Mount beach bach sells for $3m after bidding battle

A small fibro bach on a large beachfront section at Mount Maunganui has sold for more than $3 million.
The prime property, one of the last sites along the popular coastal strip that stretches from the road to the beach, was passed in at auction yesterday for $3.07 million.
A deal was finally struck at midnight and the parties did not want to disclose the final price. It was understood to be about $3.1 million.
Four bidders chased the 1583 sq m Oceanbeach Rd property at the Bayleys auction. The bidding began at $2 million and rose in $50,000 and $25,000 steps but stalled when the price went over $3 million.
After auctioneer Gil Beadle passed in the property, negotiations continued with the highest bidder and the owners, a Waikato family.
Mr Beadle said the new owners were two Tauranga professional couples who intended developing the property. Up to four new homes could be built on the site.
The property, just past Girven Rd on Oceanbeach Rd, had a September 2003 capital valuation of $1.695 million, most of that being the land value of $1.694 million.
Mr Beadle said it was one of the highest prices paid for a simple bach at the end of the Mount beach. "There have been higher prices further along Marine Parade but this is a quieter part of the beachfront."
The Oceanbeach Rd property was bought 40 years ago by former Hamilton nurse Esme Carbon for £4600. Her father scolded her for buying such a place in the back of beyond.
Three generations of her family used the two-bedroom cottage for summer holidays.
Miss Carbon, who died last November, also lent the beach house to friends and cancer patients she met through her work in the radiotherapy department of Waikato Hospital.
Niece Heather Watson and her brother and sister inherited the property from their unmarried aunt. "She was a wonderful woman - one of those people who brought pleasure to others," said Ms Watson, who spent many summer holidays at Oceanbeach Rd.
The highest price for a Mount property was the $6 million paid by a local businessman for a Mediterranean-style house in Marine Parade last August.
There have also been two $4 million sales in the Mount high-density zone over the past year - an established home in Marine Parade and a two-bedroom cottage on a 736 sq m site in The Mall overlooking Pilot Bay.