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Melbourne-based developer Gurner Group has sold more than 580 apartments worth over $500 million across the first three towers of its Elysium Fields wellness precinct in Docklands, backing up recent research that reveals the city's inner-city apartment market is experiencing its strongest activity in a decade.
The sales form the centrepiece of Gurner Group's $1.65 billion national residential sales tally for the 12 months to December 2025, with the Docklands project emerging as the group's flagship development.
The $2.75 billion Elysium Fields project is being delivered in partnership with the Liberman family's Digital Harbour Holdings consortium, which holds the development rights over the waterfront site.
The development, described by Gurner as a “wellness and anti-ageing Utopia”, is located on a 2.7ha site at 208-226 Harbour Esplanade and will ultimately deliver 1,700 dwellings.
The project will include more than 1,350 build-to-rent and build-to-sell apartments, a retail and hospitality precinct, a four-star short-stay hotel of about 100 rooms and a premier five-star hotel of more than 250 rooms with state-of-the-art conference facilities, a business club and hospitality offerings.
Gurner Group’s Saint Haven club will be among the lifestyle offerings, with the Docklands site to be the largest in its portfolio at 5,000sqm, along with another Gurner initiative, the Haven Ancient Baths.
Gurner Group founder and executive chairman Tim Gurner says the sales result at Elysium Fields reflects demand for a product that has been underserved by the market.
"We've always believed that living extends far beyond the physical residence," says Gurner.
"It's about how you feel the moment you arrive, how you live day-to-day, and the ecosystem that supports that.
"That belief is what led to the integration of our learnings from Saint Haven into our residential projects, bringing private, preventative and performance-based wellness into the core of the residential experience.
"We're seeing a clear global shift toward longevity, performance and proactive health. Our role is to deliver that in a way that feels seamless, highly private and beautifully resolved within the environments we create."
Gurner Group's sales run at Docklands reflects recent research from Urban Property Australia which shows median inner-city apartment prices in Melbourne rose 2.0 per cent to $656,500 in the December 2025 quarter, their highest level since December 2021.
Annual transaction volumes exceeded 7,200, making it the most active year for inner-city apartment sales since 2015 and 42 per cent above the 10-year average.
New supply remains sharply constrained with just 2,700 apartments completed across inner Melbourne in 2025, well below the 20-year annual average of 3,600 completions.
Urban Property Australia forecasts supply will remain below average for the next five years despite near-record population growth, a dynamic that has pushed median weekly rents to $600 - up 5.3 per cent annually - and dragged vacancy rates down to 2.4 per cent, below the long-term average of 3.3 per cent.
Docklands accounts for a disproportionate share of what is being built as more than half of all apartments currently under construction in inner Melbourne are located in the precinct.
Gurner Group says its development pipeline currently exceeds $3 billion nationally and is projected to grow rapidly before the end of this year.
"We have a strong pipeline across Australia and are now focused on scaling into key markets including New South Wales and Queensland, while continuing to build on our Melbourne base," says Gurner.
"We currently have more than $3 billion in the market, growing to over $5 billion by October, and expect to materially outperform last year in the 2026 calendar year.
"But ultimately, if we stay focused on quality, detail and the lived experience of our customers, the broader results take care of themselves."
The broader market tailwinds underpinning Gurner's recent sales performance in Melbourne show few signs of easing.
Urban Property Australia's data points to a structural supply shortage that is likely to persist, with construction costs, planning delays and financing constraints continuing to suppress new project launches even as demand accelerates on the back of strong population growth and falling vacancy.
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