By WAYNE THOMPSON
Muriwai Beach - home to 1000 gannets and 1400 people - is the latest coastal village to feel the hot breath of the property boom.
Residents of the west Rodney village are astonished by the high prices fetched at two house auctions last weekend, one setting a record
for the area.
The house at 11 Ngatira Rd, which has views out to sea and the gannet colony, sold at auction for $750,000 last Saturday, double the valuation set for rating purposes two years ago.
Then, on Sunday, a house with sea views but farther inland at 48 Domain Cres, fetched $652,000.
Auckland businessman Steve Bonnici said it was the same four-bedroom bach that his father Allan built about 50 years ago.
"It was sold for $75,000 about 20 years ago," he said.
Eric Oettli of Ray White Kumeu said the vendor was "euphoric" at the price after seven years' ownership. The capital valuation was $280,000.
A Domain Cres resident Mark Rowe said many people had thought half a million dollars would have been generous.
Mr Rowe said the prices showed Muriwai was now sharing in the higher prices enjoyed for years by Piha to the south.
Simon Spiller, of Harcourts Kumeu, said the $750,000 for the Ngatira Rd house was a record price for a Muriwai house on a site of 1500 sq m or less.
The three-bedroom house was clad in plywood, did not have a garage, had one bathroom, but a fabulous location.
The seller was illustrator Martin Bailey, who built the house 10 years ago.
The unnamed buyer was an Auckland businesswoman who competed against the phone bids from a resident of Colorado in the United States.
A Muriwai resident for 30 years, Brian Mason, said that prices were unbelievable.
"We just hope people who come here will appreciate it and keep it that way," he said.
But Muriwai's property prices have yet to match those being obtained at Piha.
Sherie O'Neill, of Piha Property Brokers, said her records show an average capital gain of 24 per cent on properties resold after a year.
Properties overlooking the beach had sold for more than $850,000 and last year's average price increase was 21 per cent.
Further reading: nzherald.co.nz/property
