The blocks were put back on the market for between $1 million and $1.1 million, an increase of more than $400,000 per block.
For example, health worker Madhuri Bakshi’s $620,000 block was being offered for sale under a new lot number for $1.097 million.
Madhuri Bakshi has paid her deposit and waited almost four years for her land to be handed over.Credit: Rhett Wyman
“It was heartbreaking when I saw it was back on the market for half a million more. First of all, I can’t believe it can happen. I’m just heartbroken. It’s a rip-off,” she said at the time.
If the new prices are realised, Clydesdale lots will be sold for a total of about $150 million, or $60 million more than they were four years ago, by BHL and Cyan Stone.
Some of the same real estate agencies that sold the blocks originally were selling them again.
The buyers launched a class action in the Federal Court to prevent the resale of land they held contracts on, and sought compensation for lost capital gain.
Cyan Stone voluntarily liquidated itself in early September 2024, and every purchaser in Clydesdale had their full deposits placed on a list of unsecured creditors by liquidator Stephen Helm of Helm Advisory, despite their deposits being held in a solicitor’s trust.
The deposits total $9 million.
The Helm Advisory report sent to the stunned investors on September 17 shows much of the Cyan Stone debt was owed to itself.
Cyan Stone Clydesdale Estate 3 Pty Ltd has debts of $40,209,644, and assets of $289,608, but the two major creditors are Cyan Stone Finance Ltd, which is owed $6,789,546, and Cyan Stone Pty Ltd (in liquidation), which is owed $19,338,662.
The class action lawsuit was filed in the Federal Court on behalf of the purchasers by William Roberts Lawyers against Astro Fort and the Cyan Stone group of companies.
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During weeks of mediation in March, Astro Fort agreed to settle. Cyan Stone, in liquidation, has not been defending the case.
In a preliminary hearing, Federal Court Judge Ian Jackman expressed a view that the plaintiff’s argument that Astro Fort and others engaged in an inducement to breach a contract did not appear to have “any obvious legal flaw”.
“At some stage, and certainly during the mediation, the Astro Fort parties are going to have to give consideration to whether the claim in that form is one which is supported in legal principle, and whether the evidence is likely to bear it out,” Jackman said.
Jackman’s decision on whether to approve the settlement is expected later this month.
The settlement document outlines two choices for the original purchasers – a cash payout, believed to be about $100,000, or the equivalent discount off the new purchase price of the block.
The exact amount had been redacted from the document.
Original owners who are a party to the class action are subject to a non-disclosure clause.
Many of the buyers spoken to by the Herald remain upset, saying they have lost a lot of capital gain and that the cost of building houses had skyrocketed while they remained in limbo.
But one, who is prevented from speaking publicly due to the non-disclosure clause, said: “At least we’re getting a six-figure payout, minus legal fees, when just a few months ago we had lost the lot. I honestly thought we’d get nothing and had written it off.”
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