Furnished and styled apartments proving a head-turner in slower off-the-plan market
Sydney, 18 June 2019 – With Sydney’s residential property market currently experiencing a slowdown, many property developers are looking for new ways to encourage potential buyers to inspect their apartments.
However leading property developer, Greenland Australia, has noticed that the long-established approach of styling is leading to a boost in sales and enquiries at the company’s recently-completed Potts Point development ‘Omnia’.
To coincide with Omnia’s official opening late last year, Greenland Australia had an apartment on level three fully furnished and professionally styled for guests to inspect – and it subsequently sold within a week.
Following the sale, the furniture was moved to another unsold apartment, promptly resulting in an upsurge in sales interest for that particular apartment.
Capitalising on these increased interest levels, Greenland has now commenced rotating the furniture throughout all remaining stock at Omnia as a means of driving enquiries.
Justine Mantel, Co-Director, The Dezign Group, the interior design company appointed to source the furniture and style the apartments at Omnia, says styling a completed off-the-plan apartment is a technique that many developers overlook.
“Developers have long recognised that a furnished and styled display suite is essential to showcase the future lifestyle on offer at the start of a project’s sales campaign, but long gone are the days when apartments would all sell off-the-plan on the strength of a furnished display suite,” said Ms Mantel.
“Not only is the display suite often tucked away in a retro-fitted unused building on-site, but sometimes, it doesn’t even truly convey the actual layout of a completed apartment.
“Many developers don’t think to apply the technique of styling to an actual completed apartment, but it’s a vitally important factor in achieving sales now, particularly considering the number of contract rescissions happening at the moment.”
Ms Mantel says styling and furnishing a completed apartment provides a number of benefits to potential buyers.
“Furnishing an apartment caters to buyers’ time-poor lifestyles by allowing them to immediately visualise what a completed apartment can look like,” she confirmed.
“Most people really struggle with the scale of rooms, so a furnished apartment overcomes this issue – for instance, physically seeing a lounge or a bed in a room helps buyers appreciate what furniture can fit into that space.
“We ensure the furniture is in scale to the size of the project. These days smaller living rooms are often paired with larger outdoor areas as people are using the outdoor spaces more and more. Clever styling such as outdoor lounges makes a huge difference when people envisage themelves in these spaces.
“They get a true sense of their future home from the outset and can even buy some of the furniture on display – everything we use is for sale, so if they really like a certain piece, they can buy it on the spot.
“We use different colours and textures to give buyers different ideas for how they can furnish their future home – whether it be with their existing furniture or new pieces like ours.
“With this project we were catering to downsizers, so we used darker tones with pops of bright colours in the artwork, which provides a sophisticated look. We chose a rich palette with touches of gold and sleek black forms, and added plenty of sculptural elements of wood and glass.
“This makes potential buyers feel at home and really helps generate hype and a sense of excitement.”
According to Ben Stewart, Senior Director, CBRE, a styled apartment gives agents a real talking point and a reason to bring in buyers.
“In today’s market we are increasingly seeing owner-occupiers as the predominant buyer group, and these buyers typically prefer to see the apartments with furniture, and in particular the room sizes, as this gives them a visual as to how their furniture will fit in the space,” said Mr Stewart.
“Owner occupiers have more choice in the marketplace, and in this sense it’s prudent to showcase the apartments in their best light – the process of styling and furnishing achieves this.
“In addition, buyers who walk into a fully styled apartment generally feel it’s worth more – a fact that has been proven with private home sales for years.”
Characterised by its curvaceous hourglass angles, which sit atop a sculptured podium, the $262 million Durbach Block Jaggers-designed Omnia building has a limited number of one, two and three-bedroom apartments remaining for sale.
The building’s top floor features three dual-level penthouse apartments.
The Regal, which has now reached completion and will settle this week, presents 294sqm of floor space – 207sqm internal and 87sqm external. Positioned on the southern end of the building, the penthouse offers spectacular views from all rooms, taking in Rushcutters Bay in the east, to Kings Cross, across William Street to Darlinghurst, and through to the CBD, including the Sydney Opera House.
The Royal sold in March for $14,250,000 – equating to $50,000 per square metre, making it one of the highest prices paid for any apartment outside the Sydney CBD.
The last remaining penthouse for sale, The Noble, offers 356sqm of floor space – 235sqm internal and 121sqm external – with four bedrooms, three full bathrooms and one partial bathroom, as well as a bespoke freestanding bathtub.
Imagined as an exclusive retreat with the elegance of a house in The Hamptons, The Noble features private elevator doors that open onto the exquisite entry lobby, where two of the bedrooms are separated by a glass-sheathed staircase.
To lodge an expression of interest, visit www.omniapottspoint.com.au or call Greenland Australia on 1800 388 788.
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