THE WALDEN HITS $103 MILLION IN SALES WITHIN THREE HOURS AT NORTH SYDNEY LAUNCH
More than half of Stage One was exchanged on opening day as buyers chase harbour views, amenity and metro connectivity at 177 Walker Street.
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North Sydney’s apartment market notched another milestone with the launch of The Walden, where 55 per cent of the Stage One release exchanged contracts totalling $103 million within three hours of sales opening. The project is by ALAND, a gold star iCIRT rated developer and builder.
Positioned at 177 Walker Street on the eastern edge of the CBD, The Walden fronts uninterrupted harbour views from the Sydney Harbour Bridge to Sydney Heads.
Limited local housing supply, strong demand from affluent downsizers and a growing population are cited as drivers of both interest and pricing in the suburb.
Data referenced in the release notes North Sydney apartment prices rose nearly 10 per cent in the 12 months to August 2025, compared with an average year to date gain of 0.7 per cent across wider Sydney. The precinct continues to benefit from public and private investment as it evolves into an 18 hour destination.
“It’s clear that North Sydney’s changing rapidly, and property buyers are excited both by what’s on offer in the suburb now, as well as what’s yet to come,” ALAND Founder Andrew Hrsto said.
“Against this backdrop, The Walden is set to become a benchmark for luxury living in North Sydney, and it’s perfectly poised for buyers to capitalise on the continued growth and transformation in the local area. With its unrivalled amenities, refined design, and rare balance of sophistication and community connection, The Walden delivers a lifestyle unlike anything else on the market.”
Planned resident facilities include a fully equipped gym, wellness and treatment room, spa, wine cellar, residents’ lounge, private dining room, pool, dedicated work from home and meeting spaces, plus concierge services.
“Apartment sales in North Sydney have remained robust throughout 2025, and today’s opening sales at The Walden reflect strong buyer confidence in the area’s ongoing revitalisation,” said Ben Stewart, Partner at SRM Residential, which is overseeing sales.
He added that purchasers are responding to apartment scale and amenity, along with metro connectivity that places Barangaroo three minutes away and Martin Place five minutes away.
“The Walden has the best views in this part of the North Shore which can never be built out, with 70% of apartments enjoying front row views of the harbour.”
Stewart also pointed to confidence in delivery and quality. “The design and sizing of apartments at The Walden is a level above the majority of other projects on the market, and we’re seeing buyers prioritise well designed apartments that offer both lifestyle appeal and long term investment potential.
“ALAND’s 23 years of delivery success, backed its Gold Star iCIRT rating and Latent Defect Insurance (LDI) have been embraced by this market.”
Construction is scheduled to commence in early 2026, with completion targeted for 2028.
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A historic Barbados estate with a 300-year-old villa and 11 acres overlooking the Caribbean Sea is now for sale with a guide price of $22.5 million.
The seller is Kit Braden, chairman of the U.K. branch of French beauty empire L’Occitane Group, whose family has spent every winter for the last 13 years at the island property, known as Fustic Estate.
“It’s very much a family house,” Braden said. “We love having a lot of people there. It’s a collection point to keep everyone together.”
The main villa dates to 1712, though it’s been reimagined and expanded substantially over the years.
It spans 13,000 square feet and features seven en suite bedrooms across three wings, as well as expansive verandas, stone courtyards and rows of louvered doors in gay Caribbean pastels.
In the 1970s, when the home was owned by Charles Graves—brother of British poet Robert Graves—it was reimagined by stage designer Oliver Messel, one of the foremost theater designers of the last century. Messel expanded the home, added a lagoon pool with a natural waterfall and other theatrical features, according to Braden.
“The whole place is a little bit magical,” he said.
The home sits about 350 feet above the water, and surrounded by lush gardens that slope towards the water.
“We look down through our garden—which is about 12 acres of tropical gardens and palm trees and wonderful old mahogany trees—onto the Caribbean,” Braden said.
He and his wife first saw the property on New Year’s Eve 2013, during a quick trip from where they were staying in Grenada.
The couple spent an hour walking the perimeter, some of it still untouched jungle, in the pouring rain.
“By the time we got back, I had fallen in love with it,” Braden said.
His wife, however, wasn’t so sure. But in Braden’s telling, a second visit in sunnier weather with two of their children brought her around.
“She had to be talked into that it was a jolly good idea; now she absolutely loves it,” he said.
When they bought the property, the edge that runs along the waterfront was a jungle, so they cleared the ridge and transformed it into gardens.
They also bought an additional sea-level parcel with two beach cottages, giving the property direct access to the water and the town below via a five-minute walk.
The property also has a 15-person staff, a reflecting pond, an outdoor pavilion suitable for yoga and a commercial grade kitchen that can serve more than 100 guests, according to a brochure from Knight Frank, which posted the listing in March. They did not provide further comment.
For Braden, the property is special because of its natural beauty, its proximity to the town of Saint Lucy and its history—which dates way way back to when the island of Barbados was first formed via tectonic activity.
“It was basically tectonic plates that collided about a million years ago so the seabed is the top of the hill,” Braden said. “We’re on coral rock.”
As a result, Fustic Estate includes an extensive network of caves that were likely used by the Arawaks, a Venezuelan fishing tribe that followed the fish to these islands about a thousand years ago.
“If the fish were good they’d camp here,” Braden said. “There’s evidence that they stayed there in those caves, they lived there in good winters.”
Now it’s someone else’s turn to live on the land shared by Arawaks, the plantation owners of 1712, Charles Graves and the Braden brood.
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