre at Moore Park in 1993. Then there was the redevelopment proposal for the opposite corner, The Reschs Brewery site.
In 1988 Londish's Comrealty Ltd and the Japanese firm, EIE Developments, headed by Dr Bungo Ishizaki, unveiled plans for an $850 million office block to be built on the site of Sydney's first Government House.
The Young Street project would be "as important in Sydney as the Bond Centre is in Hong Kong," he noted. They are now the prestigious Governor Phillip and Macquarie towers in the CBD.
There were the Ritz Carlton hotel projects. Australia's first Ritz-Carlton was established when Londish constructed it on Macquarie Street in the late 1980s for Japanese millionaire singer, Masao Sen.
His prestigious residential developments included Pulpit Point at Hunters Hill; No. 9 Elamang Avenue, Kirribilli; The Wintergarden Apartments, Rose Bay, Grandview Apartments, Milsons Point among many others.
These all had such extravagance which are now actually the norm. 
Londish pioneered the luxury trend on the Kirribilli waterfront in the early 1980s. It was long before the term empty nester was conceived. His low rise residential building - in the grand southern Mediterranean tradition and finished with Corinthian scrolls and balustrades - was designed by architect Michael Stanley. The six apartments, with north-east aspect over Careening Cove, originally fetched about $500,000 each. In 1990 prestige apartment specialist Andrew Macluran sold one for $3.5 million, setting a record price for a North Shore apartment and an Australian record for a resale apartment. 
Londish had a policy of living in his own buildings, proclaiming he was not frightened to be in daily contact with his fellow occupants.
"That's how confident I am of presenting a quality product." 
There were certainly failings, financially and in his relationships. 
In Woolloomooloo, his joint initiative with the Moscow Narodny Bank came unstuck in the 1970s recession. He was undone again in the 1990s recession.
But his enduring legacy includes pushing for the development of Sydney's third runway, as chairman of the Sydney Convention and Tourist Bureau.
"The government has a responsibility to tell us why we can't have it and I'm not talking about saving someone's bloody arse in Parliament," he forthrightly said, referring to the Minister for Aviation Support, Gary Punch, whose constituency was near the airport.
Much earlier he was apparently creating and operating Australia's first offshore oil rig too. And sand mining at Lithgow.
In 1986 the extraordinary specimen of a Plesiosaur was found partially preserved in opal.
Londish purchased the damaged specimen and then employed Australian palaeontologist Paul Willis to reconstruct the sea beast. 
The opal mining machinery had crushed the skeleton into hundreds of fragments with Londish having the idea that he would donated it to the Australian Museum under the Tax Incentives for the Arts scheme.
Paul Willis, then a doctorate student, but later to become a Quantum presenter on the ABC, spent some 450 hours joining all the broken fragments together. 
Liking light opera, he was credited as assisting Paul Keating's pursuit of opera. He once told how he often gave Keating "fatherly advice" until they lost contact after falling out over fringe benefits tax.
Londish's linkedin profile indicated his education was "the school of hard knocks." 
Sid Londish often recalled "poverty everywhere" growing up in harbourside Woolloomooloo.
He got his first job aged nine filling nail polish bottles being paid sixpence fornine-hour shifts.
In 2015 he kindly participated in a school program at Plunkett Street Public School – Me, You and Woolloomooloo – which gleaned first-hand history of the suburb when Year 4, 5 and 6 students conducted interviews.
Londish spent about $20 million buying Woolloomooloo terrace slums and proposed a $400 million redevelopment in the early 1970s, seeking a 12:1 floor space ratio. The locals dubbed him "Quick Quid Sid."
His overly ambitious Woolloomooloo proposal came after he met one of his mentors, Daniel K. Ludwig, a fabulously wealthy shipping magnate, and richest man in the USA, who created the upscale suburban communities of Westlake Village in California.
By 1974 after two years of green bans, Londish’s backers withdrew, forcing Londish’s company Regional Holdings to abandon the project.
Some two decades earlier the Londish family's Woolloomooloo engineering workshop had closed two years after Prime Minister Robert Menzies scrapped the engineering depreciation allowance in 1950.
In the early 1990s SMH writer Deirdre Macken wrote his face went purple whenever he spoke of planners, council officers, and bureaucrats.
The Weekend Australian journalist Kate Legge wrote of him three years ago in a feature on 90 plus year olds who were living life to the max.
Describing him as "tall, with a weathered countenance, gold-rimmed glasses, combed furrows of white hair and a cautious gait, his appearance belies an indefatigable zest for the next big wave."
That was endeavouring to create a better lifestyle for elderly Australians with his new concept in aged living resorts.
After a lifetime building city towers, golf courses and shopping centres, he was hell bent on a mission to revolutionise aged care because the places he'd visited horrified him.
"I thought, 'If this is going to be my old age, I'd shoot myself'." 
She described Londish as a poster boy for the idea of "active" ageing underpinning the Intergenerational Report.
Londish, the ex-RAAF pilot in PNG, had a vision for aged care.
He envisaged serviced offices at his retirement village proposal.
"On offer will also be lectures on financial planning, how to update your computer skills, and many more courses to ensure guests have something to do both physically and mentally every day."
"I know what old people need and they need two things.
"First of all they can't be lonely. They need to be mixing with people and doing things every day.
"The second thing is if you don't keep your mind and body active you'll become a vegetable, so this place is all about living. It's all about getting out of bed and having something to do. I do this myself. I swim for half an hour every morning, it keeps everything moving; it allows me to turn my head when I'm driving."
Reinventing aged care became his mission after visiting a former golfing buddy who'd retired, sold the family home and moved with his wife into assisted living units with a central lounge.
"We went into this room and it smelt of death, like a repository. They were all sitting around watching each other die. So I came to the conclusion that this is not the way for elderly people to live. I started to look around and the more I saw, the more I was horrified.
"If ever my kids put me into one of those, I've had the richard.'' 
But his grand plans for deluxe retirement villages never quite got there.
Initially there was a 20ha site at Campbelltown in Sydney's west in 2003 where he drew up plans for 1000 apartments.
"It was the first time in my life that I've left council with a standing ovation," he chuckles. But his partners took a quick profit and sold up.
Next he chased a bigger parcel of land in Sydney's north at Oxford falls but the council blocked his proposal through the Land and Environment Court.
"They're all frightened of aged care but I'm telling you it's the biggest problem coming in this country. Not one of the politicians can see it coming. If they do not wake up soon we're going to be so far behind."
He was just as fortnight in 1991 at the Royal Commission into Building Industry Productivity addressing the disruption on his trouble-plagued Premier Apartments site at North Sydney.
The cost of the project blew out from $22 million to $58 million and took twice as long as scheduled.
"A couple of unionists got sand in their meat pies up on the 11th floor," Londish told the commission.
"Strike.
"They all walked off the job.
"I got so frustrated with that job I could not bear to look at it because every time I did I used to get ulcers." Mr Londish said.
He work from his his earliest days to the end this week.
"They'll cart me out of here with my shoes on," he told me as he turned 65 in 1989, with no plans for retirement.
It was in 1957 when Londish's father, who lived until 96, sent him to America in search of new products for their reduced engineering business.
Sitting next to him on the flight to San Francisco was the manager of a Melbourne grocery chain on a trip to investigate cash registers.
"I had no idea what he was talking about but was interested to know more," he recalled to Legge.
"We went to this place called a supermarket where we met the manager who showed me the pre-packaging machines that bagged sugar, cut up butter, cellophane-wrapped tomatoes ... I saw shoppers selecting products from shelves and carrying them to a checkout basket at 10pm at night and I was stunned."
Londish came back and constructed the supermarket at St Ives in 1960.
"Sweetie," he told Kate Legge, "it's all about keeping your brain working. I'm still physically, intellectually and sexually active and I want this for everybody else."
"What I want to leave is a legacy," he says. 
"I want to give old people something better. They will live longer, happier lives and they'll have fewer medical problems. Why? Because they won't get depression sitting on their bum at home which is mostly what happens when their partners die. They watch bloody television until they get to the stage where they have to go into a nursing home."
In 1990 he participated in the documentary done by the Beyond 2000 reporters Simon Reeve, Amanda Keller and Ian Finlay that took a look at the future of the Lucky Country.
Australia 2020, the TV documentary produced by Tim Worner and Peter Abbott, had Londish warning about Australia's apathy and tendency to be "great muddlers."
He feared it would lead to a situation in the year 2020 of where "we're eating bread and jam again . . . or dripping."
The reviews suggested Londish was one of the more outspoken characters on the program.
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Veteran visionary property industry developer Sid Londish dies

