Six apartments become three homes: $56 million in sales at One Darling Point

Three eastern suburbs downsizers have each bought two adjoining three-bedroom residences at Lendlease’s One Darling Point and combined them into single homes, in sales worth circa $56 million. 

All three bought off the plan, with vertical construction starting and completion due in late 2028.

The largest of the three saw an eastern suburbs downsizer pay circa $23 million for two adjoining residences, now a single home of 323 square metres. 

A downsizer couple, also from the eastern suburbs, has paid circa $15 million for two more, combined into 279 square metres. 

A third buyer brought two three-bedroom apartments together for circa $18 million. 

“To see three amalgamations of this kind in the one building is telling,” said Ben Stewart, managing partner of SRM Residential, who handled all three sales. 

“Every one of these buyers was a local downsizer who wanted to stay in the neighbourhood, and every one was prepared to buy two apartments to secure the right amount of space. 

"They were also buying a Lendlease building. 

"When you are committing at this level, and to a custom fitout across two apartments, three years ahead of completion, certainty of delivery and quality counts for a great deal."

Ben said Lendlease is a trusted developer, with a track record for delivering.

"Lendlease is one of the most reputable developers in the country, and that track record was part of every one of these decisions.”

"A consistent brief is emerging across the three homes. 

"Each has retained three or more bedrooms and added a second living area and a study, then given the remaining space over to something a standard floor plan could never accommodate."

Ben said the buyers all customised spaces within the residences. 

"One owner has installed a golf simulator. 

"Another has built a multi-purpose room and gym. 

"The third has a cinema and den. 

"All three prioritised a generous butler’s pantry.

"The customisation runs to a level of detail rarely seen in apartment projects. 

"Requests across the three residences have included purpose-built shoe drawers, felt-lined joinery, lighting positioned for specific artworks, mirrored walls and chevron flooring. 

"A display gallery close to the site helped each buyer settle on scale and finish before committing."

Ben said the pattern reflected the calibre of buyer the address was drawing.

“Buyers at this level have usually already decided on the building and the location,” Ben said. 

“What they want is a home shaped around the way they live, not a standard floor plan. Combining two residences gives them the scale and flexibility of a house with the ease of an apartment.”

The sales sit within a broader shift in Australia’s prestige apartment market, where a generation of affluent downsizers, or “rightsizers”, are driving demand for large, low-maintenance residences.

This has increased the buying of two adjoining apartments to combine, rather than trading a family home for a single conventional one. 

In Sydney’s eastern suburbs, demand for three-bedroom-plus apartments has consistently outpaced supply, leaving amalgamation one of the few ways buyers can secure the scale they want.

The behaviour runs to the very top of the market. 

At One Sydney Harbour in Barangaroo, the three-level penthouse that set a national price record at $141.55 million was itself an amalgamation.

It combines the Renzo Piano tower’s two-storey penthouse with the sub-penthouse directly below into a single home of more than 1,600 square metres. 

Completion is due in late 2028.

The One Darling Point display gallery is open by private appointment through SRM Residential.

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