It’s the ultimate status symbol, but the reality of owning your own private island may be a little different to what most ordinary Australians expect.
Those looking to purchase their own slice paradise may be surprised to find some bargain islands on the market, with sales as low as $385,000 for Worthington Island according to agent and specialist Richard Vanhoff, who has been facilitating these purchases for 18 years.
He recently sold Pool Island in the Whitsundays for $1 million, a figure that’s lower than the median house price in Sydney which currently sits at over $1.3 million.
While some islands may be cheaper than expected, there are a suite of other costs that island owners are expected to pay, so those in the market generally have some cash in their pocket to spend.
“If you‘re buying an island for a million, it probably would be in the bracket of someone that’s earning $3-4 million a year, ” Mr Vanhoff said.
THE HIDDEN COSTS OF OWNING AN ISLAND
For those seriously considering buying an island, the unexpected costs start with inspections.
“If the island is accessible by aircraft, we’ll meet [a buyer] at Cairns Airport, or Rockhampton or Mackay, and if they‘ve got a runway on the island we’ll take a light aircraft or helicopter out to it…the next best is of course a boat,” he said.
“It‘s certainly at the expense of the buyer, otherwise I probably go broke for everyone I take out there.”
Then, there’s a variety of other costs the island owner is expected to front, depending on the type of island you buy.
Freehold islands, where the buyer is truly purchasing an island, come with council rate costs even though owners don’t get access to council services like garbage collection.
However, most islands are sold through leaseholds, which ensure the owner can hold the land for 25 to 75 years, and these come with rental costs that run into the thousands.
“Even though you buy the land, you still have to cough up for a rental each year. It‘s not a great deal, but most island owners mitigate those costs by leasing out the property,” Mr Vanhoff said.
Then there’s the general maintenance costs for homes built on the island, which can add up when you consider the wear and tear that buildings near the ocean are subjected to.
HOW TO BUY AN ISLAND
While some island sales can take as little as 10 days to be settled, most take longer to organise.
That’s due to the fact that most islands can’t be bought outright, but rather purchased through a leasehold that ensures the owner can hold the land for up to 99 years.
“That means that we‘ve got to deal with the state government and the process of the minister in charge, because everything that we transfer through to another owner has to be approved by the Minister of the Department of Resources,” Mr Vanhoff said.
“That could take any where up to three weeks to seven weeks, it depends on the availability of that particular minister and his staff.”
If you’ve ever wondered how active the market is for private islands, Mr Vanhoff revealed that he gets around 10 calls each day from potential new clients who are considering buying their own island, however not all of them are serious.
“However most of those calls are fairly light on and are just people who‘d like to think they could buy an island and you get the odd $30 million coming up in lotto which generally kicks off a few extra calls because someone has told them they’re going to win,” he said.