Boat shed and beach box listings up as housing market improves

A wave of beach boxes and boat sheds have been listed for sale as the Melbourne and Sydney property markets show signs of improvement.

In Victoria more than 10 of these beachside havens are advertised for sale on the Mornington Peninsula between Frankston and Portsea.

It’s an area famed for boat sheds that can fetch almost $1 million depending on the location.

Some boat sheds have also hit the market in NSW.

Owners are listing the properties amid the improving market and the generational change happening along the coast, with tightly held properties now being sold by families who no longer use them, agents say. 

Kay & Burton Portsea director Liz Jensen said boat sheds that had been in families for more than 60 years were being sold.

“People are just ready to sell now,” Ms Jensen said. “They’re looking to downsize and move on with their lives.”

She has listed for sale S43 Boat Shed on Shelly Beach in Portsea with an asking price range of $435,000 and $478,500. It’s one of the priciest on the market at the moment because of its location in Portsea, close to the water. 

Stockdale and Leggo Rye’s Phil Key, who has listed 5 Boat Shed, Rye, said some sellers were testing the improving market to see how much they would get in a sale.

“We’ve got probably four or five listed on our part of the peninsula. They come and go,” Mr Key said. “We can have none for years and then all of a sudden there are quite a few that hit the market.”

The Rye boat shed was up for auction on January 26, with hopes of between $140,000 and $150,000.

Mr Key said the shed recently had a full renovation with the owners adding a new roof and repainting it.

“We feel that’s a realistic price,” Mr Key said. 

Flynn & Co agent Byron Sedgwick, who is selling 175 Beach Box, Rosebud and 130 Boatshed, Rosebud, said one of the major reasons families sold their little slice of the Melbourne beachside was because they simply weren’t using them.

With both Rosebud properties on the foreshore, and priced at less than $100,000, they were a bargain buy for those wanting to splash the cash, Mr Sedgwick said.

“They’re a good buy for some people,” he said. “[But] it is a luxury item for people who have disposable income.”

Mr Sedgwick said the value of boat sheds fluctuated depending on the suburb, with prices almost doubling on some parts of Melbourne’s coastline.

“Prices down here in these suburbs [like Rosebud] are cheaper – some can be more than $200,000 or $300,000 in areas like Brighton,” he said. 

One of the iconic bathing boxes in Brighton is currently on the market at 52 Bathing Box Esplanade with a price range of between $300,000 and $330,000.

RT Edgar Bayside Director James Paynter said the owners, who had inherited the bathing box, were selling it as they no longer used it.

“You have to be a Bayside resident to buy it,” Mr Paynter said. “We’ve had a lot of enquiries from places like Adelaide but they’re not allowed to buy it.”

Also near that price bracket is a boat shed about a three-and-a-half hour drive from Sydney in Forster, which is on the market for $270,000.

The boat shed, at 95 Little Street, doubles as a business known as Blue Peter Boatshed.

Professionals Forster and Tuncurry agent Tracey Drayson said the lifestyle business was up for sale as the owners were retiring.

Located on picturesque Wallis Lake, the business offers boats and kayaks for hire, as well as extra moorings for fishing boats during the busy season.

“Most of the revenue comes from the boats they rent out,” Ms Drayson said.

One of the cheapest boat sheds on the market, with an asking price of $55,000, is found on the Mornington Peninsula at 79 Boat Shed, Rosebud Foreshore. 

Raine and Horne’s Mike Beaver said the shed, formerly owned by Victoria Police, was in need of some TLC.

“The inside is lined with plasterboard but has not been painted,” he said.

While it needed work, it could be the perfect spot for those wanting a boat shed a short walk from the beach, he said.