“The market for micro-apartments is fantastic”
4B/114 Burton Street in Darlinghurst is our much discussed compact apartment! The studio packs a lot in to a tiny space and has recently gathered some media attention for it’s size and setup. Located on the corner of Burton and Darley street in a beautiful leafy spot we can see why this nicely positioned property is attracting attention.
Trisiana Muljono & Simon Hohnen at our compact apartment, 4B/114 Burton Street in Darlinghurst (picture: The Daily Telegraph)
Check out below Simon’s starring role in this segment from channel 9’s TODAY Extra show, ‘Tiny Homes, Big profits’.
Simon Hohnen with reporter Susanne Messara at our compact apartment, 4B/114 Burton Street in Darlinghurst (video: Channel 9)
Below is the article from The Daily Telegraph by reporter Annabel Hennessy.
NSW real estate: Tiny units having a big effect on Sydney property market
SYDNEY’S pint-sized places are fetching premium prices as buyers cop the squeeze in the inner city’s race for space.
Since NSW planning regulations banned the construction of units smaller than 40sq m last year, tiny studios have become Sydney’s hottest property.
Micro-units — some as small as 14sq m — are going for top-dollar prices with an emerging niche market resulting in apartments selling for up to $25,000 per square metre.
Developers, who are no longer able to build micro-apartments, are scrambling to buy existing studios, which can be rental cash cows reaping upward of $450 per week. In Darlinghurst, a 14sq m apartment is on the market for $330,000-$350,000 — or about $23,000 per square metre.
In comparison, the $70 million Vaucluse mansion sold by James Packer last year went for about $20,000 per square metre.The tiniest apartment on the market, and smaller than a car space, the Darlinghurst unit has only a glass screen and centimetres separating the kitchen and the toilet, but it fetches rent of $345 a week.
“The market for micro-apartments is fantastic,” selling agent Simon Hohnen of Sydneylinks Real Estate said.
Lang and Simmons Potts Point agent Nuri Shik has sold a string of micro-apartments recently, including a 30sq m unit in Darlinghurst for $495,000.“They get great rent and investors see it as a cheap way of getting into a top suburb.”
He said studios had become more popular since the ban on apartments under 40sq m. “Whenever we get one there will be big interest and sometimes it will sell in days,” Mr Shik said. “Developers can’t build them anymore, so there’s more interest in the existing ones.”
Elizabeth Bay agent Ron Danieli said investors would often buy a few, because the rents make them such good value,” Mr Danieli said.“I know one guy who owns five,” he said.
BresicWitney agent Renae Dickey agreed that the small sizes weren’t off-putting to tenants. “They’ll tend to attract young singles who are happy to sacrifice size for location,” Ms Dickey said.
If there’s anyone whose a fan of micro-living, it’s Claire Mitchell.The 20-year-old currently rents a 29sq m apartment in Elizabeth Bay for $330 per week — the third micro-unit she has lived in.
“It forces me to be tidy and I like having my own space.”“I’ve lived in tiny studios in Surry Hills and Camperdown and love it,” Ms Mitchell said.
With only one cupboard for storage, Ms Mitchell uses shelves as a dividing wall and keeps storage boxes under her bed.
Annabel Hennessy,
REAL ESTATE REPORTER,
The Daily Telegraph
The SydneyLinks team
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