Big bucks for caravan parks

The rise of 'glamping' holidays is encouraging investors and developers to pay big prices for caravan parks located in tourism hotspots.

Recent high-priced sales include Tuggerah Shores Caravan Park located on the NSW Central Coast which went to the highest bidder, a Sydney-based investment syndicate for $5.6 million.

The Tuggerah Shores park has 72 sites spread across 5.22 hectares, and facilities include a swimming pool, sheltered BBQ area, communal bathrooms and laundry.

Dubbed Brisbane's last inner-city caravan park, Newmarket Gardens Caravan Park in the Brisbane suburb of Ashgrove recently shut its gates after 64 years of operation after passing hands for $13.6 million.

New owner SKF Developments has plans to redevelop the six-acre site, including creating 17 residential lots expected to sell for around $1.4 million each.

The owners of the 37,500sq.m NRMA Agnes Water Holiday Park are also hoping for a cash windfall, with the popular north Queensland park currently on the market and expected to entice a domestic or international investor to fork out as much as $25-$30 million for the prime coastal property.

The Agnes Water park boasts beachside frontage and offers caravan sites, cabins and campsites across 133 lots. As a popular gateway to the Southern Great Barrier Reef, Agnes Water is a magnet for tourists and was recently voted the Top Small Tourism Town in Queensland.

According to the Urban Developer, "more than 100 leisure parks listed for sale at the end of 2021 as owners looked to cash-in on the capital being deployed to the sector".

Cashed-up over-50s lifestyle village operators and holiday park chains are also competing for prime RV properties, with Tasman Holiday Parks reportedly spending around $250 million on 21 holiday parks in Australia and New Zealand in recent years.

Australia's largest holiday park operator G'Day Parks is also cashing in on low interest rates and the boom in regional tourism with short-term plans to reportedly spend $200million on either buying or upgrading parks.

These include a $20 million redevelopment of the Cradle Mountain site in Tasmania and a $9 million upgrade of its Broome park, and recent purchases of the El Questro Wilderness Park in West Australia’s Kimberley region and the Kings Canyon Resort, not far from Uluru in the Northern Territory.

Meanwhile, the bold bid by Australia's largest RV club to develop a nationwide network of low-cost, no-frills RV parks has received another setback, with the Douglas Shire Council quashing the Campervan and Motorhome Club of Australia's plans to open an RV Park at Mossman in north Queensland.

The budget members' park first mooted in 2017 was supported by 93 percent of 383 locals after community consultation, but surrounding caravan park operators were opposed to the proposal.