$20m paid for island

BUYER appetite for Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef islands has not been quelled by COVID-19, with a Sydney hotelier about to pay close to $20m to purchase Long Island in the Whitsundays.

The buyer is expected to develop an upscale resort on the island between Hamilton Island and Airlie Beach that was this week sold by Sydneybased former investment banker David Kingston, through CBRE agents Wayne Bunz and Hayley Manvell.

The 8ha property had long been on the market.

Meanwhile, sources claim Daydream Island’s owner, China Capital Investment Group, which purchased it for about $30m several years ago and which spent at least $100m refurbishing it, are looking to sell the island, having put a $200m price tag on it.