There is life north of Noosa: Airlie Beach coming into focus
The charisma of the Gold Coast, and more particularly Noosa with its dizzying property prices, casts a lot of shade on the rest of coastal Queensland. For some years, Noosa and the Goldie’s real estate is all we’ve heard about south of the border – aside, perhaps, from the sales of worn-out island resorts to our billionaire class.
But 1,100 kilometres north of Brisbane is a sparkling blue reach held to be the most glorious part of maritime Queensland – little Airlie Beach, which is the main gateway to the 74 Whitsunday islands and is where many billionaire boat owners choose to moor their superyachts.
Directly addressing Port Airlie, the newest of Airlie’s two marinas, are two greenfield sites that Andrew Forster, one of the people marketing them, knows to be “exceptionally rare on the eastern seaboard … sites so close to the water in such a globally famous scenic site”.
For 20 years Forster has worked with the developers in the making of Port Airlie’s multifaceted marina infrastructure and is now in the role of a project manager with Knight Frank, Townsville, which, in conjunction with Canford Real Estate, is marketing the 5594-square-metre Lot 113 and the 6788-square-metre Lot 115 through an expressions-of-interest campaign.
Foster says the site owners are looking for a buyer who will be “the right fit to compliment what they’ve already done”.
With mixed-use zoning and with development approval in place for Lot 113 to house 46 apartments in a two-building configuration, the two sites bracket the Cruise Whitsunday ferry terminal.
As well as overlooking that operation, and the bobbing launches and swaying yacht masts, the upper levels of new apartment buildings would see right across to the islands – where, by the way, developer Shaun Juniper is currently finalising his purchase of Lindeman Island for a reputed $20 million-plus.
Although the area hasn’t been much in the property market headlines, Knight Frank Townsville managing director Craig Stack says “Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday has been one of the [Queensland] regional areas that have really performed well since mid-2020”.
In the lockdown period, “Queenslanders could still get around, and touristy Airlie Beach was very popular, with occupancy rates that were well above what they had been traditionally”.
Traditionally, the tourism sector that draws half a million visitors to a townlet that, with neighbouring Cannon Vale has just over 1200 permanent residents, makes up 40 per cent of the local economy. The other reliably performing income streams are mining and cattle and sugar cane farming, which combine to annually deliver about $3.49 billion into the region’s coffers.
Many of the town’s permanent residents, Stack says, are miners “who’ve been buying houses that come with marina berths”. Vacant block and house values have also been progressing upwards by head-shaking margins.
A domestic site fronting one of the marinas and similar to one that sold in 2020 for $1.45 million most recently returned $3 million “because Airlie is now the premium property north of Noosa”.
Others who’ve taken up the apartment stock are the “lock up and leave” crowd who, according to the region’s data, mostly hail from NSW and who arrive seasonally to ride out the south’s colder months. Units with sensational views and three bedrooms can be theirs for under $500,000 – sometimes well under.
Stack says there has been “no significant new unit development for a while” at Airlie Beach, which could give the Port Drive pair of properties added appeal.
Forster says the sellers of lots 113 and 115 “are passionate about the very good blocks”. But as apartment building “is not their forte” they’re keen to see a quality developer step up to put their own stamp on a coastal town so aptly marketed as “the heart of the Great Barrier Reef”.
