The Penthouse, Crown Residences, Barangaroo, NSW

Crown Residences’ One Barangaroo Penthouse is now complete — confirming its place as Australia’s most exceptional penthouse.

Holding an unparalleled position 245-metres above sea level and just 30-metres from the water’s edge, the two level, 800sqm, 6-bedroom, 6-bathroom, 3-car parking residence is the glimmering, elevated centrepiece of the redeveloped Barangaroo precinct.

Central to the luxury penthouse’s immediate appeal are all-encompassing views — stretching across the harbour to the Blue Mountains and framed by 6.5-metre floor to ceiling windows in the main living area.

The interiors — designed by New York outfit Meyer Davis — take advantage of the lofty, light-filled spaces and feature light European oak flooring throughout, accompanied by plush carpets in the bedrooms.

Elsewhere, the penthouse boasts formal and informal dining areas, a cinema room, home office, gym, wine cellar, stunning feature staircase and private lift.

The kitchen sees the decadent combination of Mont Blanc natural quartzite and Belvedere marble imported from Carrara, Italy, and is fitted with a combination of Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances. The Butler’s pantry, meanwhile, is fitted with Miele appliances.

The master bedroom is complete with ‘his’ and ‘hers’ dressing areas and an opulent ensuite fitted with twin rain shower, steam room and HansGrohe tapware.

Further heightening the space, the master ensuite is adorned in a combination of Volakas (Thessaloniki, Greece) and Noir St Laurent marble (Xiamen, China) as well as stunning harbour views.

The five remaining bedrooms feature ensuites decorated in Elba Blue marble and Calacatta Cielo stone from Thessaloniki, Greece and Carrara, Italy, respectively.

Adding to the exclusive allure, the penthouse also boasts private plunge pool — the only residence in the building to do so — alongside access to three protected balconies totalling 50sqm.

In addition to the penthouse’s once-in-a-lifetime appeal, residents have access to facilities within Crown Sydney, including both resident’s pool and hotel pools, the Blainey North designed Crown Spa, priority booking and room-service from the complex’s restaurants and bars, valet parking and concierge, access to a state-of-the-art gym and tennis courts and even the option to have bed linen changed daily by housekeeping.

This exclusive sale is being managed by Erin Van Tuil of Knight Frank (+61 409 325 700); offers over $100 million. Knightfrank.com.au

There has been a substantial increase in the number of Australians earning high incomes who are renting their homes instead of owning them, and this may be another element contributing to higher market demand and continually rising rents, according to new research.

The portion of households with an annual income of $140,000 per year (in 2021 dollars), went from 8 percent of the private rental market in 1996 to 24 percent in 2021, according to research by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI). The AHURI study highlights that longer-term declines in the rate of home ownership in Australia are likely the cause of this trend.

The biggest challenge this creates is the flow-on effect on lower-income households because they may face stronger competition for a limited supply of rental stock, and they also have less capacity to cope with rising rents that look likely to keep going up due to the entrenched undersupply.

The 2024 ANZ CoreLogic Housing Affordability Report notes that weekly rents have been rising strongly since the pandemic and are currently re-accelerating. “Nationally, annual rent growth has lifted from a recent low of 8.1 percent year-on-year in October 2023, to 8.6 percent year-on-year in March 2024,” according to the report. “The re-acceleration was particularly evident in house rents, where annual growth bottomed out at 6.8 percent in the year to September, and rose to 8.4 percent in the year to March 2024.”

Rents are also rising in markets that have experienced recent declines. “In Hobart, rent values saw a downturn of -6 percent between March and October 2023. Since bottoming out in October, rents have now moved 5 percent higher to the end of March, and are just 1 percent off the record highs in March 2023. The Canberra rental market was the only other capital city to see a decline in rents in recent years, where rent values fell -3.8 percent between June 2022 and September 2023. Since then, Canberra rents have risen 3.5 percent, and are 1 percent from the record high.”

The Productivity Commission’s review of the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement points out that high-income earners also have more capacity to relocate to cheaper markets when rents rise, which creates more competition for lower-income households competing for homes in those same areas.

ANZ CoreLogic notes that rents in lower-cost markets have risen the most in recent years, so much so that the portion of earnings that lower-income households have to dedicate to rent has reached a record high 54.3 percent. For middle-income households, it’s 32.2 percent and for high-income households, it’s just 22.9 percent. ‘Housing stress’ has long been defined as requiring more than 30 percent of income to put a roof over your head.

While some high-income households may aspire to own their own homes, rising property values have made that a difficult and long process given the years it takes to save a deposit. ANZ CoreLogic data shows it now takes a median 10.1 years in the capital cities and 9.9 years in regional areas to save a 20 percent deposit to buy a property.

It also takes 48.3 percent of income in the cities and 47.1 percent in the regions to cover mortgage repayments at today’s home loan interest rates, which is far greater than the portion of income required to service rents at a median 30.4 percent in cities and 33.3 percent in the regions.

The Penthouse, Crown Residences, Barangaroo, NSW

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity — take a tour of Barangaroo’s newly completed crowning glory.

This may be contributing to continually rising weekly rents