PORT DOUGLAS ICON LISTS $7M LUXURY VILLA

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.

Australia’s major CBD office markets are recording some of their strongest rental growth since the pandemic, with businesses increasingly prioritising premium office space despite elevated geopolitical and economic uncertainty.

Knight Frank’s Australian Office Indicators Q1 2026 report found net effective rents in Sydney and Melbourne CBDs rose at their fastest annual pace since COVID-19, increasing 10.2 per cent and 6.8 per cent respectively over the 12 months to March.

Brisbane posted the strongest growth nationally, with net effective rents climbing 11.7 per cent over the same period.

The report points to a widening divide between prime CBD office towers and secondary office stock, as occupiers increasingly focus on quality, location and workplace amenity when making leasing decisions.

Knight Frank Senior Economist, Research & Consulting Alistair Read said demand remained heavily concentrated in premium assets within core CBD precincts, helping drive stronger rental growth in top-tier buildings.

“Occupier demand continues to be heavily concentrated in the most desirable CBD precincts and the highest-quality buildings, accelerating a sharp divergence between core and non-core markets,” Mr Read said.

According to the report, Sydney’s Core precinct and Melbourne’s Eastern Core significantly outperformed broader CBD markets over the past year.

“In Sydney’s Core precinct and Melbourne’s Eastern Core, net effective rents surged 14.3% and 16.1% over the past year, significantly outperforming the rest-of-CBD precincts,” Mr Read said.

The rental gap between prime and non-prime office locations has also continued to widen sharply.

“As a result, core CBD rents are now 54% higher than non-core locations in Sydney and 93% higher in Melbourne, highlighting the growing premium placed on amenity, accessibility and workplace quality,” he said.

Knight Frank said the strong rental growth across the major CBDs was being underpinned by a limited supply pipeline, with few new office developments expected to be delivered in the near term.

Mr Read said subdued construction activity was likely to support ongoing rental growth and tighter vacancy rates over the medium term, particularly for premium office towers.

“The combination of sustained demand and declining levels of new development will aid ongoing prime rental growth and lower vacancy rates over the medium term, particularly for best-in-class assets,” he said.

The report noted that current economic conditions were making new office developments increasingly difficult to justify financially.

“Economic rents remain well above expected market rents, making the construction of new office towers largely unviable, and concentrating tenant demand into existing buildings,” Mr Read said.

While suburban office markets generally remained subdued compared with CBDs, Melbourne’s Southbank precinct was identified as a relative outperformer, recording annual net effective rental growth of 2.7 per cent.

The report comes as broader Asia-Pacific office markets continue to stabilise following several years of disruption linked to hybrid work trends, inflation and rising interest rates.

Knight Frank’s separate Asia-Pacific Q1 2026 Office Highlights report found Sydney and Brisbane were among the strongest-performing office rental markets in the region, behind only Bengaluru and Tokyo for annual prime net face rental growth.

The Asia-Pacific report also found 18 of the 24 cities monitored across the region recorded stable or increasing rents in the first quarter of 2026, even as geopolitical uncertainty intensified following escalating conflict in the Middle East.

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.

Office rents in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are climbing at their fastest pace since the pandemic as tenants compete for premium CBD space amid tightening supply.