PORT DOUGLAS

from Mansion March 2021

by The Australian

INTERIORS

JOEL ROBINSON

Sky is the limit for top end

Seaside fortunes growing with new investment

The Port Douglas prestige market has been buoyed by its recent record sale. But the top end of town had already seen a pick-up, according to its selling agent Queensland Sotheby’s Barbara Wolveridge.

“The market is definitely on the up and is as good as it’s been in several years,” Wolveridge says. “Buyers are looking for a seachange. COVID has shown them they don’t have to live in the cities and fight traffic for two hours a day. They can work remotely and Port Douglas fits that bill perfectly.

“I’m expecting 2021 to be as big a year for prestige property as last year. We are getting some great listings.”

Veteran agent Tony McGrath from Tony McGrath Real Estate notes the market is as strong as it’s been in 30 years. He senses the market is “on fire just like it was in 1988”.

Easter tourism bookings are stronger than normal.

“If anyone wants to come up here in the winter from the south they will be lucky to find a place still available probably from June to October,” McGrath adds.

Port Douglas saw its highest ever price when the Wharf Street property of businessman John Morris, widely known as the man who shaped Port Douglas, and wife Marilyn sold. The former record was $6.8 million, also on Wharf Street, which had stood since 2017 when Melbourne developer Michael Yates sold his holiday home to fellow Victorian Larah Cook, wife of Paragon Financial Group director Dean Cook.

Located at the tip of Wharf Street overlooking Port Douglas and the Coral Sea, the Morris home was updated about a decade ago, having been featured in the 1987 movie Travelling North.

The home has five bedrooms, four ensuites and a home office.

The Wharf Street sale has prompted the Melbourne-based hedge funder Richard Jenkins and wife Justine to sell their luxury oceanfront at 15 Wharf Street. They are selling up to buy a weekender in Portsea. They’ve been leasing the FNQ holiday home for between $1400 and $2000 a night, with it being leased over 200 days per year. They’ve renovated the four bedroom home in recent years, which they bought for $2.2 million in 2003.

Queensland Sotheby’s agent Lynn Malone has the listing.

Wolveridge’s latest listing comes with $2.3 million hopes for a designer house in the Sands Estate. Created by designer and builder Lee-ann Pitcher, the classic Port Douglas home has been designed to open up to its tropical surroundings.

The home’s three bedrooms have Italian fossilised marble in the ensuites. The kitchen was the winner of Best Kitchen by Master Builders Queensland and HIA Queensland. It features a semiprecious Onyx lightbox which cantilevers a three-metre stone island bench, giving the appearance it’s floating. Wolveridge calls it one of the most stunning homes in Port Douglas.

Agents eagerly anticipate the proposal by the Melbournebased developer Gurner for a hotel and residence complex and retreat. Wolveridge suggests it will bring a whole new group of visitors to the town, comparing the development to Hamilton Island’s drawcard Qualia.

“Once they are here, Port Douglas has the capacity to entertain them with our fabulous award-winning restaurants, the Great Barrier Reef and our spectacular rainforest.”

Callum Jones at The Pink Agency showed Tim and Aimee Gurner around Port Douglas in 2019. “The development is a refreshing design unlike any other in town” Jones says. “The design and look is very now and I can see the appeal of the property that fills a void in the current accommodation market.”

There hasn’t been a resort built in the town since 2008.

“If we are to continue to promote Port Douglas as a first class destination then we need to be able to offer accommodation options to match,” Jones says.

Ray White Port Douglas agent Mark Flinn says it’s an honour that the Gurners believe in Port Douglas the way they do.

“To invest the money and the quality of the project and infrastructure at that level they are talking about, will be a massive plus for the town in the long term,” Flinn says.

Flinn currently has a $3.2 million listing for the tropical hideaway Bali Hai. Set on 33 hectares, the three bedroom home, designed as a series of pavilions Bali is famous for, has a private wet-edge pool overlooking the surrounds that feature swimming holes and rapids.