Original bach in same family for decades selling for $9.25 million

An original waterfront bach in Mount Maunganui that has been in the same family since it was built in the 1960s is now up for sale for a cool $9.25 million.

The house is situated on one of the Mount’s most sought after streets, Oceanbeach Road.

Earlier this year a three-bedroom house on the same sold for a record $11m – the highest ever price for a residential property in the Bay of Plenty, beating the $10.2m sale of richlister Colin Giltrap’s Mount penthouse apartment in December 2021.

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Despite the high price tag and the fact the house “needs a bit of work”, there’s no shortage of interest.

“Really it’s two words that are luring people to the property: ‘beachfront’ and ‘Mount’,” said John Gardiner of Ray White, the agent selling the house.

“That’s a dream for many people, and these properties are highly sought after and rare to find.”

The current owner, now in her 80s, remembers her father building the house in 1964 and holds treasured memories of long summers growing up by the beach.

“It’s very rare now to find an original house right on the waterfront,” said Gardiner. “Like many houses back then, the house has a huge front lawn, which means the whole site is more than 1600 square metres.”

The two-level house retains the quirkiness of 1960s design, with corniced plaster and wallpaper featuring Roman and Greek gods. “Although the bathrooms did have an upgrade in the 1980s,” said Gardiner.

“It does need work, but some might just decide to landbank it as it is, or build a dream home here with a pool and uncluttered views out to sea. Developers are also eyeing up opportunities too.”

For those baulking at the price, it is cheap when compared to another waterfront home further up the coast at Whakamārama, which Sotherby’s is marketing at $25 million. If that sale goes through, it will be one of the highest prices ever achieved in Aotearoa.

While the top end of the property market has not escaped the slowdown unscathed, activity is steady and prestige properties continue to fetch $10 million-plus prices, new figures show.

According to Corelogic figures, the top five sales in the year so far to October were all more than $12 million.

The highest price in a settled house sale so far this year was a $20 million property on Auckland’s Paritai Drive in Orakei, which sold in May.