January 13, 2022

Hirsch and Faigen hit $80m in Gold Coast apartment sales

A Gold Coast apartment development backed by Eddie Hirsch has racked up $80 million in off-the-plan sales in just three weeks, joining a host of newly launched projects in Queensland and NSW benefiting from the sea change phenomenon.

The project, known as Yves, features 145 apartments across three, 25-level towers just behind the Gold Coast’s most sought-after address, Hedges Avenue, and just 200 metres from the Pacific Fair shopping mall.

While property prices are surging towards a $1 million median across many booming lifestyle coastal markets, Daniel Faigen, CEO of Yves developer Hirsch & Faigen, said the Gold Coast still offered a “value proposition” to interstate investors and downsizers.

Mr Faigen, the son-in-law of the late Jack Hirsch (whose brother Eddie co-founded United Petroleum) told The Australian Financial Review one could still buy apartments with “world-class ocean views” on the Gold Coast for the same price as paid for an equivalent apartment on a “side street of Sydney or Melbourne”.

He added that flexibility of being able to work from home had also spurred on the Gold Coast apartment market, which last year attracted a host of new project launches, including by veteran developer David Devine and Iris Capital’s Sam Arnaout.

At Yves, prices start from $550,000 for a one-bedroom apartment up to $5 million for the penthouse. A $2.995 million sub-penthouse was bought by a Melbourne investor. Of the 60 or so apartments sold in the Hirsch & Faigen project so far, more than two-thirds were Brisbane and Gold Coast downsizers. Buyers from Sydney and Melbourne accounted for 20 per cent and 10 per cent respectively of sales to date.

At Broadbeach, Macquarie Developments Group sold $35 million or 20 per cent of the 146 apartments offered at its $250 million Assana high-rise project during the first week of pre-sales. The developer said local downsizers and upgraders made up the lion’s share of purchasers in the 52-storey project along with buyers from Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra. Macquarie Developments Group has appointed Multiplex to construct the tower, which is expected to break ground before the middle of the year. Further up the East Coast near Byron Bay, PAMA Causarina, a $75 million boutique residential apartment building clocked up $45 million in sales within four weeks of launching.

The project features 47 two, three and four-bedroom private residences across four storeys in a joint development by Holm Developments and DeMartini Fletcher. “Local buyers were the first to purchase as they are fully aware there is a limited opportunity to own a luxury apartment in Northern NSW,” said Adrian Parson, managing director of TOTAL Property Group, which is marketing the project.

“Most are planning to downsize from their larger houses … a significant proportion of buyers are from the Gold Coast and Brisbane. “

Apartments have also been selling to southern buyers with a four-bedder snapped up by a Sydney family for a holiday home,” Mr Parsons said.