<html><body>
Larry Kestelman has sold his Queens Road, Melbourne headquarters for around $60 million.
It has been bought by a Chinese investor.
The 10 Queens Road was sold on a yield of around 5%.
<a href="http://www.colliers.com.au/18940/" target="_blank">Colliers</a> were seeking tenants for vacant office space in March.
Kestelman bought the Queens Road tower in 2013 for $21.35 million on a 10.8% yield.
Number 10 Queens Road, at the north-eastern edge of Albert Park Lake, was bought after the entrepreneur was cashed up after selling his interest in Dodo to M2Communications for a reported $150 million.
He revamped the 8700 square metre building, which sits on a 2300 square metre site.
LK Property will retain its space in the building.
The 19-level building overlooks Albert Park Lake.
Kestelman is meanwhile planning to develop a $140 million, 10-storey office building in Fitzroy North.
“Not everyone wants to work in the city,” Kestelman recently told The Australian.
“My office is on Queens Road (near South Yarra). It’s a great spot. It allows me the benefit of being close to the city but not having to drive into the city every day.”
The 622 Nicholson Street site, currently the Moonlight Receptions function centre, is 3 kilometres from the city centre.
The developer considered apartments but decided on an office project since the Melbourne CBD office market is tight, with vacancy at just 4.6%, according to recent Property Council figures.
The project marks a departure for the developer, whose LK Property Group has largely focused on apartments, other than transforming its own head office.
The group’s flagship project is the $500 million Capitol Grand tower in South Yarra, where close to 80% of the stock below level 32 is sold.
The premium upper-level apartments are 35-40% sold.
 
