Staggering price for historic Millers Point public housing
The last two historic public housing blocks at Millers Point have gone under the hammer, fetching a combined $8.7 million.
Record crowds attended the final auction on Dalgety St in the north-western edge of Sydney’s CBD this month, as four bidders vied for the properties before locally-based Chinese and Singaporean investors snapped them up.
The building at 27-29A sold for $4.5 million and 31-33A for $4.3 million, with the prices reflecting $16,603 and $13,027 per square metre. They were the last sites to be sold off by the New South Wales Government as part of a plan to regenerate the state’s public housing stock.
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Savills’ David Hickey, who brokered the deals in conjunction with Sotheby’s Sydney, says it was an “extremely competitive” auction.
“The market for unit blocks in well-located areas continues to go from strength to strength, especially those within a 10km radius of the CBD and benefiting from state infrastructure improvements,” he says.
“Local and offshore investors were competing to acquire these blocks, which drove the prices up and contributed to a result well above the vendor’s expectation.”
The properties were part of a larger block of public housing.
Dozens of other buildings sold by the government since 2014 also commanded million-dollar price tags despite their run-down condition.
As of August, 184 of the NSW Government properties in Millers Point had sold, accruing more than $590 million.
The Dalgety St buildings comprised four two-bedroom apartments, located close to Barangaroo’s waterfront restaurant precinct and future Metro station.
One unit also boasts harbour views.
The buyer’s plan is to “refurbish the properties, lease them out and wait for the next cycle to spike”, Hickey says.
The most expensive single property to be sold in the state government’s portfolio was a block of 33 apartments for $26 million in 2017.
Proceeds are to be reinvested to build new public housing properties across Sydney and regional NSW.
