In terms of global geography, the ‘super-size’ trend is seeing more traction in Asia and the Far East. Veteran real estate expert Bill Barnett of C9Hotelworks in Thailand comments, “In Asia the trend for ultra-large sky villas is quite niche. It is an urban trend, where aging high net worth families are moving out of their traditional large houses and into apartments, which is where we see places like the St Regis in Bangkok capitalise. And yes, they like lots of space.”
Although not quite on the same scale as Sapphire Residences, another example is The Harper building in Philadelphia, USA where, in response to strong demand from families for larger units, the developer decided to increase the sizes of the apartments by reconfiguring the space within the same total square footage to allow 15% fewer – but much larger – apartments.
This trend is also evident in Sydney. “The demand for larger apartments is certainly a fast-growing trend in Australia,” comments Knight Frank’s Erin van Tuil, who is responsible for marketing the branded residences at Crown’s One Barangaroo in Sydney, where all the apartments offer vast lateral living areas with everything one would expect in a family home. “Two buyer groups are predominantly driving this demand,” she reports. “Typically, we would call the first group ‘Downsizers’; however, it’s clear that this group may want to downsize on the hassle and cost of large family homes but certainly not on lifestyle – they still want space to entertain and have family and friends to stay,” she explains. “The second group is people that have lived in apartments elsewhere around the world and are moving back or to Australia; they appreciate all the conveniences of urban living but don’t want to compromise on space.”