A beach box on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula has gone on the market with an asking price of up to $1m – higher than the median value of a home in Melbourne.
The owners of Beach Box 28, on Shelley beach in Portsea, are selling the blue boat shed with a price guide of $910,000 to $1m.
By comparison, Melbourne’s median dwelling price was $774,093 in December, according to CoreLogic. The city’s median house price was $917,616, while it was $607,414 for units.
In a property listing, Beach Box 28 is described as a “well equipped boatshed built on solid Masonry slacks in excellent condition and easily accessible”.
The selling agent, Warwick Anderson from RT Edgar Toorak, said the price was “in accordance” with similar beach boxes in the area.
He said what set this one apart was its construction – it was made from masonry blocks rather than weatherboard – as well as its proximity to a public park, which meant it was easily accessible by car.
Anderson said sheds on this beach did not often come up for sale.
“They are very few and far between,” he said. “Which is why they command the price they do.”
Anderson said he had been selling property in the area for about 50 years and beach boxes had increased in price “exponentially”.
“I remember back in the 70s you could have bought one for $10,000, and we thought that was a lot of money then,” he said.
“I think it’s just demand and very limited supply.”
Anderson said Beach Box 28 would not set a record for the area, as boat sheds in Portsea’s Fishermans beach were even more exclusive and could fetch up to $1.25m.
The housing commentator and economist Dr Andrew Wilson said there was an irony in a beach box going on the market for such a high asking price, given Portsea and other “prestige” Melbourne markets were struggling.
“It’s actually been the higher priced areas in Melbourne that have really been struggling over the past couple of years,” he said.
“It’s an overall confidence factor. It’s something of a malaise that Melburnians have struggled to get over since what was a very serious lockdown.”
Wilson said the “fringe of prestige” or middle-market suburbs were performing well whereas people selling property in inner suburbs such as Hawthorn and Camberwell were struggling to find buyers.
“The Mornington Peninsula has been an underperformer, comparable to the inner east and inner southern suburbs,” he said.
