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An unbuilt apartment just became Australia’s most expensive home

A three-floor apartment in Sydney's Barangaroo has sold for $140 million.

A three-floor apartment in Sydney's Barangaroo has sold for $140 million. Photo: Lendlease

A mystery buyer has paid a record-breaking sum for a three-floor apartment in Sydney’s CBD – in a building that’s not even finished.

The super-apartment, which tops the tallest tower in Barangaroo’s One Sydney Harbour development, sold for an eye-watering $140 million, making it the most expensive dwelling ever sold in Australia.

The apartment is divided into two parts – a two-storey penthouse with a “sub-penthouse apartment” taking up the floor below.

Artists rendering of the apartment

The apartment will span the top three floors of the tower. Photo: Lendlease

Altogether, the property will include nine bedrooms, with a private pool, spa, and gym on the roof, and developer Lendlease says the ‘significant’ main bedroom will be “bigger than most homes”.

Lendlease property chief executive Kylie Rampa said the residence “really does personify luxury”, and the record-breaking sale marks a new era for apartment sales.

“The sale of the penthouse at One Sydney Harbour is a paradigm shift for the Australian property market with an apartment claiming the title of Australia’s most valuable residential property for the first time, a title historically reserved for significant houses,” she said.

While the buyer was not specified, Lendlease said it is a local who intends to make the apartment their home.

Artist impression of most expensive apartment.

The $140 million apartment will have views of Sydney Harbour. Photo: Lendlease

The sale is good news for the developer, after its profits for the first half of the financial year fell a blistering 96.3 per cent, prompting the business to consider a significant restructure.

Meanwhile, developers around Australia are resorting to gimmicks such as offering would-be buyers free cars and furniture, or even helping pay a deposit to sell off excess stock without lowering asking prices.

Artists rednering of the One Sydney Harbour penthouse.

The apartment will include a total of nine bedrooms. Photo: Lendlease

Most expensive home in Australia

At $140 million, the residence is the most expensive home in Australia, with each square metre of floor space in the two-storey penthouse costing more than $100,000.

It’s also a sizeable jump from the previous record of $100 million, set when Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes purchased former Fairfax family home, Fairwater, in September 2018.

That property stands next to the third-most-expensive home in the country, another former Fairfax family property bought by fellow Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquar for a comparatively modest $71 million in 2017.

Both homes are located in the exclusive Sydney eastern suburb of Point Piper, fronting Sydney Harbour, just opposite Taronga Park Zoo.

The median value of homes in the waterside suburb is approximately $7 million.

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