 
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Larry Kestelman sells his Melbourne headquarters for about $60 million

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/consolidated-properties">Consolidated Properties Group</a> (CPG) is approaching the launch of its latest Brisbane riverfront development, Castile, on the dress circle Skyring Terrace in Newstead.

VIP buyers are now being engaged, with a full public sales launch coming later this year.

Positioned as the final opportunity to secure a new absolute riverfront residence on the East bank of Newstead, Teneriffe or New Farm, Castile at 47 Skyring Terrace has been designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/woods-bagot">Woods Bagot</a> as a timeless addition to the Brisbane skyline.&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=150489 project_image_fid=371113]

The name Castile draws on themes of permanence, sophistication and legacy, reflecting a broader vision centred on enduring architecture and timelessness in the rarest of riverfront positions.&nbsp;

CPG Chairman and CEO Don O’Rorke said the project had been envisioned as a future Brisbane icon.&nbsp;

“With 47 metres of direct river frontage and never to be built out views, 47 Skyring Terrace is the definitive address on the Brisbane River,” O’Rorke said.&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=150489 project_image_fid=371114]

“Rather than following trend-based apartment design, Castile draws inspiration from Brisbane’s great heritage buildings, reinterpreting classical architecture into a contemporary riverfront landmark designed to stand proudly for the next 100 years,” he said.&nbsp;

The approved development will comprise 227 apartments across a 25-storey tower alongside a boutique six-storey riverfront building of just 12 residences.&nbsp;

Construction is scheduled to commence in September 2026.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=150489]

Joel Robinson

CPG unveils Castile Newstead ahead of upcoming sales launch

Australia’s online shopping habits have shifted dramatically over the last decade. As eCommerce volumes surged, so too did the frustrations that came with traditional parcel delivery: missed deliveries, long Post Office queues, parcel theft and the challenge of being home during business hours.

Australia Post’s Parcel Lockers emerged as one of the more practical responses to that changing consumer behaviour.

What started as a relatively niche delivery option has evolved into a nationwide network of more than 1,400 self-service Parcel Lockers positioned at train stations, shopping centres, supermarkets and Post Offices across the country. The system allows Australians to send, collect and return parcels 24 hours a day, fundamentally changing how many people interact with deliveries.

The appeal is relatively straightforward: flexibility.

Instead of waiting at home for a delivery driver or rushing to a Post Office before closing time, users can direct eligible parcels to a Parcel Locker location of their choice. Once the parcel arrives, Australia Post sends a notification with a collection code or QR access through the AusPost app, allowing customers to retrieve their package at any time within the collection window.

For apartment residents in particular, the system has become increasingly valuable.

Higher-density living has created logistical challenges around deliveries, especially in buildings without concierge services or secure parcel rooms. Missed deliveries are common, while parcel theft has become an increasing concern as online shopping volumes continue to rise.

