Aoyuan Spends $42M to Pick Up Two More Sydney Condo Sites

Aoyuan Property Group is already marketing Sydney’s most expensive apartments, and now the Chinese real estate developer may be hoping to develop more pricey properties as it expands its business down under.

The Hong Kong-listed developer this week acquired two more sites in Sydney for A$55 million ($42.1 million), The Australian reported. The pair of plots in the city’s upper north shore area are expected to yield more than 220 units.

“These are critical additions to our stable of projects and give us nicely rounded exposure to areas of Sydney that we see as currently undersupplied with high-end apartment options,” Aoyuan’s Australian head of development, Adrian Liaw, told the newspaper.

The Guangzhou-based developer started marketing units at its One30 Hyde Park in Sydney last year, and a penthouse in the that project still holds the distinction of being the most expensive apartment in the city on a per square metre basis, fetching A$43,200 ($33,123) per square metre from a buyer last November.

One of the plots Aoyuan purchased is a 6,063 square metre site in the suburban community of Gordon. Currently home to a car dealership, the site has already received government approval for a six-storey building and will also feature 730 square metres of retail space.

Aoyuan’s First Aussie Project Moves Ahead

The mainland homebuilder was part of a wave of Chinese developers to head to Australia in recent times. In March last year Aoyuan formed a joint venture with Australian developer Ecove to buy a 14-storey office tower in Sydney for A$121 million ($94.79 million).

The JV unveiled plans to turn that office complex alongside Sydney’s Hyde Park into a 36-storey condominium with design firm Bates Smart winning a City of Sydney Design Excellence Competition for its design of the complex in 2014.

Units at the project, including the penthouse purchased for A$9.72 million ($7 million), went on sale in 2015. Construction on the project started earlier this year.