KEY POINTS:
Cup fever first gripped Auckland in the summer of 1986-87 when New Zealand made its initial foray into the America's Cup as KZ7 notched up a run of wins in the challenger series.
As merchant banker Michael Fay's Kiwi Magic piled up the wins, demand for coastal properties north of Auckland boomed, on the promise of grandstand views of the next cup regatta being sailed in the Hauraki Gulf.
Properties with sea views were eagerly sought, with Auckland land agents suddenly getting calls from overseas asking what was available.
One such inquiry resulted in British author and disgraced Tory MP Jeffrey Archer (later Lord Archer) buying 16ha on the southern side of the Whangaparaoa Peninsula.
He paid $775,000 for the land, explaining to the Daily Mail: "Because the countries taking part in the next challenge will be looking for space, land will be at a premium and I expect to make a profit overnight."
Yesterday, veteran North Shore real estate agent Les Smith, recalled: "Kiwis, when their sporting teams do well, grow in confidence and it helps everything. It doesn't do real estate any harm either.
"Rugby is the No 1 influence but the America's Cup particularly seems to lift attitudes generally."
Prices fetched on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula became big news. In late 1986 a Stanmore Bay house on a 0.1ha section sold for almost $1 million - to the vendor's surprise.
But as soon as Denis Conner's Stars and Stripes beat KZ7 for the challenger spot and the prospect of a 1990 cup regatta in Auckland was lost, prices began to tumble and some speculators, forced to sell, lost money.
Much of the buying had been done with sharemarket boom "easy come, easy go" money. Renewed interest in buying east coast property came in March 1989 after New Zealand took on Denis Conner with the "Big Boat" KZ1 and eventually were awarded victory in a court case.
But it was nothing like the boom of 1986 and when the court decision was overturned, Lord Archer, who had taken advantage of a downturn to add to his Whangaparaoa holdings, was still talking of it as a "fairly safe bet".
Agents now credit the 1980s America's Cup hype for helping to put the Whangaparaoa Peninsula on the property buyers' map.
Meanwhile, Lord Archer sold his land in 1999 to the Rodney District Council for $2.75 million.
His London home, with views of Big Ben, is called Peninsula Heights.
