The record Australian apartment price has been broken yet again - the third time this year - with a $20-million-plus price agreed for the Jade penthouse on the Surfers Paradise beachfront. Developer Mick Bezzina, whose developments now stretch far from his Sutherland Shire stamping ground, says only the paperwork needs finalisation with its intending overseas buyer. "It's very, very close," Bezzina said. "We've come to terms, we are just going through the paperwork." The three-level unit snares the record from the $16.85 million off-the-plan sale in the Juniper development, Soul, on the Gold Coast, set in October. Sydney's Aussie John Symond's Walsh Bay sub-penthouse had held the record when it sold for about $16 million in September. The Walsh Bay apartment has 520 square metres of living space plus a 140-square-metre balcony and two boat berths. The Walsh Bay sale broke the $15 million record set by broadcaster John Laws for an apartment at Woolloomooloo Wharf in 2004. Sydney-based Bezzina has capitalised on the bullish Gold Coast market with all but two of the 12 Jade apartments sold pre-completion, starting from $5 million-plus each. He has also sold both the two ground-floor beach bungalows for about $12 million each, with one reputedly going to the penthouse buyer. The units average 380 square metres with another 53 square metres of balcony space. Bezzina's $96 million complex was launched at a midweek party, four years after he paid $17.5 million for the site. It is a 15-level, 16-pool complex set on the Northcliffe Terrace, close to Q1 apartments. Source: SMH