The phone is running red hot on the super deluxe Queensland beachfront property of Australian tennis legend Pat Rafter.
Should it achieve its asking price, an eye-watering A$18 million-plus (US$13.7 million-plus), it will almost certainly be double the existing suburb record and one of the highest prices for Queensland in almost 10 years.
Most of the phone calls being received are coming from overseas, according to Tom Offermann, the principal of Tom Offermann Real Estate, as businessmen and women seek out an Australian bolthole, an economic safe haven, in a beachfront paradise.
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"We’re getting a lot of interest from international buyers," he said of the home, which has been on the market since late August. "They’re almost always people who have been to Noosa before, attracted to the area who are making plans to move to Australia, where they’ll continue to operate their businesses because they like the lifestyle and climate, and for many economic safety is becoming a more important issue."
Mr. Rafter, a former World No.1 and two-time US Open grand slam winner, purchased two adjacent blocks on Seaview Terrace in Sunshine Beach for a combined A$9.5 million (US$7.2 million) in 2006, building a John Burgess-designed six-bedroom Mediterranean-style home in 2010.
With five marble and mosaic bathrooms, ocean views from almost every room and an infinity pool, it’s little wonder it’s attracted a global audience.
The suburb itself, once a sleepy beachfront afterthought 90 kilometer drive north of Brisbane, has become a sought-after enclave, quietly setting price records this year for its glamour lifestyle and prestige properties.
Adjacent to the better known Noosa Heads, it’s the preferred property haven of some of Australia’s biggest business scions and dozens of the region’s real estate agents.
"It has a great lifestyle and is a true surf beach. At one end is the National Park, where there’s lots of great tracks for running and walking, there are cafes and restaurants only five minutes walk away, and you have Noosa at your doorstep," private equity financier Simon Moore said about the suburb, having listed for sale two adjacent beachfront properties on Arakoon Crescent in Sunshine Beach for $6.25 million and $5.75 million respectively.
Away from the tourist-heavy upmarket Noosa Heads, Sunshine Beach’s biggest draws are its village atmosphere, with its lauded seasonally driven restaurants, artisan coffee haunts and true surf beach.
It’s what attracted now retired pilot Perry Taylor and his doctor wife Vivienne in 1986, when they bought a 1,400 square meter beachfront block on Webb Road in Sunshine Beach for $200,000 that consisted basically of grass and a single tree.
From there, the couple went on to build their dream home so as to provide their children with a surf lifestyle, allowing them beachfront access, 100 meters from the lifeguard tower. In September the house sold for A$9.3 million (US$7.1 million), setting a new suburb record.
Mr. Offermann predicts it won’t last long with only seven prestige listings available in Sunshine Beach, most if not all he expects to have sold by the end of peak season come Jan. 30.
"We’re starting to get an increased level of interest from Sydney and Melbourne buyers, who are cashed up from big A$10 million-plus sales," he said. "Some of the money from those markets is starting to flow in our direction as people look to indulge themselves with a lifestyle property after recognizing our market offers comparably good value."