The 10 best beach bathing boxes of 2017

Bathing boxes have a rich history in Melbourne.

Built in the 1890s to preserve bathers modesty, they have become increasingly valuable due to their scarcity, with fewer than 2,000 boxes in Victoria.

They are a tightly held asset with many bathing boxes retained by families and handed down over generations.

And with no additional bathing boxes likely to be ever built on the Mornington Peninsula, this ensures exclusivity.

Bathing box - sometimes known as boat sheds or beach boxes - values rarely go backwards. In the 1970's, the price of a Melbourne bathing box might have set you back $1,000. In the 90's they averaged $30,000. Currently they average $150,000 with the highest sale price in Portsea recently selling for over $600,000.

The record stands at $615,000 when a 20 sqm timber shed on Shelley Beach at Portsea sold at auction in 2015.

Sotheby's Peninsula's Rob Curtain is marketing another box on Shelley Beach with $600,000 price aspirations (below). Despite the price, it is being marketed by Curtain as the most affordable foreshore investment on the golden sands of Shelley Beach. It is 100 metres from the bottom steps of the car park at Hemston Ave. It is "ideal for families and friends to enjoy summer days and sunset dinners on the sand," though there is no power or water connected.

2017 has certainly been another strong year for the beach box.

Records have fallen at Brighton, where earlier this month Box 60 sold for over $330,000, having expected to fetch between $270,000 and $297,000.

The yellow and blue striped box topped the record set late last year when a newly built box sold for $326,000.

There's a box at 76E which is hoping to take the record price. It has a price tag of $340,000.

There are more than just the boxes at the popular Dendy Beach in Brighton however.

Property Observer has listed 10 - five sales of bathing boxes across this year and five for sale.

SOLD

1. 34 Shire Hall Beach, Mornington - Sold price undisclosed

One of the most attractive bathing boxes (to an Aussie eye), sold at the beginning of the year (top and below)

The Shire Hall Beach box at Mornington, ablaze with the Australian stars and stripes, had been professionally painted.

Complete with skylight, the newly built box sits at the end of a row of just five boxes. It had been for sale at $85,000 plus for several years.

It comes complete with skylight.

It is positioned just steps from the car park that leads to Shire Hall Beach and walking distance to Mornington’s Main Street.

Fish and chips and shops are just a stroll away to take back to the beach box and enjoy the view.

It was next to the coral reef themed box which was auctioned off with the bidding hitting $150,000 last January.

2. 100 Earimil Beach South, Mount Eliza - Sold $110,000

A box on Earimil Beach South in Mount Eliza comes with postcard views of the water from its quaint looking deck.

Meters from the waters edge, box 100 featured fully lined walls, selated timber floor boards and dual access, with double doors and the front and a single door on the side.

It was freshly painted before its sale.

3. 34 Ranelagh Beach, Mount Eliza - Sold $155,000

A completely renovated bathing box on Mount Eliza's Ranelagh Beach is as private as they come.

With no neighbour within 80 metres either side of the box, it feels like its set on its own private part of the beach.

Sold with a vast 35 sqm space over two levels, (almost as big as my Sydney apartment), the box has an upper level bedroom.

It was sold fully furnished and complete with fixtures, fittings decorations and extensive water sports equipment.

4. 6 Boat Shed, Rye Sold $120,000. It was listed with price hopes of $100,000 to $110,000, but fetched $120,000 when sold pre-Christmas.

It stands alone on a grassy part of the foreshore near Daly Avenue nestled amid trees.

It was recently renovated.

It was marketed as "a bright investment offering a lifestyle of family fun in the sun." 

5. Beach Box 1010 Chelsea foreshore Sold $67,500

Selling agent Luke Howard advised you had to be a rate payer in the city of Kingston to buy on the Chelsea Foreshore. "For the lucky purchaser, gone are the days of carting chairs, umbrellas, boards, inflatables and everything else back and forward to the beach," he said.

FOR SALE 

6. 97 Rosebud foreshore, Rosebud $34,950 This was the cheapest on offer. It was listed this time last year at $39,500. It sold at $20,000 in 2009. It is set in the middle of the Rosebud foreshore opposite the Rosebud Hotel.

7 79 Rosebud foreshore, Rosebud $55,000 This was the next cheapest found. It needs a bit of work.

8. 176 Beach Box, Rosebud $120,000 to $130,000 Agent Craig Leo will auction it Sunday 28 January.