Wollongong development lures buyers with 2 percent deposit

Potential buyers at Parq on Flinders, an apartment development in Wollongong, are being lured with just a 2 percent deposit.

An advertisement for Parq on Flinders, running as a campaign on Colliers International’s website, says more than 70 apartments have already sold and prices for the remaining apartments will be increased after July 1.

The $88 million complex will have 221 apartments and a number of commercial sites, according to the Illawarra Mercury.

The project is being developed by Malaysian consortium Gateway Wollongong.

The display suite is at 96 Smith Street.

A one-bedroom apartment is selling for $419,000, while the two bedroom is for $609,000 and the three bedrooms for $759,000.

While most banks require around 20 percent deposit upfront for owner-occupiers and higher for investors, the promotion for Parq, first announced in November 2016, asked for just a 10 percent deposit.

First home buyers could pay their deposit in instalments of 2 percent every six months, while other buyers needed to pay the balance 8 percent by July 2017, said the promotion.

For years, the development site at the intersection of Keira, Flinders and Campbell Streets remained mired in controversy.

It was once flagged for the corruption-laden "Quattro" development, which featured prominently in the city’s infamous sex for development scandal, according to the Illawarra Mercury.

In 2008, an inquiry found that developer Frank Vellar had engaged in corrupt conduct by engineering the approval of the Quattro development with his lover, Beth Morgan.

The council bought the site for $5.2 million in 2011, with plans to clean it up and use it as a temporary parking space.

It then called for expressions of interest from developers, and a year later the Gateway consortium, then working with developer Jan Lindrum, lodged a $135 million proposal named “Bass and Flinders Gateway”. 

But they failed to convince the Joint Regional Planning Panel the first time around and only got a recommendation from the Wollongong City Council after substantial modifications.