Australia Post itself has repeatedly highlighted the growing issue of “porch pirates” during peak shopping periods, encouraging customers to use Parcel Lockers as a safer alternative to unattended home deliveries.

That security aspect is one of the key reasons the Australia Post Parcel Locker network has grown so rapidly.

Parcel Lockers are positioned as secure, monitored collection points that reduce the risk of theft while also improving delivery efficiency for Australia Post. Instead of multiple redelivery attempts, parcels can be consolidated into a single secure destination.

The Parcel Lockers themselves are free to use through a MyPost account and support a range of parcel sizes up to 16 kilograms and dimensions of approximately 35 x 44 x 61 centimetres.

Beyond receiving parcels, the system has increasingly become integrated into the broader eCommerce ecosystem.

Customers can now use Parcel Lockers to return online purchases, while retailers have embraced the model as a way to improve delivery success rates and reduce friction in the shopping process. Australia Post has actively expanded partnerships with major retailers and promoted Parcel Lockers as part of a broader out-of-home strategy.

The timing of that expansion aligns with broader changes in Australian shopping behaviour.

The acceleration of online retail during and after the pandemic placed enormous pressure on delivery infrastructure. Parcel volumes reached record highs, particularly during Black Friday and Christmas periods, with Australia Post delivering more than 100 million parcels during peak festive seasons.

That growth forced logistics providers to rethink the “last mile” of delivery, widely regarded as the most expensive and operationally difficult stage of the process.

Parcel Locker systems have increasingly been viewed as part of the long-term solution.

The concept itself is not unique to Australia. Parcel Locker networks have become common globally, particularly across Europe and Asia, where dense urban environments and apartment living create similar logistical challenges. But Australia’s geography and suburban sprawl made adoption slower initially.

Now, however, the convenience factor is driving mainstream usage.

For commuters, Parcel Lockers near train stations allow parcels to be collected on the way home from work. For apartment dwellers, they remove the uncertainty around access and missed deliveries.

The rise of the AusPost app has also streamlined the experience, centralising notifications, tracking and Parcel Locker access into a single platform. Australia Post has increasingly pushed customers toward app-based delivery management, partly as a way to combat phishing scams and fake delivery notifications, which have become more sophisticated in recent years.

The Parcel Locker model is also beginning to influence property development itself.

Parcel management has become a growing consideration in apartment building design, particularly as online shopping becomes embedded in everyday life. Many new residential developments are now incorporating dedicated parcel rooms or Parcel Locker systems into foyers and communal spaces.

For developers, parcel management is increasingly viewed as part of the broader resident amenity offering, alongside gyms, wellness spaces and communal work areas.

That reflects a wider evolution in how residential buildings are designed.

Apartment buyers are placing greater emphasis on convenience, security and operational functionality, particularly in higher-density urban environments. Parcel delivery, once considered a minor operational detail, has become an increasingly important part of that equation.

Australia Post’s Parcel Locker network sits at the centre of that behavioural shift.

What began as a simple alternative delivery option has evolved into a key piece of infrastructure supporting Australia’s growing eCommerce economy and changing urban lifestyles.

And as online shopping continues to expand, the role of Parcel Lockers is likely to become even more embedded in how Australians live, shop and receive goods.

How Australia Post Parcel Lockers changed parcel delivery convenience in Australia

Perth’s new apartment market recorded its strongest quarter of sales since Q4 2021, with 412 apartments sold in Q1 2026 and a record quarterly sold value of $537 million, according to Urbis’ latest Apartment Essentials results.

Urbis said the March quarter result reflects strong, highly product‑specific demand across both ends of the market, from more attainable projects delivering at scale, through to premium stock being absorbed by equity‑rich downsizers.&nbsp;

David Cresp, Partner at Urbis, said the key story in Perth is not demand, it is the market’s ability to convert demand into delivered housing.&nbsp;

“This is the strongest sales quarter since Q4 2021, and it reinforces that demand in Perth is real and it’s local,” David Cresp said. “But the task now is delivery, turning that demand into projects that can actually be built and completed.”&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=110291 project_image_fid=302785]

<h2>Affordable product leads, premium demand remains resilient</h2>

Sales in Q1 were led by more affordable projects, with The Boulevard (SKS Group) recording 115 sales in the quarter, the presentation noting this is only the second time a single project has surpassed 100 quarterly sales. The project was able to offer more affordable housing product right next to a train station.&nbsp;

Palmyra West (Finbar) also delivered strong results with 28 sales in Q1, following 84 sales in Q4, with an average price of under $800,000, underscoring depth of demand for well‑located, attainable new stock.&nbsp;

At the premium end, Urbis said downsizer demand is continuing, with the results highlighting Romeo (Applecross, Finbar) recording 75 sales and reaching almost 50% sold in one quarter.

