Much-loved Pambula Beach holiday home could attract record price

But for co-owner Andrew Henderson, "no amount of money will compensate me for the loss of my foothold in Pambula Beach where I grew up".

Number 18 Coraki Dr, Pambula Beach, will be auctioned at 11am on Saturday, January 29 with Andrew and his two siblings selling the property following the death of their parents.

Andrew is heartbroken to see the adored beach house of his youth go up for sale. This is the first time the property has been offered for sale since his father acquired it in a Crown Land lottery.

"But we have to move on because we have to split the estate between the three of us and none of us has the ability to buy it especially at today's prices," Andrew said.

There is expected to be much interest in the property which sits on the corner of Coraki Dr and Taleeban St in Pambula Beach overlooking Lions Beach.

"Interest has been eye popping, eye watering; we've been peppered with offers for more than 12 months," Andrew said.

So keen is one Melbourne family that they have actually enrolled their child in a local school, he said.

"There seems to be no upper limit and dozens have registered for the auction," Andrew said.

Andrew's parents moved to Australia from New Zealand in 1952 to work on the Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme. Andrew's father was an engineer based in Cooma. As the family grew, the couple looked for somewhere that could provide a beach holiday for them away from the colder climate of Cooma.

"Dad always wanted a beach house and heard about a Crown Land auction, like a lottery of properties at Pambula Beach," Andrew said.

"In 1960 there were a lot of people in the Snowy scheme in the same position and they all went along to attend the lottery of the subdivided land.

"It was done with marbles and my father's marble came out first. Being the good engineer that he was he decided on the block on the corner of Coraki Dr and Taleeban St."

READ ALSO: Castle nestled in Brogo countryside a labour of love

The other lottery winners made their selections and a small community was created who all helped each other when they started building.

"Dad worked on the design of the beach house and used decommissioned materials from the Snowy scheme. He bought a mess hall cut in two, everything was designed to be transportable, it had to be and everything was hardwood and he brought it down Brown Mountain," Andrew said.

"I remember them putting the joists down and as a three or four year old following behind with a handful of nails as one man drilled, I put a nail in the hole and then someone else came and hammered it in.

"We had all our holidays there and I have all my most fond memories there from the 1960s," Andrew said.

And the beach house is still there, very much as it was originally.

"It was a happy little holiday place There was a convenience store four doors up the road, a post box and a telephone, the only one in the area," Andrew recalled.

"It was so delightful in retrospect and by comparison to the holiday experience now.

"Going to Bega was like going to the big smoke," Andrew said.

"The sweet part of life was surfing on Lions Beach, paddling around and watching the shifting sand change the shape of the beach.

"We saw whales giving birth under the wharf at Merimbula. It was a whole life experience; we had the sound of the bellbirds, the sea, the kangaroos, the smell of the eucalypts, sunrise over the river mouth, so many things money can't buy," Andrew said.

What's your property worth? Find out at RealEstateView.com.au

He says his heart is heavy as he thinks about selling.

"But we have to be realistic about moving on in our lives."

Andrew now lives in France, just north of La Rochelle on the Atlantic Coast, and has brought his family to the beach house in the past, but maintains "the quality of beaches in Australia are so far above anything we have in France; the sand is fine and squeaks when you walk on it".

Real estate agent Glenn Brunette said he had fielded over 200 inquiries on the property.

"Pambula Beach is a closed book, it's land locked by the national parks and this property is on the front row with direct access to the river mouth and Lions Beach. It's an iconic south coast beach front cottage," he said.

"As a corner block with access from two sides the highest investment development for that site is a duplex but the interest isn't just from investors but also home buyers."

READ ALSO: Seachange Expo to showcase living, working and playing on the Sapphire Coast

Glenn pointed out that if there's no supply then demand goes through the roof.

"For decades the trend was for people to move to the cities for higher paid work, but COVID has reversed the flow. People knew they could work from home but COVID changed the business culture to allow it and many business realised they were better off."

It prompted people to look for a lifestyle and home outside the big cities.

"In regional areas wages have not changed but there's been a significant rise in house values and rental costs and it's broken the equilibrium; it's going to get interesting," Glenn said.

"Bega Valley Shire Council hasn't planned for growth and the future, and there's no land for sale. In Eden I have just one residential block in Boyd Town. Mirador was done in the 90s," Glenn said in reference to the Mirador development.

There's talk of the Coraki Dr property going for $1.5m and much of that would be attributed to the value of the 853 square metres of land and its position rather than the 1960s two-bedroom holiday home.

Glenn believed they were looking at a potential record price for a piece of residential land in the area.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:

Bookmark www.begadistrictnews.com.au

Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters

Follow us on Twitter: @Bega_News

Follow us on Instagram: @begadistrictnews