Drone footage of the Headlands site. Video: Chris Duczynski, Malibumedia
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The pre-launch of holiday units on the Headlands Hotel site was so frenetic, the apartments were taken off the market the day they were to be released publicly.
The 59 beachfront serviced apartments at Austinmer were offered last Friday to selected buyers who were included on the database of two major Illawarra real estate agencies.
By Monday morning, the two agents had been swamped with inquiries, and deposits had been taken on more than half of the yet-to-be-built apartments.
The developer, the Steven Charles Property Group, instructed the agents on Monday not to sell any further apartments, despite the fact the property known as 1 Yuruga Street had just been uploaded on real estate websites for sale to the public.
It is understood the remaining holiday units will be sold in a second release, due to hit the market in a few weeks.
So, even today if an investor had the money to buy an apartment, which range in price from $235,000 to $900,000, their name would go on an expressions-of-interest list for stage two.
One of the listing agents, Simon Beaufils, principal of Ray White Helensburgh, said he had never seen anything like it in his 20-year career as a real estate agent.
"I have never before experienced the urgency, the demand and the interest from the market place that this development has attracted," he said.
"It's an iconic location on the peninsula which can never be repeated."
Mr Beaufils said he didn't sleep over a four-day period because his phone and computer rang and beeped red-hot with inquiries.
"From midday at Friday, when the pre-launch started, the phone was basically ringing off the hook with pent-up demand for an opportunity you are never likely to get again," he said.
"If I needed to sell them all today, I could, but we are not doing that," he said.
It was a similar situation for Maurice Bertapelle, of MMJ Real Estate Wollongong.
Mr Beaufils and Mr Bertapelle have sold more than half the apartments to private investors from the Illawarra, Sydney and western NSW.
"Yet there has been a really strong interest locally-based," Mr Beaufils said.
"They are very well priced and a development like this won't happen again in this area."
Investors could use the apartments for holidays or rent them out but they were not permitted to permanently live in them, Mr Beaufils said.
Headlands Apartments will comprise a tavern, restaurant and function rooms.
The Stevens Charles Property Group only received the go-ahead for the new development from Wollongong City Council's Independent Hearing and Assessment Panel (IHAP) on November 7.
The demolition of the old hotel is scheduled to begin in February or March, with construction starting after that.
IHAP members unanimously voted to allow the developer to split the planned tourism development into two large lots and subdivide the serviced apartment blocks using strata title.
Mr Beaufils said the controversy surrounding the prime piece of coastal land had fuelled interest from investors.
"This project has been on hold for 15 years and the buyers have been waiting and waiting for council to resolve it," he said.
"They have finally resolved it and the built-up demand to buy these things has just exploded."