Aqualand continues to prove that the strong demand for luxury Sydney apartments remains unabated, achieving $40M in exchange for contracts for its AURA by Aqualand project in the second week of August 2024 alone. The remarkable figure has broken the North Shore record for the highest sales revenue achieved in one week, and most probably outperformed the sales volume of every other project in Sydney. 

With the record-breaking performance of the $1B mixed-use North Sydney tower continuing to gain momentum, the impressive figure is expected to be surpassed in the coming weeks, reflecting a surge in interest since the project’s official completion on Thursday 27 June 2024. 

The highest grossing week bolsters the project’s track record, which already includes $100M in sales achieved across February 2024, and over $100M transacted on its market launch day on 4 December 2021. 

These records are further testament to Aqualand’s broader market success, with the company having also broken a 2018 record when a penthouse at BLUE at Lavender Bay sold for circa $9M, the highest price paid for an apartment on the North Shore at the time. Aqualand then broke this record with the second sale of BLUE’s last remaining penthouse for circa $10.5M several weeks later. 

Aqualand’s Head of Sales and Marketing, Alex Adams, said contracts were exchanged across all AURA products, including one, two, three and four-bedroom residences. 

“It’s been interesting that no particular product has outperformed the others, with sales evenly spread across all apartment types. Every aspect of the building is selling extremely well, which proves our product offering perfectly reflects buyer demand,” he said. 

Alex believes the increase in buyer commitment that week reflected the building’s recent completion, as well as the ongoing evolution of North Sydney, with the long-awaited opening of the Victoria Cross Station and broader Sydney Metro, as well as the opening of AURA’s four world-class hospitality outlets in the new Walker Street Precinct; Genzo, Sol Bread and Wine, Una Providore and Soluna. 

“Our market campaign was also amplified leading up to AURA’s completion, resulting in enquiries over the past six months from potential buyers who weren’t yet ready to transact, reengaging with the project and returning to buy. 

“We also know the change to our buyer journey moving our display showroom into the completed building, was well worth the significant investment, as they can now directly experience the completed building firsthand. They can see the build quality in the new showroom, and when we take them up into the stunning display apartments, the build quality and high-level of finishes is reinforced in their mind, instils confidence in us leading to increased conversion. These apartment tours have been heavily booked, and with all the amenities finished, they can see it offers the best quality in the Sydney market. 

“Given most buyers are owner occupiers, with downsizers being overtaken by more and more families leading the buyer demographic, there is a select number of luxury buyers less likely to transact on off-the-plan projects, and wait until they can experience the build quality, materials and attention to detail firsthand. They’re conscious they’ll experience the building on a daily basis, so they need reassurance the quality and lifestyle offering we’ve delivered is exactly as promised. 

“We’re seeing more families choosing to right size into three-bedroom residences, and now, interestingly, the downsizers who initially led the charge are coming back, resulting in more four-bedroom sales in the $7M mark. 

“We know one main reason downsizers held back is because they had to sell their family home with little security around what they could sell for. However, the housing market has been more stable recently and values have increased, so this has provided more confidence, especially with interest rates stabilising as well. This provided more time to list their homes until they got the price they wanted. 

“There’s still also a distinct lack of competition, with the ongoing shortage of project approvals due to council rejections, and hence other developers not submitting plans, which results in fewer options for purchasers of luxury property. 

“We welcome future competition with open arms as it would greatly benefit future prospective buyers in having the ability to choose whether they’d like to buy another off-the-plan project, or one of our fully complete and ready to move into residences. 

“AURA’s sales success is perfectly timed as this is Aqualand’s 10th year of operation and AURA’s considered the perfect project to define what we stand for and celebrates the standard of product we’ve delivered to the market over the last decade. 

“Our ten-year anniversary has cemented buyer’s confidence in our delivery, especially once they’ve seen our other projects BLUE at Lavender Bay or The REVY in Pyrmont, where they can see the design and construction quality we’re renowned for,” added Alex.

To find out more about AURA by Aqualand, please contact 1800 207 778, go to aurasydney.com.au or visit the display showroom at 168 Walker Street, North Sydney, daily between 10am and 4pm.