Latest NewsShared Housing Hits Luxury MarketSunday, 19 February 2017

Dual-key apartments make luxury living a little more affordable.

As inner-city housing becomes increasingly unaffordable, a property developer has proposed building hundreds of ''dual-key'' apartments designed to accommodate separate households.

Stanley Quek, managing director of Frasers Property Australia, has revealed that 40 per cent of his 600-apartment complex, One Central Park, on the Carlton United Brewery site in Sydney would be dual-key residences he said were popular in Singapore.

While the dual-key apartments will be on one title with one front door, that door will open onto a hallway and two more lockable doors, one opening into the main part of the apartment and the other accessing a second bedroom. That second bedroom will usually have its own bathroom and an alcove containing a two-burner stove, sink and refrigerator.

Dr Quek expects this Sydney development, which received project application approval last week, will have about 240 dual-key apartments varying in size from 85 to 100 square metres and expected prices of $850,000 to $1,200,000.

Prices like that would be prohibitive for many buyers but Dr Quek believes a lot more people will be able to buy if they can easily rent a self-contained section of the residence, avoiding the lifestyle compromises shared households typically involve.

Bill Randolph, director of the City Futures Research Centre at the University of NSW, said he had not heard of dual-key apartments before but thought they were a ''sensible option'', especially on the site located so close to two universities.

''As a short-term solution to the issues of affordability it allows people to buy into the market.

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