Billabong Retreat the latest wellness resort to be listed for sale

Sydney’s Billabong Retreat is for sale, the third major wellness resort on Australia’s East Coast to hit the market in the last six months.

Australia’s largest wellness resort, Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat, is now in the due diligence stage after an expressions-of-interest campaign wrapped up earlier this month. This sale followed the sale of Gaia Retreat & Spa to mining magnate Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forest’s company for about $30 million.

Owners Paul and Tori von Bergen have operated the Billabong Retreat, located to the north-west of Sydney for the past 11 years, with a growth in revenue of 45% over the past five years reflecting the wellness industry’s monumental surge in popularity.

Paul von Bergen told the Real Estate website “I think the pandemic has made people realise that we’re all connected, we’re all vulnerable, that you can’t rely on someone else to look after your health.

“People are cottoning on to the fact that they do want to feel better and they do want to be healthy.”

Set on 4.4 hectares in the community of Maraylya, the business employs nearly 50 staff and has welcomed 27,000 guests through its doors in the past 11 years.

The property has 26 rooms, cabins and deluxe villas as well as a restaurant, main yoga workshop, floating yoga pavilion, spa centre and magnesium pool.

Billabong’s retreat packages are fully inclusive of organic vegetarian meals, accommodation, yoga and meditation classes and some spa treatments.

The award-winning property is listed with Colliers’ Karen Wales, Gus Moors and George Hudson with a sale price expected to exceed $25 million.

Moors told the Real Estate website “over the past few years, there has been a shift in consumer demand not only at the property but also across the wellness industry, resulting in strong growth in retreat rates.”

Moors said total revenue per available room had increased from $443 per night in the 2019/20 financial year to $551 in 2020/21. This was projected to reach $655 in the next two years.

Wales said the pandemic had driven a shift in lifestyle tourism and “spiritual tourism” as people increasingly placed greater value on their mental health and physical wellbeing, noting “prevention is better than cure.

“These sorts of retreats offer that opportunity to check out and reset your health and wellness.

“They are highly profitable and have a high level of guests returning.”

Colliers also handled the recent sales campaigns for Gaia Retreat, formerly part-owned by Olivia Newton-John, and Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat, part-owned by Hugh Jackman and Tony de Leede.

Billabong Retreat is for sale by expressions of interest, closing on 28th April.

Click here for more information.

Images courtesy of Billabong Retreat.