Luxury apartment ‘rightsizing’ boom reshapes prestige property market
Wealthy Aussies are swapping large family homes for high-end apartments, with sales of prestige units tripling over the past decade.
2 min
Australia’s prestige apartment market is booming as wealthy homeowners increasingly choose to “rightsize” into luxury apartments rather than remain in large family houses.
New research from McGrath shows the number of prestige apartments sold in 2025 has tripled over the past decade as high-net-worth buyers prioritise lifestyle, security and convenience.
McGrath chief executive John McGrath said the shift reflects a growing preference among affluent Australians for luxury apartment living.
“Prestige apartments have been the strongest market segment in the last few years as high-net-worth individuals choose luxury, security and lifestyle in apartments over houses,” he said.
“Demand has increased dramatically as luxury apartments have gone to a whole new level in design, finishes and amenities.”
Queensland has led the surge in prestige apartment sales, accounting for 43 per cent of East Coast transactions in 2025. New South Wales followed with 41 per cent, while Victoria made up the remaining 16 per cent.
Southeast Queensland leads the trend
Southeast Queensland has become a particularly popular destination for luxury apartment buyers seeking waterfront lifestyles with convenient access to major cities.
Mr McGrath said the region’s beaches and rivers had provided the ideal setting for a new generation of high-end residential developments.
Prices for newly built prestige apartments have also significantly outperformed established units over the past five years. New apartments on the Gold Coast have surged 88 per cent, compared with 60 per cent in Brisbane, 34 per cent in Sydney and 32 per cent in Melbourne.
Apartments getting larger
Developers have responded by building larger apartments with more bedrooms and premium amenities to appeal to affluent downsizers.
McGrath’s national head of research, Michelle Ciesielski, said the emerging rightsizing trend had reshaped the type of apartments being built across Australia.
“After identifying the emerging rightsizing trend in Australia back in 2020, there has been more than double the delivery of apartments with three or more bedrooms, and the average apartment built was one-third larger,” she said.
Hotel-style amenities and premium parking
Buyers are also increasingly seeking features previously associated with luxury hotels, including pools, gyms and high-end shared facilities.
More than two-thirds of residential towers across the CBDs of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane now include both a pool and gym.
Parking has also become a major selling point in the prestige apartment market. Research shows Sydney apartments with more than four car spaces command a 62 per cent price premium compared with those with just one space.
Despite strong demand, developers continue to face rising construction costs, labour shortages and higher material prices when delivering new luxury projects.
Even so, McGrath said demand for prestige apartment living is expected to remain strong as wealthy Australians look for sophisticated homes that offer space, security and a lifestyle-driven alternative to traditional houses.
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After half a century in the same hands, The Palladium blends Art Deco heritage, cinematic history and beachfront living in one extraordinary offering.
3 min
In Sydney’s Northern Beaches, there are plenty of homes with a multimillion-dollar view and an enviable position close to the sand.
This unique listing has all that, but it has also earned its page in the local history books.
After 50 years in the same hands, The Palladium in Palm Beach—once a famed dance hall, then a restaurant, a private residence, and an artists’ studio—is now back on the market with a price hopes of $13.5 million through BJ Edwards and David Edwards of LJ Hooker Palm Beach.
Positioned in a rare corner spot where Ocean Rd meets Palm Beach Rd, The Palladium has been front and centre observing the famous sandy stretch for almost a century.
Built in the early 1930s, the Art Deco building was originally conceived as a vibrant community dance hall; the “it” place to be for young folk during Sydney’s thriving interwar period.
Often the dances were held to raise money for the Palm Beach Surf Life Saving Club, and newspaper reports of the time told of rowdy parties lasting until the early hours, bootleg liquor arrests, and where shorts and sandals—or even pyjamas—were scandalously worn by “both sexes”.
Over the decades, The Palladium has worn many hats.
By 1943, the original owner, Joseph Henry Graham, had defaulted on his loan, and a mortgagee sale reportedly sold the building for £1550, which translates to about $137,000 today. It later became a dining space and a general store run by the Milton family. In the 1960s and early 1970s, the property was also home to the Blue Pacific Restaurant.
The current owners acquired the keys in 1976 when it began its next chapter as a creative hub. One of today’s vendors, filmmaker David Elfick, who has been a filmmaker and producer on such films as Newsfront and Rabbit-Proof Fence, has told stories of a free-spirited creative hub that has been used for film sets, to store numerous movie props, as editing rooms, to hold countless parties and has even hosted visiting members of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
From its famed beachside soirees to its grassroots film club nights, the venue has become woven into the cultural fabric of Palm Beach.
Today, that rich history has been reimagined into a coastal home that honours its past while embracing contemporary beachside living.
Built in a unique architectural style known as streamline moderne, the aeroplane hangar-like building reflects the era’s fascination with air travel, mass transport, and modernity. The facade is defined by a sweeping curved roofline and subtle nautical cues.
The main residence features a vast central living space framed by a number of bedrooms and sunrooms, as well as a front dining room and kitchen. In total, there are four to five bedrooms, three bathrooms and a powder room adjoining an upstairs loft space.
Big, broad windows draw in loads of natural light and provide iconic views, plus the sounds of the beach just across the road.
Many of the original elements remain, most fittingly the polished floors of the former dance hall. In the additional building at the back of the block, there is a separate, self-contained studio with its own bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and laundry. From its elevated deck, the outlook stretches across the full sweep of Palm Beach.
Outside, the expansive 1151sq m land parcel also features established gardens with veggie patches and standalone decks for quiet contemplation.
Sitting just across the road from the beach, the property is also within walking distance of local cafes and the surf club. Palm Beach Rock Pool is at one end of the beach, with the Palm Beach Golf Club and the water airport at the other end of the peninsula.
The Palladium and Palm Beach Studio at 16 Ocean Rd, Palm Beach are listed with BJ Edwards and David Edwards of LJ Hooker Palm Beach via a private treaty campaign with a price guide of $13.5 million.
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