push the boat out
Homes with their own moorings come with a premium — and rightly so, says
Messing about in boats is something (along with cricket, of course) we are good at in Britain. But not many of us can jump aboard from our own homes and head for the high waters.
Coastal and riverside properties with private moorings have a special charm — and, for the most part, come with a special price.
According to Knight Frank’s 2018 research, waterside properties carry a premium of up to 105 per cent in the south West, 46 per cent in the south east and 51 per cent in east Anglia. And should the property have a mooring, then you could pay up to 121 per cent.
Marina & Hampshire Life Homes — which markets property along the Hampshire south coast — has considerable interest from buyers of property with moorings.
‘in Port solent, which is at the north of Portsmouth Harbour, more than half of all property we sell backs on to the water, and the vast majority of those who own a mooring have a boat of one kind or another,’ says rob Barnett from the agency.
At Port solent, where the marina is managed by Premier Marinas, the cost of a 10 metre berth is £5,550 per annum. if you kept your boat in its swanwick marina, at the top of the river Hamble, it would cost more than £7,000.
But if you bought a property at Port solent with a mooring at the
end of its garden, all you would have to pay is the annual service charge of about £350.
David and Amanda Aldridge used to keep their 35 ft sea Lion motor cruiser on their mooring alongside their three-bedroom townhouse in Port solent.
‘it was wonderful having the boat at the bottom of our garden; so convenient and relaxing being able to get on it without the hassle of driving anywhere,’ says David, a retired IT specialist. They even used the boat as an overflow sleeping space when their grown-up children came to stay.
However, the couple have bought another boat, which is too big for the mooring, so they are selling their waterside home.
‘We love the house and the people, but Amanda really wants a detached house with a garden,’ he says. The three-storey property with a new kitchen, first-floor living area, and patio garden with steps down to a 11-metre mooring is on the market with Marina & Hampshire Life Homes ( marinalife
homes.co.uk) for £559,950.
FARTHER
along the coast at Hythe Marina Village, which is half-way up southampton Water, a four-bedroom semi- detached house with two 12.5 metre moorings is for sale for £845,000, and a grand sixbedroom house with a 22-metre mooring for £1.45 million. Both through Hythe Waterside estate Agents ( hytheand waterside.com).
Later this month, a ‘super beach hut’ on Teignmouth beach in Devon is going up for auction. Unusually, the timber hut, which has beach views, a fitted kitchen and electric and water supplies, comes with its own running trot or tethered mooring.
nick Wood, auctioneer at the Totnes office of Woods estate Agents & Auctioneers, said: ‘This is an exceptional property, providing ample space to store kayaks, surfboards, life jackets, crabbing nets, deck chairs and everything that anyone could possibly want for a day messing about on the water. ‘The kitchen is a superb addition, and with the freehold and trot mooring, it will amply serve its purpose, and beyond.’ The beach hut is to be sold by public auction on Tuesday, July 30, at The Jolly Farmer in newton Abbot ( woodshomes.co.uk). Pru Martin, from Marchand Petit’s prime waterfront and country department in south Devon, says 30 per cent of people who look at properties with water access want a slipway and mooring. ‘However, in the creeks up from Dartmouth, newton Ferrers and salcombe, most houses with moorings usually only have “running” mooring, which means they can keep a tender or dinghy afloat at the bottom of their garden, ready to take them to their larger boat whatever the state of the tide.’ This is still advantageous, as it saves the time of having to drive with all your provisions and gear to where your boat is moored. The
agent is selling Quayside Cottage in the heart of salcombe, Devon. This is a four-bedroom grade iilisted cottage with many original features and a running mooring for a 12ft dinghy. The cottage is for sale for £1.5 million ( marchand petit.co.uk).
in some of the more popular sailing areas it can be almost impossible to find a deep water mooring for a larger boat over 15 metres, and in parts of Cornwall, you might well have to go on a waiting list.
in Fowey, the wait is more than five years.
Delta Cottage in Mylor on the Carrick roads estuary north of Falmouth has a garden with steps to a running mooring and footpath to the popular Pandora inn.
The pretty pink-washed former fisherman’s cottage has been owned by the same family since 1993.
Prior to that it was the childhood home of Olympic sailing gold medallist Ben Ainslie.
With three bedrooms and a beamed living room, it is on the market for £ 850,000 through Jackson-stops & staff ( jacksonstops.
Ben standen, of Jackson-stops & staff’s Truro office, says: ‘There is a cachet of having a mooring at the end of your garden, but there are few properties on the market, and those with a mooring that do come on, sell very quickly.’