One of the last undeveloped beachfront blocks left near Mt Maunganui is set to go under the hammer.
Bayleys selling agent Janelle Ganley said she expected developers or richlisters looking to build a dream home to pay millions of dollars for the land.
Owned by the same couple for the last 50-years, the 1583sq m block at 313 Oceanbeach Road is one of only two large vacant beachfront blocks left along Mt Maunganui's famous beach.
It has a council valuation of $4.1m - more than four times the $874,000 median price of homes in Tauranga.
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Ganley said she expected the block to sell at its February 20 auction for a much higher price than its council valuation because it was a rare and large slice of land.
With most other blocks along the beachfront subdivided into multiple sections, she said a developer would be most likely to buy the land so it could also be subdivided.
"However, there is of course the possibility that it will be bought to accommodate one grand dwelling," she said.
Ganley said three other beachfront properties along Oceanbeach Rd with homes or small bachs on them had sold last year for prices between $4.5m-$6m.
Locals often didn't realise the land at 313 Beachfront Rd was privately owned because it had become overgrown with bushes and dotted with pohutukawas, making it look like a public reserve, she said.
It also sat next to a public walkway from the road to the beach.
The owners originally bought the site half a century ago with the idea of one day building their retirement home on the site.
In the 1970s, the married couple cleared the land in preparation for building work but didn't progress further, preferring to stay where they were.
Ganley said a one-bedroom Kiwiana-style bach on a smaller 826 sq m of land just a few hundred metres away on Oceanbeach Road recently sold pre-auction in November for a multi-million dollar sum.
Like the 313 Oceanbeach Road site, it had also been owned by one family for 50 years.
