Infrastructure
Hamilton Island is a fully integrated resort which opened in 1984. Since this time, it has grown to Australia’s largest island resort, offering facilities such as marina and village, retail shopping precinct, domestic airport, church, day care centre, kindergarten, primary school, high-quality restaurants, bakery, tennis courts, gymnasium and a medical health clinic. It boasts many styles of accommodation from Hotel to luxury private apartments, houses and five-star qualia. Some may class Hamilton Island as a small township rather than simply a resort, with approximately 1,300 staff and residents living on the island, and servicing up to 5,000 guests during peak periods of the year.
Airport Access
Hamilton Island offers direct air services daily through Jetstar, Virgin and Qantas airlines to most major cities in Australia.
ownership on Hamilton Island
Owning property on Hamilton Island is a unique opportunity considering the location and natural surrounds of the Whitsunday Islands and Great Barrier Reef. The island offers for sale Holiday Let accommodation, permanent rentals, vacant land sites, houses and villas. Due to the limited are approved for development on the island and the expansion currently underway, interest in property has remained strong over the years and has worked extremely well in favour of investors who have purchased either off the plan or established property. In most cases investors have had excellent returns on investments with holiday letting and also seen excellent capital growth per year for the last decade.
Foreign Ownership
There are no restrictions to foreign ownership of residential property on Hamilton Island with foreign residents able to buy and sell any property on the island, a number of which have taken advantage of this and own their own piece of Hamilton Island paradise. With the current expansion of the resort, Dent Island Golf Course and infrastructure, foreign ownership will no doubt increase as word travels internationally, considering how easy it is to access the island and the facilities it has to offer.
Title on Hamilton Island
At present there are 52 villas established on the island, with a further 48 vacant land sites and land areas ranging from approximately 500m² to a generous 22,000m² (just above five acres). There are a total of 142 staff accommodation units and a further 538 holiday let and private luxury apartments.
The title on Hamilton Island is leasehold, with Hamilton Island Enterprises Ltd (HIE) holding a Perpetual Lease over the island. The current lease is 99 years with an option of a further 99, with the first lease due to expire on the 31st March 2078. All property purchased on the island is by way of a Sublease of the Perpetual Lease (or head lease), and this structure offers considerable savings for investors in relation to stamp duties payable with certain properties on the island when comparing to freehold title. A copy of this document is provided to potential purchasers and their legal representative at the time of purchase, or upon request. Major Australian banks such as the National Australia Bank, Westpac, ANZ and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia all accept this form of title when lending to purchase.
Summation
Property ownership on Hamilton Island is a unique opportunity for a few fortunate individuals, Australian and international, with property investors given the opportunity to earn an income from their investment whilst enjoying the lifestyle offered by the Whitsunday Islands and surrounding Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.“