Author: Susan Wellings
Date: October 26, 2009
Publication: Sydney Morning Herald
Some are the height of chic, style and elegance; others are simply top places to live.
But for people who want to scale the very pinnacle of apartment living, Sydney’s best 10 developments of the past decade are the buildings in which to own.
When Domain Apartments launched exactly 10 years and one day ago today, apartments were still more commonly known by the far less sophisticated “flats” and “home units” and to most they were simply cheap substitutes – or half-way homes – to what all hearts really desired: a house.
It’s been the revolution in the design of apartments, however, ever since Harry Seidler’s 1999’s Horizon first pierced the clouds, that’s helped usher in a revolutionary shift in attitudes.
As the boutique buildings and classy complexes took shape across Sydney to accommodate a rapidly growing population, apartment living suddenly started to become terribly fashionable, even for generations of Australians reared on the fond dream of the quarter-acre block.
And it’s our top 10 developments of the decade – Horizon, Altair, Republic II, Jacksons Landing, Bennelong, Mondrian, Macquarie Apartments, Walsh Bay, Rockpool and Newington – that are helping mould Sydney into a 21st-century high-density haven.
Poor cousins to stylish siblings “Ten years ago, apartments really were the poor cousins to houses,” says the author of the book Homes in the Sky: Apartment Living in Australia, Dr Caroline Butler-Bowdon.
“But the cultural perception of apartment-living has changed considerably in the last 10 years and they’ve now assumed a role at the centre of things.s.
“That’s attributable, in part, to the considerable growth in the numbers, and also choice, of apartment
As a result, there’s been a dramatic reassessment of apartment living as an alternative to having a house and they’ve become the subject of a great deal of hype.”
Today, one in five Sydneysiders lives in an apartment and the demand for both high-end and affordable apartments has led to some model developments, good prices, healthy capital growth and high rental yields.
Between June 1999 and June 2009, the median price of Sydney apartments increased by 66 per cent, from $234,000 to $388,000, according to Australian Property Monitors (APM), equating to an average annual capital return of 5.2 per cent.
“But over the same period, the median price of Sydney houses increased by 86 per cent – an average annual rate of 6.4 per cent – from $294,000 to $547,000,” says an APM economist, Matthew Bell.“
“At the same time, units’ gross rental yield has exceeded that of houses by about 0.7 per cent per annum on average, so you’d have to say over the 10-year period, houses have been the better investment.”
Yet when you break that period down, during the second five years, 2004-09, house prices actually fell, while apartment prices rose by 3.1 per cent, Bell says.
“Include that better yield and, since 2004, Sydney units have significantly outperformed Sydney houses for investors in terms of both capital growth and rental yield.
In addition, more people are looking at units now because of their affordability and lifestyle benefits, advises the research director of RP Data, Tim Lawless.
“Empty-nesters are increasingly moving in because of low maintenance and because they’re in areas closer to the facilities of the city, while single people and professionals are the other large sectors of the market.
“Going into the future, when you add in the current yields – 5.4 per cent for units and 4.4 per cent for houses – I think you’ll find returns on both much more comparable.”
Designing the top 10 Wilkinson Award-winning architect Frank Stanisic is so passionate about apartment living that he once moved his wife, teenage son and cat from their comfortable house into a tiny, 75 sq m apartment as part of a six-month experiment – which stretched into three years – to see what would be the minimum space a family needed to survive.
“There’s an acceptance now that you can live well in well-designed apartments,” Stanisic says. “They’re also the response to what I would call climatic change.”
Stanisic’s revered Mondrian, at 2 Powell Street, Waterloo, was designed in the emerald afterglow of Sydney’s “green Olympics” and was an exceptionally successful experiment in high-density, eco-friendly living, with 250 people housed on a half-hectare site.
Completed in 2003, its $65 million worth of real estate sold out completely in two weeks flat. Another building recognised for its environmental smarts is 2001’s Altair at 3 Kings Cross Road.
Designed by Tina Engelen and Ian Moore, it won the 2002 title of best multi-occupancy residential building in the world, with a cross-ventilation system airing apartments.
“It was about good ventilation, sun-shading and lino floors from an environmental point of view,” says architect Moore, who these days designs alone.
“It’s also one of the most efficient buildings, with an unprecedented 93 per cent of the floor space able to be sold.”
Prices have risen 80 per cent for one-beds since off-the-plan sales and 92 per cent for three-beds, says a director of Belle Property Scott Aggett.
In the same period, Pyrmont’s Jacksons Landing began construction – a sprawling development on former industrial land on the harbour, with different parts of the complex completed from 2001 to 2008.
Prices of an average three-bed apartment have risen from $820,000 to $1.365 million – a rise of 66 per cent – according to developer Lend Lease.
Another large-scale development, Newington, on the western side of Homebush Bay, by a Mirvac-Lend Lease consortium, has been praised both for its sensitive environmental design and its style.
