Happy Berth Days

[mrmoshe]

Happy berth days

PRICES of marina berths in sought-after parts of Sydney Harbour have risen almost 400per cent in four years.

Increasing numbers of boat owners and a lack of public and private marina berths have boosted demand, causing prices to rise by a harbour-wide average of 15 to 20 per cent a year.

At the top end, at Double Bay marina, a 15.5-metre berth can cost up to $800,000.

Morton & Morton real-estate managing director Ewan Morton said the last apartment to sell at the Woolloomooloo Finger Wharf with a marina berth was last November.

At that time berths were valued at about $350,000. "The prices are quite high, they are doing well," Mr Morton said. "Some of them would have tripled since released, but there's nothing you can compare them to because there's nothing on the market.

"Buyers want the whole package because it's such a great spot. We have people waiting for them and most sell off the market with no advertising."

NSW Maritime figures show boat ownership is increasing by about 4 per cent a year, with about 1000 new motor boats registered in Sydney annually. About 9000 boats require storage on the water.

Summit Property Services manager Nicholas Barnett, who handles the sales of apartments and marina berths at private complexes in the inner west, said prices had "gone crazy" in the past few months.

Recent Birchgrove 25-metre berth sales that last traded in 2003 for $110,000 were now worth about $500,000. "I've sold three 25-metre berths recently and they've gone crazy in price," Mr Barnett said.

"Demand has increased dramatically in the past two or three years. We used to have a bit of a surplus at Birchgrove, we always had one or two on the market, but now it's a driving force for people buying properties in there.

"The property is almost secondary for some owners. Many of them are happy to pay a couple of million dollars for a property as long as they can park their boat out the front."

One current listing in Hopetoun Quays is for a three-bedroom town house and marina berth with a price of $1.75 million.

The 25-metre berth's good position means it is worth between $700,000 and $800,000.

Sydney Harbour has about 8700 berths and moorings, most of which have long waiting lists.

Of those, most are private marina berths that can only be bought by people who have a residential holding. As one of only two company title facilities on the harbour, Double Bay Marina continues to run at a zero vacancy rate.

Members buy a share of the operation and in turn get a marina berth, of which there are only 40.

Next year the 1982 structure will be rebuilt to increase the berths to 55, with the few made publicly available likely to be sold at auction.

General manager Andrew Lygo said that turnover was usually only two berths a year, however last year seven new allocations had become available. "We don't have a lot of movement generally, [people] hold on to them," he said.

"If the development is approved we'll only be releasing about five next year … We might choose the auction method, but we haven't agreed to anything yet."

Berth prices are determined by position and the size, based on linear metres.

Double Bay marina berths cost about twice as much as similar company title berths at Pittwater.

The values of Double Bay berths range from $35,000 to more than $50,000 per linear metre, with recent sales ranging from $300,000 for an eight-metre berth to $800,000 for a 15.5-metre berth.