Securing a buyer for Australia's most expensive apartment, the $25 million penthouse of the super skyscraper Australia 108 in Melbourne, was the work of Tim Keenan at KM Sales & Marketing. Keenan, a director of the specialist residential property sales and marketing group that was founded in 2013, described the Melbourne-based firm as "a boutique firm that targets the right buyers."

"We've got a lot of channels in China, and our thinking is fish where the fish are," says Keenan. "This gentleman [the Chinese businessman who purchased the Australia 108 penthouse] was very interested and Australia-oriented." Keenan said the buyer, who does not wish to be named, was similar to other high-net-worth Chinese individuals who buy property in Australia in that he has Chinese friends who live in Melbourne. "He has Chinese friends who live here, they recommend it and he was looking to buy something here," said Keenan. "This wasn't an impulse buy."

Keenan said the deal took two weeks. "This is a rare beast here, this is a 20 year sale," said Keenan, who has 18 years in the property business and is a father of three children under the age of six. "It takes an experienced team to execute these large type deals like the Penthouse at Australia 108. I was able to source the buyer and negotiate the initial financial aspect with the assistance of the our staff and referrer partner, while Jayde Pezet [KM's Director in Queensland] was able to finalise the tough legal negotiations back in Australia with the developers' lawyers, Nick Holuigue and Adam Jacques of Maddocks, who were pivotal in getting the deal across the line." CBRE Residential Projects' Andrew Leoncelli also worked on the deal.

Keenan said KM Sales & Marketing have other deals happening at Australia 108, and also secured a buyer for the penthouse in the second tower of Oracle, an $850 million two-tower luxury apartment and hotel development at Broadbeach in Queensland. The firm has plans to operate in the Sydney market in future. "We will get there in time, but it's down the track," said Keenan.