FINAL RELEASE AT OPHORA TALLAWONG OFFERS QUALITY APARTMENTS UNDER $700K WITH RARE BUYER PROTECTIONS
Ophora Tallawong has launched its final release of quality apartments priced under $700,000.
3 min
Ophora Tallawong has launched its final release of apartments, positioning itself as one of the last opportunities for buyers to secure a new Sydney home below $700,000.
The project, located in one of the city’s fastest-growing corridors, is offering rare buyer protections at a time when affordability is tightening and competition for quality stock is intensifying.
According to JLL’s Q2 2025 Apartment Market Overview, Sydney’s median apartment price has already climbed to $795,000, setting a record.
With interest rates now on a downward trend and supply still heavily constrained, experts warn that today’s price brackets may not exist next year.
Ronnie Rahme, Development Manager at KDMC, said buyers were responding to the combination of quality and value.
“You simply don’t see this level of finish at these price points anymore,” Rahme said. “That’s why demand has been so strong for this final release.”
Dr Andrew Wilson, Chief Economist at My Housing Market, says the economic drivers are clear. “High rents and higher prices continue to provide clear incentives for first-home buyers and investors chasing solid investment returns,” he told Kanebridge News.
“New government initiatives to support first-home buyers will also act to place upward pressure on prices.”
The bigger picture
JLL’s research reinforces that point. While over 15,700 apartments are expected to be delivered nationally this year, a 40% uplift on 2024, Sydney remains undersupplied, with demand continuing to outpace completions.
The report also notes that reductions in the RBA cash rate are expected to further fuel buyer activity, with constrained supply continuing to push prices higher into 2026.
With construction costs soaring, Government contributions climbing, and interest rates remaining high, projects are harder than ever to bring to market, putting upward pressure on newly completed apartments.
The pipeline of new supply is shrinking as developers delay or abandon projects that no longer stack up financially.
According to JLL’s overview, only 2,554 completions are forecast for Sydney this year – against annual demand exceeding 30,000 dwellings.
At the same time, population growth, rental demand, and first-home buyer incentives are intensifying competition for limited stock. The imbalance between constrained supply and resilient demand is leaving new apartments scarcer and more expensive across Sydney.
Ophora: Last Chance In Sydney’s northwest
Developed by KDMC and designed by Architex, the $50 million project has launched its final release, with limited availability of 81 brand-new residences from just $545,000 for a one-bedroom, or $695,000 for a two-bedroom, which is far below Sydney’s median and significantly cheaper than nearby competition.
The five-storey development at 37 Reis St, Tallawong, combines affordability with premium inclusions more often seen in luxury builds: ducted air-conditioning, timber floors, premium finishes, fridge cavities with water plumbing, video intercom systems, fibre internet, EV charging, landscaped gardens and a rooftop terrace with sweeping views.
It also comes with something almost unheard of at this price point, a 10-year Latent Defects Insurance (LDI) policy. Typically reserved for multimillion-dollar projects, LDI guarantees structural integrity for a decade and is only awarded to developers with a strong building track record.
SHC Insurance Brokers founder Stefan Hicks acknowledged the rarity of obtaining LDI, particularly for entry-level residential apartment complexes like Ophora.
“Gaining LDI is no mean feat. It’s offered selectively to developers and builders with a quality building history, and it requires both parties to employ an independent inspection service throughout construction,” he said.
“While this insurance is well-established around the world in about 40 countries, in Australia, we’re typically seeing high-end buildings covet LDI. The fact that Ophora has joined this exclusive list of quality-assured builds is a coup for entry-level home buyers.”
Raising the standard for affordable luxury
Rahme says the KDMC team wanted to set a new benchmark.
“Our mission with Ophora has always been clear: to raise the standard of what buyers should expect, regardless of budget,” he said.
“We’ve delivered a collection of apartments with finishes and features you’d usually only find in luxury projects, and we’ve backed it with one of the most stringent insurances available in the market. That gives buyers peace of mind that their investment is protected for the long term.
“People are walking through and realising you simply don’t see this level of quality at these price points anymore, as it’s effectively replacement cost in 2025.
“With rates coming down and limited competition, buyers and investors are moving quickly because they know the window won’t stay open. Investors, who have recently purchased at Ophora, have reported a strong rental demand, with minimum rental yields exceeding five per cent.”
Developments like Ophora, move-in ready, competitively priced and backed by rare structural protections (LDI), may represent the last chance for buyers to secure a sub-$700,000 apartment in Sydney.
View Ophora on cpmrealty.com.au
To arrange a private viewing or request more information, contact Sam Elbanna from CPM Realty: 0411 222 260
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All three vehicles will form part of a broader charitable initiative benefiting Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, the American Red Cross and Starlight Children’s Foundation
Jack Freeman believes the most compelling interiors are not decorated, but collected. The FREEMAN & CO founder creates layered, personal spaces shaped by art, travel and craftsmanship.
4 min
For Jack Freeman, a compelling interior should not look as though it was completed in a single shopping trip.
The founder and designer behind FREEMAN & CO prefers rooms that develop through art, travel, commissioned furniture and objects collected over time. It is an approach that treats the home less as a decorative project and more as an evolving portrait of its owner.
“I am a true believer in collecting versus decorating,” Freeman says.
