The luxury penthouses with prices so high they're on the market for years

When dealing at the top end, penthouse owners sometimes put the celebratory Bollinger on ice for months or years, pending the right buyer with deep enough pockets.

The owners of Sydney’s Crown One Barangaroo penthouse are patiently hunting success. The 849-square-metre pad has been for sale since at least 2021, originally for $100 million but now with hopes of $90 million after new agents were appointed.

Luke Hayes of Colliers Residential is handling the refreshed campaign in conjunction with Steven Chen of The Agency.

Expressions of Interest

81.01/1A Barangaroo Avenue, Barangaroo NSW 2000

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With six bedrooms, eight bathrooms and cinematic 360-degree harbour vistas, there are many applicable superlatives.

Hayes says the penthouse was previously part of the broader endeavour to sell residences in the hotel-branded tower but is deserving of a solo campaign. 

The by-invitation inspections are private and luxurious, including time at the day spa and sunset viewings. 

“The housekeeping, the valet car parking, the dog walking service – it is all there at your fingertips, like you are living in a six-star resort, and that is the unique drawcard,” Hayes says.

“We have had interest from overseas, but the people showing direct interest right now would be using it as a home, or a second home, and they live in Sydney a lot of the time.”

The penthouse’s price classifies it as super-prime. There is no loftier grading in prestige real estate.

Even if a penthouse’s price tag doesn’t match that super-prime label, another lauded status is one that has rarely changed hands.

The penthouse at 1 Albert Road, Melbourne, is on the market for the first time in 30 years and commanding $20 million to $22 million. 

High-profile businessman Lloyd Williams is parting with the 1200-square metre showpiece in the leafy Domain precinct.

Penthouse, The Domain, 1 Albert Road, Melbourne

Penthouse/1 Albert Road, Melbourne VIC 3004

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Multiple retreats, a gym, bar, marble floors, vast balconies and postcard views of the Royal Botanic Gardens flow across two floors.

Kay & Burton’s Gerald Delany says the building fronting St Kilda Road graces one of the world’s great boulevards.

“It was known as the ‘tower of power’, one of the first upmarket apartment buildings,” Delany says.

“When I was selling the units in 1994, everyone who came to the display suite looked out the window and said, ‘I’ll have one of these.’ 

“It outperforms some of the taller buildings which are so high, you lose touch with reality.”

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Similarly, a crop of penthouses in low to medium-density builds, from $3 million up, are meeting demand from buyers who, with capital growth in their family home, are swapping suburbia for the sky.

Agent Nick Peters is heading a new division of Forbes Global Properties dedicated to selling only those top floors.

“We are in an exciting era for growth,” he says. “Australia offers very good value on a global scale.”

Forbes will be representing a super-prime Gold Coast penthouse, launching mid-year, which Peters says will have a guide of $35 million-plus. 

At that level, it will set a Queensland record, continuing the legacy of penthouses sitting above all else in the market – physically and monetarily.