Margaret Mahy's house sale: Details expected this week

Margaret Mahy's old book collection may go back to the community if a bid to purchase her former home and turn it into a space for locals and aspiring writers is successful. Photo / NZH

The details of the sale of Margaret Mahy's Christchurch home are expected to be revealed in the next few days.

Mahy died in 2012 and had lived in the three-bedroom house in Governors Bay near Christchurch since 1968, where she raised her two daughters.

The cottage has a rating valuation of $640,000 and was on the market with a deadline sale which ended on Friday.

Her daughter, Bridget Mahy, owns the property and told the Herald it was too early to provide details of who, if anyone, has brought it but "things will be a little clearer" in the next few days.

Last month, Governors Bay resident and founder and director of Christchurch's Hagley Writers' Institute, Morrin Rout, said a group of locals wanted to buy the house and make it available for schools and the general public as well as establish a writer in residence programme.

"It would be a huge shame if we were to lose this opportunity to own it and we are working as quickly as we can to find support and advice on how we can retain this taonga and have a permanent and very personal place to remember and celebrate this remarkable and greatly loved writer."

Margaret Mahy's old home at 23 Merlincote Crescent, Governors Bay, is up for sale. Photo / Supplied

Margaret Mahy owned hundreds of books that were stacked along 170 lineal metres of bookshelving, her daughter Penny Mahy told the Herald last month.

If the house is purchased by the community, she said they would '"certainly" consider donating the books.