Few ultra-luxury properties on the market are advertised, but those in the know can find them.
Decades ago, the beachside cane farm was picked up for a song because farmers feared the salinity would diminish the sugar yield of the crops. Now the owners will consider no offer less than $20 million.
Before a businessman by the name of Christopher Skase put the sleepy Queensland town of Port Douglas on the tourist map, the region relied on cane farming. Inland properties were coveted and seaside ones were regarded with suspicion; a kilometre of lapping tide could cause immeasurable damage to crops.
But the cane farmers took the risk and worked the land for generations. They could never have imagined they were sitting on what was to become one of Australia's most valuable pieces of real estate.
"The property is probably going to sell to a celeb-type character," says James Fern of BCQ Property.
"I can't say who has been looking at it but I'd love to; some of the biggest developers in Australia and people involved in the entertainment industry have come pretty close to buying it."
But the farmers have held out; they've named their price and are not willing to compromise. Until the property sells, they will continue harvesting cane on their $20 million asset.
When such properties hit the market, they rarely make the real estate pages. Untouched by the forces that control the standard residential market, such as fluctuating interest rates and consumer confidence, the deluxe top end plays by its own rules. A buyer on an eight-figure budget is not exactly spoilt for choice, but on today's market, there are a handful of ludicrously expensive properties scattered around the nation's capital cities and beach resorts.
Australia's priciest apartment is for sale in Surfers Paradise for $20 million but to call it an apartment seems like a misnomer. The 1029-square-metre penthouse is set out over three storeys and includes three kitchens, a private lift and a rooftop pool. It's the centrepiece of the Bezzina Group's Jade complex, where each apartment takes up an entire floor and has its own private swimming pool. So secretive is the design that even buyers cannot take home copies of the floor plans.
In nearby Mermaid Beach on the Gold Coast, $20 million will buy a double block with 20 metres of beach frontage on Hedges Avenue, one of only five streets on the Gold Coast with ocean frontage. The house at No. 47 was built by entertainment baron Michael Edgley and includes a nightclub and bar, a 15-metre swimming pool and an underground car park.
Included in the sales spin is a glowing endorsement by singer Diana Ross, who described the property as "the best little beach house in the world" after leasing it in the early 1990s.
How many Australians have $20 million to spend on a beach house?
It's anyone's guess, but there is no question that the rich are growing richer, according to buyers' agent Christopher Koren, of Morrell and Koren. Mr Koren says that an unprecedented demand for properties has more than doubled the price of ultra-luxury real estate in the past five years.
As evidence of the trend, he cites the recent sale of an $8 million Sydney apartment that attracted four serious bidders.
"The one shining light consistently out there in 2005 was the upper end of the market," Mr Koren says. "It's an Adam Smith matter of supply and demand; if you look at the market and talk to estate agents, they will tell you there are at least 50 per cent fewer luxury houses out there for sale."
Mr Koren says that expatriates returning to Australia make up a large proportion of luxury buyers.
"Almost on a fortnightly basis I am getting phone calls from Australians who have had enough of Europe, the US and Asia and have a cache of money to reward themselves," he says.
"Three million pounds will buy you an average house in Chelsea (an exclusive London suburb). Flog that and all of a sudden you have ($A7 million) to spend on a house in Melbourne."
Foreigners investing in Australia have also helped to drive up the price of luxury real estate. Queensland, in particular, has attracted billions in overseas investment as one of the world's few tropical regions to offer freehold titles. (Real estate in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand is available in surplus but non-nationals are generally restricted to leasehold titles.) Australia's stable government and democratic electoral system also inspire confidence, but there is a catch: in most parts of the nation, foreign investors can buy only off-the-plan apartments and land earmarked for development.
Garry Willmott, who has listed both the Mermaid Beach and Surfers Paradise properties on his website www.luxuryrealestate.com, says about 50 per cent of inquiries come from overseas.
"I have relationships with people in Italy, Turkey, the UK, the US, Spain and Fiji," he says. "The biggest emerging market is Russia. There are more billionaires in Russia than anywhere else in the world and they are buying a lot of international property. "One of the other big markets that is drawing people is Dubai - there is a huge amount of investment going on there."
The biggest cash payment he has received is $6.5 million.
As a general rule, if a property over $10 million is advertised, it usually means the vendors are at pains to sell it. Luxury sales are often brokered in stealth and realtors at the top end of the market pride themselves on discretion. In Melbourne, about half the houses over $10 million are never even placed on the open market. Sydney is even more discreet; you will never see a $40 million house advertised in the Sydney harbourside suburb of Point Piper, even though there are reportedly properties on the market at that price.
Bill Bridges of Sydney-based Cassim Real Estate says that when a buyer on a mega-budget contacts him, he approaches the owners of Sydney's best houses asking if they are interested in selling. "I have to go cap in hand," he says.
Mr Bridges would not be drawn on the address of a $50 million property on his books but says it would have several potential buyers. "If you have $300 million, what's $50 million if your wife really wants the property?"
So what will an eight-figure budget buy you outside of Australia's two most expensive capital cities?
In Perth, a stately home in Peppermint Grove set on 3035 square metres of land has a $10 million asking price. The 1904 Federation-style house at 44 View Street that was once owned by the Bunnings family has been completely restored and includes six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a grand reception hall and five living rooms.
It's the most expensive house ever placed on the market in Perth (the previous record was Alan Bond's old house in Dalkeith, which fetched $9.5 million) but William Porteous, whose company Acton is managing the sale, predicts that Perth real estate is set for a boom.
"Perth can be price-wise a bit parochial. But you will see a lot of prices going over $10 million in the next couple of years. With the resource boom, Western Australia is really becoming the focal point of a lot of investment from South-East Asia, China and India," Mr Porteous says.
On Hope Island, an exclusive golf resort on the northern Gold Coast, a $25 million mansion is nearing completion. The vast, three-storey house in Gracemere Circuit is designed for a yachting enthusiast, with water frontage deep enough to park a boat hauling a helicopter.
Nearby in the Beechmont Range, about 25 minutes out of Surfers Paradise, $12 million will buy 26 hectares of rainforest with panoramic views of the coast from Stradbroke Island to Tweed Heads. Thrown into the deal are plans for a $5 million house that makes the most of the spectacle.
But if you prefer beach to bush, you can't go past your own private island - and there are some bargains to be had.
Caldwell Banker has Bamborough Island in the Great Barrier Reef on its books for a mere $3 million.
The island takes just over two hours to circumnavigate on foot and boasts nine white sandy beaches and an airstrip built to civil aviation requirements.
Broker Richard Vanhoff says that turtles clamber onto the beaches and a pod of dolphins swims by the rocks, but there are no rats, mice or snakes.
The island, which used to hold cattle, includes a recently completed four-bedroom house and a "party shed" for guests, but the title remains in the hands of the Queensland Government; the $3 million merely pays for the right to renew the lease every 20 years.
Prospective buyers include church groups and health retreats as well as a Melbourne socialite and a Singaporean pop star, Mr Vanhoff says.
"It's a vanity," he says. "People like to tell their friends, 'Come to my island."'
