Do you want to own an affordable place where it is legal to sleep or use the toilet? Not in this economy.
In New Zealand’s Auckland city, a pocket-sized property that doesn’t have a bedroom or a bathroom is worth more than $1 million.
In fact, Boatshed 15 is really just one large room with an open dining area and kitchenette off the front entrance and a living room leading to the rear deck and jetty.
All converted boat sheds have a total area of less than 700 square feet and yet, in a sign of the times, this tiny abode was bought at auction for $1.2 million ($2 million in local currency) late last month , which is a record for a row of buildings. That line this part of Hobson Bay, The Guardian reported,
The price is notable not only for being one of the most expensive in the area, but also for taking place amid a slump in the housing market in New Zealand.
Plus, according to the Guardian, zoning regulations make it illegal for an owner to reside or stay overnight at an address that has no toilet, shower, or legal ownership (only a license to occupy).
The shed, although historic, is quite beautiful and well-renovated, an aerial photo shows it to be one of the longer docks along the stretch, and it is “very rare”, with only 17″ of Auckland history’s iconic One of the “pieces”. New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty Agent Paul Sissons, who list organizedtold The Post.
Traditionally, beginning in the 1930s, sheds were handed down through generations of Auckland’s “elite” who used them for “carrying out, storing and performing winter maintenance on their boats”. — mostly launches,” Sissons explained.
Over the decades, most have been upgraded into what is known locally as “De Bach”, where owners can “retreat to relax and reset”.
Boatshed 15, Sissons said, “is one of the better ones.”