Are boat berths the best waterfront property?

On the waterfront

Alex Brooks

HOUSES and apartments on Sydney Harbour aren't the only hot waterfront properties - so are marina berths.
The 65 berths at The Wharf Woolloomooloo have more than doubled in price since they were first sold on a 20-year lease in 2000, says Morton & Morton managing director Ewan Morton.
"They initially sold for $170,000 and now sell for $350,000," he says. One berth sold in January for $400,000 and is for the exclusive use of owners in The Wharf.
"People who own big boats like other people to look at them," Mr Morton says.
Adam Foster, business development manager at d'Albora Marinas, says the harbour is short of marina berths.
Most berths on the harbour are leased through professional marinas for between $1000 and $6000 a month but waterfront homes and apartment complexes may also trade or lease marina berths that form part of their property title.
At the Pulpit Point subdivision in Hunters Hill, there are 112 marina berths which Ward Partners principal David Ward says can only be used by owners who buy into the estate. "Boat owners buy there specifically so they can park their boat out the front of their house," he says.
"We just sold 6/2-10 Le Vesinet for $4.35 million and it's fair to say that property would never have sold if it didn't have a marina berth."
In the Balmain Cove waterfront apartments in Rozelle, there are 31 marina berths for the exclusive use of tenants and owners in the complex.
Realty International agent Scott Robertson says: "I sold a 15-metre berth late last year for $250,000. Initially, the berths sold for around $80,000 in 1998."
Some owners lease marina berths and earn from $600 a month for a 10-metre berth in Balmain Cove.
Mr Foster says the drastic shortage of marina berths for boat owners drives up the market. "There simply isn't enough supply to meet the demand. The boat market always follows the property market," he says.
NSW Valuer General Philip Western says prices for property on Sydney Harbour are influenced by the boating facilities on offer.
"The views, the depth of the water and the access to the water and whether there is a jetty or berth are all things that will influence the value."

IT'S ALL FRONT
HOUSES on Sydney Harbour are the nation's elite, with the most recent harbourfront sale fetching $29.25 million for a house that will be knocked down.
The Vaucluse Road property (above) sold in December and "needed somewhere between massive surgery and total redevelopment," McGrath Real Estate founder John McGrath says.
He estimates that the new owners will spend another $10 million rebuilding.
"There are a lot of houses [on the harbour] worth more than that. Altona [in Point Piper] has had genuine offers of $50 million and I could show you 30 or 40 houses that would easily fetch that sort of money - if only people would sell them."