Pearl Beach: Block bought for £78 in 1928 sells as shack for $2.5M

A Pearl Beach property passed down through three generations has sold for $2.5 million. Not bad considering the owner’s grandmother bought it for £78 — or about $6,500 — in 1928.

When Evelyn Smith purchased number 2 Emerald Ave, in what was then a brand new land release called Staples Estate in 1928, it cost her the princely sum of £78.

According to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s pre-decimal inflation calculator that would have been about the equivalent of $6,471 in today’s money.

Fast forward 93 years and her granddaughter Kim Jones has sold the property, which now features a modest four-bedroom beach shack, for $2.5 million.

There wasn’t much to Pearl Beach in the circa 1920s when Evelyn Smith purchased the block. Image courtesy of Central Coast Library Service

Pearl Beach in the 1920s-30s was a popular tourism and camping spot for families and became well known for huge mulloway jewfish caught off the beach.

Ms Smith passed the block down to her daughter Irene Edwards and her husband in the early 1960s.

In 1965, a three-bedroom cottage was built on the block, two streets back from the beach, by a friend of Mrs Edwards’ husband, a local builder from Terrigal, named Noel Murrel.

The small block was a couple of streets back from the beach in what was a new estate. Picture: supplied

The couple moved into the cottage the following year with their daughter Kim and added a fourth bedroom in the 1970s.

They subsequently passed down the property to their daughter Kim Jones, who lived there with her family until relocating to Queensland having sold the house for $2.508 million last month.

“We will be sad to say goodbye to such a piece of family history, but the time was right for us to move up to Queensland and pass this little piece of paradise on,” Mrs Jones said.

“Never in my life could I have imagined having this much money, we can’t believe how much it sold for.”

By the mid 1930s a number of houses had sprung up and the area was popular for holidays. Picture: courtesy of Central Coast Library Service

While the average sale price across the Central Coast has gone up as much as 30 per cent in the past 12 months, this property has seen an annual growth rate, year-on-year, of an eye-watering 418 per cent.

Residential HQ Central Coast selling agent Alana Gargaro said the sale price was an indication of how in-demand Pearl Beach had become.

The small cottage at 2 Emerald Ave, Pearl Beach, sold for $2.5 million. Picture: supplied

It hasn’t changed much since it was built in 1965. Picture: supplied

“While the whole of the Central Coast has certainly seen an influx of demand from buyers across Victoria and NSW, Pearl Beach remains one of the most sought-after areas on the coast for its natural beauty and charm.” Ms Gargaro said.

“There were several interested parties, but it was finally sold to a young Sydney couple who bought it as a holiday home.

“It is rare to find such a wonderful property that has been in the same family for almost 100 years and passed from generation to generation.”