Soft furnishings and panoramas: When the ultimate waterfront pad is a $1.24 million boat

A two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment with absolute water frontage on Sydney Harbour, 360-degree views and a sun roof, all for just $1.24 million? It sounds too good to be true, until you consider that the land size is zero, and very few apartments have sun roofs such as this boat does.

The price tag does still seem tempting, though, once you’ve wandered dreamily around the new Prestige 460S coupe cruiser, picturing yourself parked off the beach at Balmoral, bathing in the golden light of how good your life is.

This 14-metre beauty is just small enough that you can drive it without being covered in an unpleasant sheen of fear sweat, and it’s also staggeringly easy to berth thanks to its “Joystick Driving” option, which basically makes the whole thing less complex than playing Fortnite.

Another bonus for the skipper is that they’re not left out of the action. The comfortable, classy couches and kitchen area of this French-designed cruiser are all focused around the driver’s seat, although you can send them all out to a pleasant rear sun deck if the carousing gets annoying. Plus that magnificent sun roof means you can soak up the rays while you’re steering.

With a beam of 4.3 metres, there’s a real sense of space. The master cabin offers comfortable overnight accommodation and an en suite, and even the guest cabin in the bow feels spacious.

The real highlights, though, are the bed-like loungers on the foredeck and the hydraulic swim platform at the rear. It might seem the height of laziness to drop the platform for a swim, but then you realise you can set your deck chairs up there and create the perfect outdoor living room, literally in the harbour.

Prestige’s brand manager, Steven Bullock, points out that this 460S is already a huge hit in the US, where it’s the second biggest-selling boat in the 45-to-60-foot range. “What you’ll notice on these boats is that you’re never touching, or seeing, fibreglass or plastic. It’s all soft furnishings and stitched leather,” he says.

All of which makes that $1.24 million price sound like even more of a bargain.

Where to park it

It’s always handy to have an extra two bedrooms floating out the front of your palatial waterfront home, even when it’s already got seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms of its own, like this Sovereign Islands beauty.

What boat owners will love most, of course, is the 27-metre water frontage, which offers bridge-free mooring for easy access to your Prestige 460S … or something quite a lot bigger.

Ivy Wu of Prestige Property Agents advises on a $6.95 million price guide for the Hamptons-style residence.