Crown Group look to expand apartment development pipeline, weighing up opportunities in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne

Crown Group are on the look out for apartment development sites, as the Sydney headquartered developer looks to bulk up its apartment development pipeline for the next five to 10 years.

They're not limiting their search to opportunities just in the Harbour capital however, with Crown Group Chairman and chief executive Iwan Sunito suggesting they are also looking in Melbourne and Brisbane.

“While the international border remains closed, growth will be hampered significantly," Sunito said, adding that the hampered growth is why they are looking at development deals.

“The market is more realistic than three to five years ago as foreign groups and state-owned enterprises have left the market. 

“The market contracted due to the Government’s policy on foreign buyers having to pay double the stamp duty as well as difficulty in finding access to funding.  

“Covid-19 and the shutdown of the international border also dramatically impacted Australia’s residential apartment market, where foreign buyers used to make up at least 50 per cent of purchasers,” Sunito noted. 

Despite the international border remaining closed, Crown Group remains confident in the future, based on initiatives such as government stimulus packages such as Jobkeeper which has buoyed Australia’s economy. 

Sunito compares the stimulus supply offered by the Australian government as similar to the US.

“Property prices have risen in the US in the last 12 months, which is not dissimilar to Sydney,” Sunito noted. 

“There is such a shortfall of city apartments. The first home buyer grant really only impacts the house and land market due to the price point. It’s barely making an impact in the apartment market as apartments in the inner city are upwards of $1 million.” 

“The city will experience a crisis of supply which will in turn push the price growth even further in inner city apartment developments,” Sunito said.

Crown are currently marketing two inner city Sydney projects, the luxury Waterfall by Crown at Waterloo, completed in late 2019 shortly before COVID hit, and the nearby Mastery by Crown which will be Australia's first Japanese-themed community.

Designed by acclaimed Japanese architect Kengo Kuma in collaboration with Koichi Takada Architects and Silvester Fuller, the masterplanned community will have five uniquely designed and distinct residential buildings positioned above a 2,175 sqm retail precinct which will home 27 stores and a new Japanese eat street.