Guest Author - Tania Nadarajan

When visiting the beaches in Victoria, keep a lookout for our very famous bathing beauties – little brightly painted box houses that add some cheerful colour to our beachfront.

These bathing boxes can be found along Mornington Peninsula, Portsea, Port Philip Bay and Mount Martha. By far, the most famous and popular are the bathing boxes along Brighton Beach.

Brighton Beach is an inner city beach and being closest to the CBD, it is the easiest to get to. Not only is it convenient, it has the most uniform display of box houses. There are about 82 bathing boxes on Dendy Street in Brighton and they are all identical in size, building material and architectural layout. In an attempt to differentiate themselves, owners have splashed their boxes with some unique and artistic paintwork, with the Australian flag, pictures of dolphins, and all shapes and forms of bright colours on display.

These bathing boxes are a very famous tourist attraction. They have appeared on many a postcard and they are also a popular backdrop for wedding snaps. So cherished is the Brighton line of colourful artwork that is has received heritage listing.

These quaint looking, tiny beach houses are on average no larger than a single garage, but they cost a fortune to acquire. Recently, Brighton sold a box house for $188 000, another one in Portsea went for $190,000. The same amount of money can actually get you a small flat in an inner city suburb.

With its average size of only 4.8 square metres, a bathing box is almost ten times more expensive per square metre than the square metre price of Melbourne’s prestigious inner city properties. And it is only going to get more expensive with prices predicted to hit more than $300,000 per box. Considering that it cost only $11,000 to acquire one about 7 years ago, this upward spike is really quite phenomenal.

More extraordinary is the fact that these boxes function as no more than a shed. For the price they pay, owners don’t get much at all. There is no service amenities – no running water, no sewerage, no electricity. Owners are not even allowed to spend a night in their box house. Still, the demand for these bathing boxes continues to skyrocket.

People are willing to part with good money because they believe they are actually paying for a part of the beach that is now ‘theirs’. These bathing boxes also offer the best beach views. Being sometimes only metres from the water in high tide, one can enjoy uninterrupted views out the blue horizon. For beach lovers, a bathing box is a luxury item offering convenience for the lifestyle they want. These bathing boxes are their private change rooms and their storing shacks, holding anything from chairs, tables, spades, buckets, mats, umbrellas, clothes, small water craft etc. Having one mean you can quickly set up shop along your chosen foreshore haven and enjoy the warm summer days.

It is almost impossible to get a bathing box now. Most owners don't see it as an investment, and are therefore not willing to cash in, regardless of how tempting the price. The bathing boxes are handed down from generation to generation and very rarely would one go on the market for sale. With demand the way they are, it is no wonder prices are going through the roof.