KEY POINTS:
Luxury island retreats are not safe from the rising tide of foreclosures.
A trust has called for a mortgagee sale of a large coastal property on Roberton Island (also called Motuarohia Island) in the Bay of Islands.
The owners paid $2 million in August 2006 when coastal and island property demand was at a peak and money was easy to come by. But now times have turned, the financiers want out.
The property is being sold by Midlands Mortgage Trust, managed from Hawkes Bay.
Bayleys agents Michael Pleciak and Chester Rendell won't estimate what the place could fetch at its Viaduct Basin auction at 2pm on September 17. But they say getting title to any Bay of Islands land is rare. Of the 168 islands in the area, less than 3 per cent is in private ownership.
The 2.6ha property for sale is on the island's southwestern corner and is called Snapper Rock, formerly Hideaway, advertised as part of an island once visited by Britain's royal family. Five titles are for sale.
The 1970s house has solar panels and generator shed. Cats and dogs are banned because of the island's kiwi population and the property can't be used for commercial activities.
"Toys" thrown in with the sale are a heliport, purpose-built twin-engined commuter vessel and Land Rover.
