PORT DOUGLAS ICON LISTS $7M LUXURY VILLA
Local icon John Morris is selling Villa 15 from his luxe Escapes Collection in Port Douglas, an architect-designed, five-bedroom villa with a wraparound pool and bold tropical style.
2 min
Local property icon and Far North Queensland developer, John Morris, is offloading one of his luxury villas in Port Douglas.
The 97-year-old, known as “Mr Port Douglas” thanks to his efforts in putting the coastal town on the tourism map, has recently completed a $50 million 17-villa development known as The Escapes Collection on Rachel Carson Lane in the popular holiday town.
Morris has been credited with transforming a sleepy seaside village into a thriving holiday hotspot after developing the Radisson Treetops Resort, the Toressian Resort (now known as Reef Resort Villas), and Cayman Villas.
Port Douglas’ most well-known hotel, the Sheraton Mirage, even bears Morris’s stamp after he collaborated on the development with Christopher Skase before the infamous businessman’s downfall.
Now Villa 15 of The Escapes Collection has hit the market with $7 million price expectations through Queensland Sotheby’s agent, Caroline Yarr.
The FIRB-approved residence is one of a collective developed by Morris’ family business, which counts his daughters among the team, with Janet as interior designer and Wendy in marketing.
Nine homes in collection have already sold, achieving prices between $3.65 million and $7 million. Sold to buyers from Sydney, Melbourne, New Zealand and South Australia, the glamorous holiday homes are earning as much as $2500 a night during the high season for a four-bedroom villa.
Fully furnished down to the linens and featuring hand-picked artwork by local artists, the grand residence is a turnkey property.
Several of the villas, including number 15, were designed by Gary Hunt, a renowned Port Douglas-based architect who specialises in island resorts and has lent his talents to rich lister Tim Gurner’s high profile projects such as The $250 million resort development, The Davidson on the site of the old Dougie’s backpacker hostel.
As a brand-new villa, the five-bedroom home combines bold contemporary bold aesthetics with its lush tropical setting to create a holistic Far North Queensland retreat.
Hunt’s savvy north-facing design, together with the bespoke interior design featuring unique pieces throughout, results in a modern footprint perfectly curated to its surrounds and northern Queensland climate.
The signature element of the property is its wraparound pool and all-weather alfresco spaces that seamlessly connect with inside living areas.
Inside, there are raw concrete and stone feature walls matched with spotted gum timber ceilings, as well as European oak, Italian porcelain Terrazzo and natural sisal carpeted floors.
At the heart of the floor plan, the family-friendly kitchen features Siemens appliances, an integrated fridge and freezer, Corian benchtops, and a unique Verde Luana marble splashback. For alfresco entertaining, the villa also has a complete outdoor kitchen.
Additional features at Villa 15 include a Savaria 4-person lift, Navurban sustainable timber laminate joinery, Astra Walker custom-made iron bronze tapware, Asko laundry appliances, remote-controlled blinds, pure linen curtains, ducted air-conditioning, solar panels and a double garage.
Select villas are designed by Gary Hunt, a renowned Port Douglas-based architect specialising in island resorts.
Melbourne developer and rich lister Tim Gurner have also engaged Gary on his Port Douglas developments, including three premium residences on ‘the hill’, which will set the benchmark for FNQ luxury residences, as well as the residential/resort development on Davidson Street.
Find out more about Villa 15, The Escape Collection Port Douglas at Queensland Sotheby’s, Port Douglas.
Victorian auction buyers will soon receive a piece of information that has traditionally been withheld until bidding reaches it: the vendor’s reserve price. Under new property-sale and underquoting laws, agents must publish the agreed reserve at least seven days before an auction or fixed-date sale. Most changes begin on 1 October 2026 and apply to …
Continue reading “Victoria’s New Auction Rules Will Force Reserve Prices Into the Open”
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2 minVictorian auction buyers will soon receive a piece of information that has traditionally been withheld until bidding reaches it: the vendor’s reserve price.
Under new property-sale and underquoting laws, agents must publish the agreed reserve at least seven days before an auction or fixed-date sale. Most changes begin on 1 October 2026 and apply to auctions and fixed-date sales held from 16 October.
The reserve must be presented as a single dollar amount. Advertising and the new Property Price Statement must be updated to match it, without qualifiers such as “from”, “over” or “starting at”. If the reserve has not been published seven days before the scheduled sale, the auction or fixed-date sale cannot proceed and penalties may apply.
For buyers, the immediate benefit is clearer budget discipline. A purchaser should be less likely to pay for inspections, strata reviews, contract advice and loan preparation on a property whose seller will not accept a price within the advertised range.
That does not mean the published reserve predicts the result. Competitive bidding may still carry a property far beyond it. Nor does it remove the need to value the property independently. The reserve is the seller’s minimum at that stage of the campaign, not an expert statement of market value.
The Statement of Information will be replaced by a more prominent Property Price Statement. Agents must disclose key features of the property and of the comparable sales used to support the quoted price. Where three appropriate comparables cannot be identified, one or two must be supplied if they exist.
Sold-price transparency will also increase. Agents must add the unconditional sale price to the Property Price Statement within seven days and keep that statement available publicly for at least 18 months, subject to limited exemptions including personal or family-violence concerns.
Later changes will require Section 32 vendor statements to be made available earlier, including at least 14 days before an auction or fixed-date sale from June 2027. From July 2027, agents will be prevented from taking commission from deposits released before settlement.
Vendors and agents will need to adjust campaign strategy. Setting a reserve earlier may reduce last-minute flexibility and make price expectations more visible to competing buyers. Some vendors may prefer private treaty campaigns, although those sales remain subject to broader pricing and disclosure laws.
For buyers, the practical response is not simply to bid up to the disclosed reserve. Use it as one data point alongside comparable sales, building and pest reports, owners-corporation records, planning constraints and finance approval. Decide on a maximum before the auction and do not confuse the seller’s minimum with your own valuation.
Key dates
– 1 October 2026: Most new rules commence
– 9 October 2026: First reserve disclosures may be required for sales on 16 October
– 16 October 2026: New reserve rules apply to auctions/fixed-date sales from this date
– 1 June 2027: Earlier Section 32 availability begins
– 1 July 2027: Restrictions on commission from released deposits begin
– 1 December 2027: Broader sold-price reporting to Consumer Affairs begins
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