Sydney buyers pay $15.5m for La Belle penthouse, setting a southern Gold Coast off-the-plan record

A Sydney couple has paid $15.5 million for the Grand Penthouse at Marquee’s La Belle Residences in Palm Beach. It is a new record for an off-the-plan apartment sale on the southern Gold Coast.

The 640 sqm single-level residence tops the previous record of $14.6 million, set at the Sur Kirra Beach penthouse in Coolangatta in December 2025. It also sits 70 per cent above Palm Beach’s apartment record of $9.1 million.

The buyers are relocating from Sydney and plan to live in the penthouse permanently. Marquee’s Jacques Winterburn said the sale reflects a shift in who is buying at the top of the southern Gold Coast market.

“For a long time the southern Gold Coast was where people came for holidays. Wealthy interstate buyers are no longer just buying holiday homes here, they are relocating,” Winterburn said.

“These are people who live on Sydney Harbour. They had already decided to relocate to the Gold Coast, and what took the time was finding the right property in the right location. They chose the northern end of Palm Beach.”

Winterburn said buyers at this level are now comparing Palm Beach directly with Sydney’s most expensive eastern suburbs.

“The comparison has changed. They’re weighing Point Piper and Bondi against the premium end of Palm Beach,” he said. “On space, beach access and lifestyle, this wins.”

The penthouse has 510 sqm of internal living space and a 130 sqm balcony. It has five bedrooms, each with its own ensuite, along with a private cinema, an executive office, a wine display and multiple living areas. The hallways are two metres wide.

The building has more than 40 metres of absolute beach frontage, and the penthouse runs 34 metres of it on a single level. Views extend 270 degrees, from Burleigh Headland and the Surfers Paradise skyline south to Currumbin and Snapper Rocks.

The couple committed within about a month, after inspecting completed Marquee buildings across the Gold Coast. Sales and marketing spokesperson Azura Griffen said finished product, not renders, drove the decision.

“At this price level, buyers wanted to walk through projects we had completed years ago, not look at renders. Track record and trust in delivery are the whole conversation,” Griffen said.

The buyers then spent several months working with Marquee, which is both developer and builder on the project, to rework the layout so every key living space faces the ocean.

“They knew exactly what they wanted. The ocean had to be in every room, the kitchen, the dining room, the master bedroom, the office,” Griffen said.

The $285 million La Belle is due for completion by Christmas 2026. Marquee has already secured another absolute beachfront site in the same northern pocket of Palm Beach, with a launch planned for early 2027.

Griffen said the next project will be smaller, with apartments of 190 to 300 sqm. Pre-registrations are already open, and much of the early enquiry has come from buyers who missed out at La Belle.