Jual (Shenton Park, Celsius Property) also posted a strong quarter with 28 sales, reaching 39% sold in one quarter.

Urbis noted that Perth apartment demand is not speculative, not investor‑led, and not uniform, describing it as localised, often equity‑driven and highly product‑specific, a pattern reflected in the polarisation between strong “attainable” performers and premium downsizer product.&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=148957 project_image_fid=364102]

<h2>Prices underpinned by costs, and the delivery risk is growing</h2>

Urbis said pricing pressure is cost not demand‑driven: construction costs and delivery risk are now a central constraint, with the results noting build costs remain elevated and volatile, and that energy, fuel and labour uncertainty weigh on feasibility.

David Cresp said a growing challenge for private Build‑to‑Sell developers is simply securing a builder in the current environment.

“Developers are really feeling the pressure from a building market that was operating at capacity and securing a builder is challenging,” David Cresp said, adding that even where a builder can be secured, “trying to get to the price that makes the development financially viable is incredibly challenging in the current market.”&nbsp;

Urbis’ broader WA commentary also notes that industry remains at or above capacity with lot and housing creation, and that many builders are limiting new sales to manage stretched workforces and fixed‑price contract pressures, conditions that flow directly into apartment feasibility and delivery timing.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=108869 project_image_fid=317905]

<h2>Supply: improving later, but still constrained, and Perth lags eastern benchmarks</h2>

While near‑term supply remains constrained, Urbis’ forecast shows completions lifting “Supply is forecast to be back above 1,500 apartments per annum for the first time since 2019”, with 1,775 completions forecast for 2026, and volumes remaining above that level over the following years.&nbsp;

Looking further ahead, completions are forecast to reach 2,500 in 2028, with the report noting 32% of that total is social/affordable, reflecting the role of government‑supported delivery in rebuilding the pipeline.&nbsp;

However, Urbis said Perth remains behind comparable markets on pipeline scale. In a national comparison of projects under construction, the report shows under construction Perth Build‑to‑Sell (BTS) at 3,446 apartments versus the Gold Coast at 7,922. Mr Cresp said “The challenge for Perth is how to we grow the delivery pipeline”.

Urbis’ conclusion is that Perth’s market is increasingly defined by product discipline and delivery certainty, with the research identifying “delivery certainty is key” and calling out builder risk and procurement models as core success factors, alongside “timing and staging”.&nbsp;

Perth apartment sales hit strongest pace since late 2021 as builder capacity tightens

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/sammut-developments">Sammut Group</a> has secured development approval for its latest Brisbane apartment project, marking the Sydney developer’s next step in expanding its Queensland pipeline following the success of its debut Gold Coast development, Coast.

The approved project at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/44-glen-road-toowong-qld-4066">44 Glen Road, </a><a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/toowong-qld-4066">Toowong</a> will deliver a 15-storey riverfront apartment building with 42 residences, significantly increasing the scale of the site’s previous approval for a smaller luxury scheme. Designed by Bureau^proberts, the development will comprise a mix of predominantly four-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments positioned to maximise Brisbane River and city views.

Sammut Director Julian Sammut said the group had been actively searching Brisbane for several years before identifying Toowong as the right fit.

“Brisbane was the right step for Sammut,” Sammut said.

“With the success of Coast we thought we should definitely look to do more in Queensland alone. We then pushed up to look at Brisbane. We've been looking for I'd say two to three years actually and it was hard to find the right location.”

<img alt="Sammut makes Brisbane apartment play" data-entity-type="" data-entity-uuid="" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/f_auto,c_limit,w_1440,q_75/https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/field/image/Screenshot%202025-12-23%20at%203.27.14%E2%80%AFPM.png?VersionId=dYAVIL7qdcGA8ojvkslSrLjczXFejSSx" />

Sammut said suburbs including New Farm and Teneriffe were considered before the group ultimately focused on Toowong due to its strong downsizer demographic and limited supply of developable riverfront land.

The site was acquired off-market after what Sammut described as a lengthy negotiation and planning process, with the developer pursuing an uplift to the original approval.

