Utingu boasts a bush luxury style main lodge with four double bedrooms and a separate building with quarters for three staff.
A virtually unknown beachfront slice of Cape York, only 18km from the Tip, is up for sale with a conservative cost estimate of over $15 million.
Utingu is one of the only large freehold beachfront properties on Cape York, with 2km of oceanfront and 220 acres of beach, rainforest and bushland, and has changed hands only four times in the past century.
Sotheby’s International real estate agent Lynn Malone, who specialises in unique, remote luxury properties, said there had been plenty of interest in the property.
“There is nothing quite like this on the market, nothing of that significant size, freehold and with beach frontage on the Cape, it’s as rare as hen’s teeth,” Ms Malone said.
“When you’re there, it’s like being on an island, except you have a backdoor that connects to the mainland, electricity and water, transport by land, sea and air and access for staff who don’t live onsite.
“There are no comparable sales, so we’re comparing it to islands like Hook Island which is only 9.3ha and sold recently for $10 million or South Molle Island which is on the market right now for $30 million.
“Our conservative estimate is between $12 and $15.5 million, and we’ve certainly had interest at that level.”
Utingu is only 18km south of the Tip of Cape York.
Ms Malone said the property, which was founded in 1911 as Australia’s first coconut plantation, had been owned by the same person for the past 25 years, and used as a holiday retreat.
“The vendor just loves the property and the people and the region and he wants it to go to a good family, someone who is going to be the next custodian of the land,” she said.
“He’s very conscious of that, he has the best interests of the community at heart and wants for Utingu to go to a good home.”
Ms Malone said interest in the property so far had only been from Australian buyers, and it wasn’t actively being marketed to an international audience.
The property is just 18km south of the Tip, with a current development approval in place for a 67-building eco resort, with infrastructure and construction already started.
The site currently has a two-storey lodge which Ms Malone described as “bush luxury”, complete with four double bedrooms and a machinery building with another three single bedrooms.
With a climate similar to Bali or the Maldives, interest in Utingu has been high.
