News of Lord Glenconner’s death last month brought back memories of the sybaritic island life he created when he bought Mustique in 1958. Since then, Bill Gates, various British royals and Mick Jagger have helped maintain Mustique’s reputation for glamour, exclusivity and voluptuous parties. And while island living is not always fuelled by Cristal and hammock-swinging, those who can afford their own island can usually afford a few extras to make their isolation splendid.
The good news right now is that the impact of the global financial crisis has brought island price reductions.

“A private island in a good area can cost as little as £100,000. Islands off the coasts of Nova Scotia and Scandinavia – and islands on lakes – can all be found at around that price,” says Farhad Vladi, of Vladi Private Islands, a specialist agency based in Germany. “That’s why I say if you can afford a really good car, with running costs, then you can afford an island.”

Aim your wallet a little higher and Santa Cristina, just off the Italian coast from Venice Islands, is yours for €24m. The 66-acre island comes with its own vineyards, a vast wine cellar, orchards, fish ponds and a chapel. All very self-sufficient, although the vaporettos do not stop there so the 30-minute ride to Altino, about 17km from Venice Marco Polo International Airport, requires a private launch.

Not that anyone would want to leave Santa Cristina too often. The main house alone is spectacular. Four storeys high, its stuccoed front stares across a garden of palms and bougainvillea leading down to the swimming pool. There are two kitchens, a dining room, two lounges and nine bedrooms with private bathrooms.

The cost of owning a private island will depend on the type of retreat a person is after. It can be anything from a small island with nothing on it but the natural fauna and flora where a tent is the only shelter – what Vladi calls an “adventurer island” – to a big “quality island” with a huge estate, swimming pool and harbour.

The latter are in short supply. Vladi, who owns a large island off New Zealand, explains that private islands don’t change hands all that often. Those who have found one are reluctant to sell. “Island buying is an emotional thing. People don’t react in the same way as they do with other real estate,” he says.

Michael Meier, a Swiss property developer living in Sweden, agrees. In April he and his partner Berna Civeleker purchased Sanda Island, along with its tiny neighbours Sheep Island and Glunimore Island, a remote Scottish mini-archipelago that lies just off the tip of the Mull of Kintyre.

He says he never thought to buy Sanda Island as an investment and has no plans to sell it. “It was our dream to own an island since we visited Scotland many years ago as tourists. We still cannot believe that we’ve got a piece of paradise and are very thankful for it,” he explains.

Sanda Island was originally put on sale in 2008 for £3.2m by Dick Gannon, who had owned it for the preceding 20 years after purchasing it for just £250,000.

Meier secured the islands at the discounted price of £2m and, in contrast to the majority of island purchases, which are typically bought with cash, arranged the finance through a residential loan in order to take advantage of the low interest rates.

Knight Frank Finance, the finance arm of the upmarket property agent, arranged the loan with Barclays Wealth at 2.49 per cent, bank base rate plus 1.99 per cent, at 50 per cent loan-to-value.

Simon Gammon of Knight Frank Finance says that while an island was a more unusual asset, Barclays Wealth was happy to make the loan after conducting extra due diligence to check the saleability of islands.

“We’ve definitely found that buying islands is becoming increasingly popular amongst the wealthy. Most wealthy people already have an expensive car or yacht, but not many have an island. It’s the next trophy asset,” Gammon says.

Meier plans to rebuild the six self-catering cottages on Sanda Island into luxury ecological accommodation. He wants to offer a variety of excursions for wreck divers and birdwatchers. “The island itself is a treasury of wildlife, bird life and human history,” Meier says.

Sanda Island is not the only Scottish private island to come up for sale recently. Last year Knight Frank sold Little Cumbrae, situated in the Firth of Clyde off the Ayrshire coast, for about £2m. The 684-acre island included a 12-bedroom Victorian mansion house, two cottages, a studio flat, a 13th-century castle and a former lighthouse complex. Vladi says he also has a new Scottish island about to come on to the market this autumn.

Despite private islands being in limited supply, there is still an array of choices available. René Boehm of Boehm Private Islands, an international private island broker, says he has around 120 islands on his books for sale.

This includes the Finnish island Kiiski-Saari, a 1.75-acre island with a log house and sauna, available for €350,000. Another two nearby islands can be included in the deal, both with houses, for a total of €890,000. Five boats – two rowing boats, two sailboats and a motorboat – belong to the three islands and are included in the total price.

One of Boehm’s special jewels is the €6.9m island of Oxia, located among Greece’s Ionian Islands. The island’s 1,236 lush acres are undeveloped except for a picturesquely derelict lighthouse. Boehm describes the northern part of the island as almost mountainous, with elevations to 421 metres, while the terrain slopes gradually to the south of the island, where bush and pine trees kiss the sea.

For the true island lover, the island of Tipaemau in Raiatea, French Polynesia, may appeal. The 32-acre undeveloped island has just come on to the market and is ideal for a yacht owner, says Boehm. The €5m island has sandy beaches with coconut palm groves, perfect to pitch a tent on and enjoy the quietness of the island life.

Tipaemau is six miles away by boat from the capital of Raiatea, Uturoa, where supplies can be bought.

Some islands have all the hardware for island living thrown in. A case in point is Kaulbach Island, a well-developed 57-acre island in Nova Scotia, Canada, for sale for C$9.5m (US$9.16m) through Vladi. The island has a main house, a caretaker house, a beach house and a new boathouse – plus a boat, tractor and a golf cart, as part of the price.

Vladi recommends that those considering buying an island should rent one in a similar location first to make sure they are comfortable with island life. For example, many buyers realise they cannot cope with being so far away from their favourite restaurants and bars. Others find pests such as mosquitoes and sand-flies unbearable.

Quality islands will prove a good investment as long as buyers have done their “island checklist” and have ticked off most of the points, agents say. This includes making sure the island is available as freehold, is accessible, has the necessary infrastructure (such as water and electricity supplies) and includes a building permit. “In all likelihood I tell island buyers that they will make money, not lose it,” says Vladi.

All the same, it’s a big purchase given the extra costs involved in living on an island. And if buying seems a step too far, there’s always the option of buying your own property on an island or just renting an island. Boehm says an island lover can rent out a two-bedroom house with a private beach on a private island in the Bahamas for as little as $1,000 a week.