No sellout for Hampton development's second offering
One year after the snappy sale of 106 apartments in the Hampton hotel redevelopment in Potts Point, the developers have been unable to repeat its success with a further nine offerings.
The four cheaper offerings – the studio and three one-bedroom apartments – did sell at recent auction, but below the prices the listing agents Ballard Property group had hoped to secure.
All five two-bedroom apartments were passed in, though Ballard senior sales executive Charlie Brendon-Cook says there is interest in them.
The two-bedroom apartments were passed in at prices between $1.1 million and $1.29 million, with three of them passed in on a vendor’s bid.
Before the auction Brendon-Cook said Ballard hoped to secure about $400,000 for the one studio offering, but it sold for $376,000. In last year’s release of the 112-apartment initial offering, which Brendon-Cook suggested were of a similar fitout standard, the pricing for studios began at $385,000. He says the results were very reasonable considering the current Potts Point market.
“There are studios around here that go for $280,000,” Brendon-Cook says. “Not many go up in the fours.”
Prices for the one-bedroom apartments ranged at last month’s auction from $455,000 to $650,000. Brendon-Cook says “the vendor was happy to sell for that price”.
The Hampton hotel was owned by the Nemeth family, who released the original 112 through CBRE and retained 13, including the four penthouses, in June last year.
The Nemeth family entered into a joint venture with residential developer Toga Group on the project. More than 2,000 buyers lodged expressions of interest for the Bayswater Road apartments. By the end of the launch in June 2010, 106 had been sold. Some 70% were sold last June to investors.
The family decided to release the nine non-penthouse apartments through Ballard, and they were auctioned by Sydney auctioneer Damien Cooley last month.
The Toga Group paid $17 million earlier this year for the Mansions Hotel, set diagonally opposite, with plans to build apartments above the pub.