With different stages completed from late 1999 to 2008, it’s now home to 4,000 people and a typical two-bedroom apartment has grown in price from $398,000 in 2004 to $497,000 now, a rise of 24.8 per cent.
Seidler’s controversial 43-storey Horizon on Forbes Street, Darlinghurst, has enjoyed stronger price growth over a longer period since its completion in 1998-99.
Prices there for one-beds have risen 80 per cent, while two-beds have gone up 97 per cent, Aggett says. At Burley Katon Halliday’s Republic II nearby, prices have risen less: by 52 per cent for a one-bed, 47 per cent for two and 30 per cent for three bedrooms.
Among the other top-end complexes, Bennelong at East Circular Quay, the collection of four buildings containing a total of 250 apartments, has appreciated well since completion in 1999.
A one-bed in the building, sold off the plan for $935,000, sold recently for $1.5 million, a rise of 37.6 per cent, says a Ray White Circular Quay agent, Anthony Flood.
If you bought off plan in 2000 and sold between 2007 and 2009 at Walsh Bay on Hickson Road, vendors would enjoy average growth of 29.25 per cent at The Pier and 17.75 per cent on the Shore, says Belle Property’s David Clark.
At Renzo Piano’s Macquarie Apartments, finished in mid-2000, a typical three-bed apartment bought for $1.7 million off the plan recently sold for $2.7 million, a rise of 58.8 per cent, says a First National agent, Annette Morris.
Meanwhile, in Mona Vale, apartments in Rockpool, finished in late 1999, sold off the plan for between $595,000 and $930,000, with top prices paid for $2.55 million for one apartment in 2008 and $2.1 million for another in 2006.
Investment Strategy is on the money
When former publisher and advertising agency owner Colin Tate bought his first property in December 1999 and sold it for a handsome profit soon after, it started him on a 10-year trail of investing in apartments.
And for the most part, it was a strategy that stood him in good stead. His first apartment was bought off the plan in Darlinghurst’s Republic II for $590,000.
Five years later, he sold it for $815,000. Today, it would be worth a little less, at $760,000. “It was one of the first seriously sexily designed developments in the regeneration of the inner east,” says Tate.
“I was thrilled with the building but, on reflection, it was sad that the retail area never really took off.” In 2001, he and partners bought two more apartments off the plan at Encore, on the site of the old Sebel Town House hotel in Elizabeth Bay.
“We had our teething issues with [developer] Mirvac but that was settled and we installed good management. I love that building, the community around and everything about it.”
He sold the $995,000 apartment last year for $1,665,000 and kept the other tenanted. Later in 2001, he made an investment that didn’t pan out so well: two apartments off the plan at the St Margarets development in Surry Hills.
That, he said, failed to live up to its promise, with hype about the area becoming a “little Soho” not quite happening.
“It’s still quite a skanky part of town and there were issues with the building and the retail spaces,” says Tate, who ended up selling both in 2007: the $940,000 apartment for $915,000 and his $827,000 apartment for $17,000 less.
He also became chair of the owners corporations at all three buildings simultaneously, as well as chairman of the peak apartment owners’ body, the Owners Corporation Network.
Later, he bought an apartment off the plan in Melbourne’s Eureka Tower. But he recently made what he considers to be his best buy yet: a south coast house to which he has moved.
“It’s the most wonderful thing I’ve ever done,” says the 41-year-old, who is now director of a financial publishing and conference business. “My priorities have changed.” Susan Wellings
Top 10 Sydney’s most significant apartment blocks of the decade
Horizon A 43-storey tower in Darlinghurst, designed by Harry Seidler and finished in 1999.Famous for wave-like balconies and stunning views.
Altair A 19-storey building in Kings Cross, designed in 1999 by Engelen-Moore and completed in 2001. It has a sophisticated system of cross-ventilation, and won a world architecture award in 2002.
Mondrian This Waterloo development, designed in 2000 by Frank Stanisic and completed in 2003, won the Wilkinson Award for density-living and good environmental design in 2003.
Walsh Bay Completed in 2002, is a high-profile recycling of disused wharf structures near The Rocks, with work from architects including PTW, Bates Smart and Clive Lucas Stapleton.
Rockpool Designed by Alex Popov at Mona Vale, this 1999 project continues a strong tradition of walk-ups in the upper end of the owner-occupier market.
Republic II In Darlinghurst, by Burley Katon Halliday, completed in 2000. Uber-trendy in its day.
Jacksons Landing This Pyrmont development involving many architects has been a 10-year project of recycling a former industrial suburb into high density living, with more than 1300 dwellings.
Bennelong At Circular Quay along from the Opera House has been one of Sydney’s most reviled buildings – and at the same time, one of its most desirable. Nicknamed The Toaster.
Macquarie Apartments in the city, by Renzo Piano, is a widely-awarded 17-storey building completed in 1999.
Newington This Homebush development is a new suburb of strata homes built on sustainable principles.