“We are DA approved now which is very exciting,” Sammut said.

“We've had our change approval come through and we've obviously doubled the height, 15 storeys plus rooftop. We've got 42 amazing apartments that are going to be coming to market soon.”

<img alt="Sammut makes Brisbane apartment play" data-entity-type="" data-entity-uuid="" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,dpr_2.0,q_auto:good/https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202025-12-23%20at%203.27.26%E2%80%AFPM.png?VersionId=ohkRkY0dIZlqdfME2EZePsCQavRiBadE" />

Bureau^proberts said the design responds to Toowong’s evolving urban character, balancing contemporary apartment living with the area’s established residential identity.

“A place where traditional Queensland living has taken place for centuries; Toowong is seeing a shift of contemporary influence, commercial and retail hubs mixed with well-considered residential offerings – all the while maintaining its character and charm,” the architect noted in planning documents submitted to Brisbane City Council.

The architecture practice said the project’s form was shaped by its riverfront setting, flood considerations, neighbouring building scales, and view corridors.

“They said the mix of four and two-bedroom apartments capture the ‘fundamental qualities of Queenslander living,’ translated into the context of a contemporary subtropical building.”

The development sits just off Coronation Drive within walking distance of Toowong’s retail precinct and the upgraded Regatta ferry terminal, while also benefiting from proximity to the incoming green bridge connection to West End. Sammut said the accessibility and amenity offering were central to the site’s appeal.

The approval adds to growing residential activity along the Toowong riverfront, joining nearby projects including Consolidated Properties’ Monarch Residences and Spyre Group’s ARC Residences.

Sammut secures approval for debut Brisbane apartment development in Toowong

Developer Lanevick is heading back into Sydney’s apartment market after focusing more heavily on the luxury townhouse and terrace sector in recent years.

Lanevick, founded and directed by Steve Maroun, is expecting to receive approval in the coming months for a new apartment development in Gladesville, with the aim to launch it to the market later this year.

The 51-apartment project, designed by Studio Johnston, will comprise a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments positioned toward the Hunters Hill downsizer market.

“Traditionally it’s been difficult for people in that market to downsize because there just hasn’t been the right product available,” Maroun said.

“We’re targeting buyers who might have 30 to 40 per cent of their house value sitting in the bank after downsizing.

“They still want good spacious entertaining areas, they still want quality design, but they also want flexibility and the ability to enjoy life a bit more after working hard for a long time.”

The project sits near Boronia Park and within close proximity to the Parramatta River foreshore, an area Maroun says offers more of a Hunters Hill lifestyle than a traditional apartment precinct.

“From a lifestyle perspective, it’s really more Hunters Hill than Gladesville,” Maroun said. “You’re close to the foreshore, close to parklands, and still connected back into the village precinct.”

From level four and above, apartments will capture water views&nbsp;toward Sydney Harbour. Communal amenity will include rooftop entertaining areas, wellness spaces, and a gym tailored toward owner-occupier buyers.

“We’ve really designed these apartments around that buyer coming from the Hunters Hill LGA and what they’re actually looking for in their next chapter.”

The proposed development has also been designed to respond to the changing character of the broader Gladesville town centre, where a growing number of mixed-use and residential proposals are expected to emerge over the coming years.

“Gladesville presented a rare opportunity to deliver a genuinely design-led residential project within an evolving lifestyle precinct, just moments from the growing Gladesville town centre, and we’ve approached the project with a strong focus on architecture, liveability and long-term community value,” Maroun said.

Maroun said Lanevick saw a first-mover advantage within the precinct as planning controls continue to evolve to accommodate greater housing density.

“We think there’s a real opportunity there that hasn’t really been serviced properly yet,” he said.

“There’s going to be a broader evolution of the whole Gladesville village precinct over time, particularly with more activation and mixed-use outcomes.”

The Venus Street proposal will include a commercial and retail component at ground level designed to contribute to that evolving streetscape activation.

“A big part of the thinking was how do you activate that area properly and create more vibrancy and amenity, which is what Hunters Hill has been looking for,” Maroun said.

Lanevick’s focus since 2020 has largely been on smaller-scale luxury townhouse and terrace developments. The developer recently completed Royale Randwick, also designed by Studio Johnston, where prices reached $3.65 million. The project was featured in the UDIA NSW 2026 Professional Development Prospectus and was also named a finalist for Development of the Year.

&nbsp;

Jonathan Chancellor

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