One of Auckland’s historic Ngapipi Road boatsheds has fetched close to $1 million after just over two weeks on the market.
A keen buyer jumped the gun ahead of this week's planned auction, paying $925,000 for the working shed, New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty listing agent Paul Sissons told OneRoof.
“It’s a really good price; the owner was very, very happy,” he said.
Built in the 1940s, No.8 is one of 17 sheds in the much-photographed strip on the edge of Whakatakataka Bay. It is the fourth Sissons has sold, and one of just two believed to remain in original condition.
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Sissons said the buyer had missed out on other opportunities to buy, but this time he was ready to fulfil his childhood dream, despite being on the other side of the world.
“His comment to me was that he had wanted to buy one of those boat sheds since he first pedalled past on his bike as a 13-year-old,” Sissons said. “The moment this went up, he was straight on to me within a couple of days. He was actually overseas, and his immediate comment was ‘your timing’s lousy, but I have always wanted that shed. That is the one I really wanted to buy.'”
The shed was built in the 1940s to house Lady Margaret, a classic 43-foot kauri launch, which is still on the market for sale. Photo / Supplied
The small shed was one of only two in the run of historic sheds that were still used for boat maintenance and storage. Photo / Supplied
Sissons said that when the buyer realised he would still be overseas on auction date, he worked with his solicitor to make an offer that would take the shed off the table.
“The vendor decided it was good enough for them,” he said.
While many of the other sheds on the strip have been turned into offices or glamorous entertainment spaces, Sissons said the buyer wanted somewhere to store his boat.
The shed had been offered with its resident boat, a classic 43-foot kauri launch dubbed the Lady Margaret, but the buyer had passed on the opportunity. Sissons said the vendor was now selling the boat and the lease on her marina berth privately.
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“Every piece of Lady Margaret is just stunning,” he said.
The Lady Margaret is why the vendor ended up with the shed in the first place.
He told OneRoof last month that he bought the shed in 2005, after falling in love with the Lady Margaret.
“I looked at her and thought ‘I’ve got to have this’,” he said. “I’d get a few people coming on board who’d say, ‘Oh, we used to go out on her for Christmas’. She was quite popular.”
He added: “We used it most summers, to a limited extent. Then she’d get a three-month go back in the shed.”
He said that apart from some strengthening and improving the door access, the shed was pretty much unchanged.
The solid hardwood No.8 shed is fitted out for boat maintenance and as a joinery workshop. Photo / Supplied
The boatshed record was set in June 2023, when a glamorous boatshed used as a shooting location for David Lomas Investigates sold at auction for $2.05m. Photo / Supplied
“It was my little hideaway. I’d meet my mates and have a couple of beers out there. We could open the door up, particularly on a high tide. It was a working shed, used for fixing up the boat in the winter and then in the summer I turned it into a joinery workshop and made all sorts of things for the house and the boat.”
Three years ago, Sissons got a record $2.05m for a stylishly renovated boatshed on the strip. The 65sqm shed, with glamorous Ralph Lauren-style decor, was used in the hit TV show David Lomas Investigates.
And last year, Sissons sold another much bigger boatshed, with chandeliers and a yoga room, for around $1.85m.
Owners hold a maritime licence to occupy the boatsheds, which is renewed every 35 years. While the sheds cannot be used as permanent residences, some are fitted with kitchens and bathrooms, with holding tanks used to manage wastewater.
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