Harry Triguboff's Meriton lending to secure apartment buyers

The billionaire apartment developer Harry Triguboff has almost doubled his lending to apartment buyers following restrictions from Australian banks and China’s crackdown on money flowing out of the country.

The Meriton Group's mortgage book is $50 million up over the past four months to about $120 million, Triguboff told The Australian.

“I don’t want to be a banker, but I have to be one if our banks won’t lend,” he said.

“There was a shock when they (buyers) expected to borrow and couldn’t. But now they are organised, finding money from other sources, perhaps some from offshore banks.”

Australia’s richest man lent as much as $600 million 15 years ago on the back of restrictive credit conditions to secure his apartment sales.

Meriton will build about 2000 units this year.

It advised prices for its apartments dropped around 5 per cent since last year’s market peak, after Chinese buyers withdrew.

But prices had now stabilised, Mr Triguboff said. Rents had remained firm, he noted.

“Our prices (average for a two-bedroom unit) are down to $950,000,” he said. “It was over a million.”

Last week Meriton unveiled the first in what will be a series of buildings in its intended $1 billion community in the heart of Rosebery.

Stage one, two buildings up to 7-storeys housing 187 apartments, has been given the Mint name, a name inspired by the iconic Minties lollies which were made on the site a century ago.