Queensland Property Investment: Australia’s cheapest ocean-view property promises million-dollar views for much less

Australia’s cheapest ocean-view property is located in paradise, with a heaven-sent price tag.

The Whitsundays apartment promises million-dollar views for much less, listed for private sale at $285,000.

The water-view home, at 105/2 Eshelby Drive in Queensland’s Cannonvale, faces north and looks over Pioneer Bay from the main bedroom and the open-plan living zone.

Properties positioned to capture sparkling-blue vistas and bobbing boats, belonging on a postcard, usually command much more.

The affordable unit is in a location that is expected to become a hot bed of the national housing shortage due to pressure from employment opportunities.

105/2 Eshelby Drive, Cannonvale, QLD

The apartment has been rented out, asking $400 a week, and is tenanted until January 16 next year, the listing explains.

The buyer will need to be willing to meet body corporate costs of $1612 a quarter.

“Cheapest ocean view unit on the market,’ the listing trumpets, and a sweep of Domain confirms there is little else with water snapshots for as little as this.

The property is close to Cannonvale Beach and near to the boardwalk through to the main shopping precinct of Airlie Beach.

Cannonvale QLD — Water views for less in Cannonvale. Photo: Domain

The apartment is for private sale through Jeremiah Roberts from agency Ray White Whitsunday.

Despite the cheap prices in some Whitsundays enclaves, the stunning region is slated to become one of the tightest housing markets in the country, research has shown.

Looking at declining unemployment hand-in-hand with rising rental prices, Ray White’s research division drilled down to four areas in Australia where the worst housing shortages are likely to take root.

The analysis, released in September, pinpointed the breathtaking beachside locations of the Whitsundays, the Port Macquarie-Hastings region in New South Wales and Exmouth in Western Australia. The fourth was Victoria’s Moira Shire.

Ray White Group economist Nerida Conisbee said in the report that the Whitsundays, where the unemployment rate has halved over the past 12 months to sit at 2.8 per cent, is experiencing a squeeze on its housing driven by the tourism and mining industries.

Boats at Airlie Beach Race Week, a sailing festival hosted by Whitsunday Sailing Club. Photo: Supplied

“This growth in employment is leading to a significant increase in rental levels with weekly advertised rents having increased by 12.5 per cent in one year,” Conisbee said.

“Bowen, the service centre for the growing coal export has seen not only an even bigger reduction in its unemployment rate compared to the region, but also stronger rental growth. Popular tourist destination Airlie Beach has experienced the same, however, rental growth is even stronger.”

Median unit prices in Cannonvale sit at $280,000, according to the latest Domain House Price Report, released on October 26.

This sum represents an 18.1 per cent price spike over the year, and a climb of 15.1 per cent over five years.

Recent sales in Cannonvale, nestled next to the more famous Airlie Beach – a sailing hub – show units near the beach transacting this year for less than half of Brisbane’s median house price.

A $245,000 deal for an apartment in Pleasant Street, two blocks back from Cannonvale Beach, was inked in mid-September this year.

A Shute Harbour Road house fetched $350,000 in May, plonked at a lazy-walking distance to glorious Airlie Beach.