No love for Mornington Peninsula island at auction

There’s still a chance to get your very own private island just off the coast of the Mornington Peninsula.

The auction for Sandstone Island, about 600m off the Mornington Peninsula coast, ended with a single bid and the unique property passed in for $1 million this afternoon.

However agents attached to the property are confident it will sell in the coming weeks.

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The 22.25ha island is about 1km from Hastings and has two beaches, a yacht mooring and a house on it.

But the prospective buyer who made the only bid hasn’t met the expectations of the seller and the island will be put back in front of the wider buying public.

Sandstone Island has a single house on it.

A crowd of about a dozen attended the auction of the 22.25ha island with two beaches, a yacht mooring and a house on it.

Ray White Rural Victoria director Jason Hellyer said after a ‘ripping campaign’ they would look to negotiate a sale in the coming hours or days.

“We have a number of registered bidders who we will negoatiate with over the next week,” Hellyer says.

“We are fairly confident of getting a result in the next couple of weeks.”

An expected price for the island is still unclear, with auctioneer Matthew White revealing the seller had instructed him not to make any vendor bids.

The island is uninhabited, but features a dilapidated house.

“We are not here to influence the market,” White says.

Pre-auction feedback had ranged from $3 million to $5 million.

Five Melbourne families combined to buy the island 18 years ago and had tried to sell it in 2015 for about $5 million.

The island was first settled in 1854 by the Rogers family and has been used for everything from cattle breeding to potato farming, and more recently as a weekend getaway.

Whitemark Property and Planning’s Clem Newton-Brown bought and developed Picnic Island in Tasmania.

He was at the auction and says he would be happy to provide advice for anyone who purchases Sandstone Island.

The island is only accessible via private boat or helicopter, but it’s not far from the mainland.

“You need to be hands on and enjoy a challenge,” Newton Brown says.

“Weather can be unpredictable and put you in dangerous situations. You need to set up off grid power, desalinators for water and waste disposal systems.

“But there is nothing like overcoming all the obstacles thrown up at you and creating an incredible and unique place for people to visit.”

He advised anyone considering an island purchase to start their plans with a jetty and a large landing barge to make any further development or additions to the island as easy as possible.

Nearby Elizabeth Island, which was listed for sale earlier this year, is currently no longer on the market according to its owner Anne Tillig.

This article from the Herald Sun originally appeared as “Sandstone Island auction ends with single bid and no sale”.