Tiny boatshed makes a splash with $75,000 auction sale

The 24-square-metre boatshed at Riverside Drive in Riverside, Whangarei sold under the hammer for $75,000.

A small and rustic 1930s-era boatshed in Whangārei sold under the hammer for $75,000 in a packed auction room.

There were just two buyers bidding against each other for rights to the 24-square-metre slice of the district’s riverine history on the Hatea River, despite it earlier attracting interest from both Auckland and Australia.

The boatshed at 50 Riverside Drive, described by the auctioneer as a “rustic statement of style”, was built with native timber and had a classic corrugated iron roof.

Bidding opened at $40,000 and, after five bids, paused at $70,000 for negotiations. The auctioneer then announced the property on the market after a further bid of $75,000 and it sold for the same price.

Eves listing agent Karl Leathley said the room was packed on Wednesday and some of the people in attendance were just curious to see how the auction would go. There were five registered bidders, but only two put their hands up.

Leathley was unsure of the new owner’s plans for the boatshed, which comes with a replica of a 19th-century Banks Dory cod boat. Other interested parties planned to use it for boat storage, which was what the existing owners had also done.

Leathley said his vendors had owned the boatshed for several years and were happy with the result.

A similar-sized boatshed, also on Riverside Drive, sold in 2020 for $61,000 and was the last on-market sale. However, Leathley said not only did that one need rebuilding, but it also needed its resource consent renewed.

The boatshed he sold yesterday was in a better condition and just had its resource consent renewed up until July 2053.

A lot of the boatsheds on that stretch of the Hatea River are tightly held and passed down through generations, he said.

There is currently one other boatshed at 6155/50 Riverside Drive for sale, which has an asking price of $695,000. It has a full-size kitchen, lounge area, upstairs bedroom, main bathroom and mooring, and can be used as accommodation for three nights of the week.

Barfoot & Thompson listing agent Julia Rodger told OneRoof last month that it was significantly bigger than the other boatshed on the market, which was why the price was higher.

“You could stay on the boat the other four nights of the week, although there are rules surrounding the [sewage] if you do.”

Earlier this year, the Auckland boatshed used in the hit TV show David Lomas Investigates sold for $2.05 million, but others around the country do fetch much lower amounts. A boatshed in Duvauchelle near Akaroa sold for $225,000 in March, while another in Dunedin fetched $95,000.