That distinction underpins the international practice he has built across private residences, hotels, property developments, yachts and private aviation. Its projects stretch from Point Piper, Vaucluse, Circular Quay and Toorak to Mayfair, Bel Air and the Caribbean.
Although the locations and architecture vary considerably, the work is connected by a restrained design language. Natural stone, warm timbers and sculptural furniture establish the foundation, while art, bespoke lighting and individual objects give each interior its identity.
The objective is not to overwhelm a room with obvious symbols of expense. It is to create an environment that feels calm, layered and particular to the people living within it.
“The greatest luxury isn’t about excess,” Freeman says. “It’s about creating an oasis where you come home and feel immediately grounded — effortlessly chic and deeply personal.”
Collecting instead of decorating
Decorating can imply the completion of a room: selecting the required furniture, filling the available walls and producing a coherent finished image.
Collecting is less conclusive.
A collected interior has room to change as its owners travel, discover artists, inherit pieces or reassess how they use their home. Its character comes from the relationship between objects rather than adherence to a single brand or season.
That does not mean placing unrelated pieces together without discipline. The designer must understand scale, proportion, material and provenance well enough to create a dialogue between them.
A contemporary artwork might sit beside a historic piece of furniture. A precisely detailed new interior may be interrupted by an irregular object made by hand. Smooth stone can be balanced by timber, textiles or a patinated metal surface that becomes richer with age.
The tension between those elements is part of the appeal.
For Freeman, art is not an accessory to be added once the furniture plan is complete. It forms part of the architecture and atmosphere of the room from the beginning.
Lighting is considered in the same way. Beyond its practical purpose, a bespoke fitting can operate as a suspended sculpture, changing both the room’s composition and the way its materials are experienced after dark.
A design perspective shaped by travel
International travel plays a significant role in Freeman’s creative process.
Design fairs such as PAD Paris and Salone del Mobile in Milan provide opportunities to encounter emerging designers, established galleries, new materials and collectible furniture away from the filter of social media.
More spontaneous discoveries can prove equally important.
“Sometimes it’s the simple things,” Freeman says. “That piece found on a shopping trip with a client in Paris, stumbling across an artisan’s workshop, or a special memory that forms the narrative of the story.”
Objects selected during travel bring more than visual interest into a home. They carry an association with a place, maker or experience, giving the client a connection that cannot be reproduced by ordering an entire interior from a catalogue.
Freeman’s influences are international, but his projects are not conceived as replicas of Parisian, Milanese or Californian style. Each commission responds to its architecture, setting, natural light and the daily lives of its occupants.
A waterfront Sydney residence demands a different treatment from a Mayfair townhouse. A Caribbean estate shaped by brutalist architecture and reflecting pools calls for another response again.
The designer’s role is to absorb those references without allowing them to overwhelm the individual qualities of the property.
Designing the complete experience
FREEMAN & CO extends beyond conventional interior decoration.
The practice’s stated services include interior design and architecture, project management, property acquisition, development advice, concept design, documentation, furniture and lighting design, procurement and art curation.
That breadth allows the team to become involved before a room’s dimensions and finishes are fixed.
Early participation can be important at the top end of the residential market, where architecture, landscape, interiors, technology and art must operate as one environment. Decisions about ceiling heights, wall dimensions, sightlines and lighting can directly affect where art is installed or how custom furniture is proportioned.
The practice can then carry those decisions through to procurement and final installation, maintaining the design narrative as a project moves between architects, builders, specialist craftspeople, dealers and suppliers.
Its residential portfolio includes a South Coast retreat conceived as an escape from urban life, a Caribbean estate with reflecting pools, an East Coast-inspired Palm Beach residence and a Mayfair townhouse organised around an expressive drawing room.
The studio also says it has worked on highly tailored Sydney residences with values exceeding $100 million, although the private nature of such commissions means individual addresses and clients are not always disclosed.
A home that can keep changing
The risk in creating a perfectly resolved interior is that it can become too static — a composition that looks exceptional in photographs but leaves little room for life.
Freeman sees the home as something that should evolve with its owners.
“I love the evolution of design,” he says. “We are talking about people’s lives, and as they evolve, so too should their private sanctuaries.”
That evolution might involve adding art, reupholstering a significant piece, adapting rooms as a family changes or making space for objects gathered through future travels.
The original design needs to be strong enough to accommodate those layers.
This may be the clearest expression of Freeman’s approach to luxury. It is not simply access to rare stone, collectible furniture or commissioned craftsmanship. It is the creation of a personal environment whose meaning deepens rather than diminishes with time.
Fact box
- Designer: Jack Freeman
- Role: Founder and managing director
- Practice: FREEMAN & CO
- Base: Australia, with international projects
- Project locations named by the practice: Point Piper, Vaucluse, Circular Quay, Toorak, Palm Beach, the NSW South Coast, Mayfair, Bel Air and the Caribbean
- Sectors: Private residences, hotels, residential developments, private aviation and superyachts
- Services: Interior design and architecture, property development, project management, property acquisition, documentation, furniture and lighting design, FF&E procurement, interior dressing and art curation
- Design philosophy: Collected, personal interiors shaped by art, craftsmanship, travel and enduring materials
- Website: free-man.co
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