The iconic, brightly painted coastal sheds in and around Melbourne are a quirky real estate mix: absolute beachfront views, but lacking basic features including a bedroom, bathroom, running water and even power.

While they lack homely comforts, some can sell for more than an average Melbourne suburban house.

And while the house comes with the security of land title, the shed is built on a public beach.

Known variously as beach boxes, bathing boxes and boatsheds, these basic structures have been features of the Victoria state coastline along Port Phillip Bay and Western Port since the 19th century.

What they have going for them these days as a financial investment is scarcity.

Some real estate agents say boxes in the right location can be expected to double in value every seven to 10 years.

The prices and the rules surroundings beach boxes differ depending on where they are.

A buyer needs to own a home in the area, and the sheds can’t be rented out or put to any commercial use.

No overnight camping is allowed, and solar cells and motorized electricity generators are banned.

The boxes are useful spaces to keep beach toys, kayaks, stand-up paddleboards, BBQs and beach furniture.

There’s no electricity, but there’s an ice chest to keep drinks cold.

There’s no plumbing, but there’s a camping potty with indoor privacy.

Victoria perhaps deserves to be Australia’s last bastion for these anachronistic structures.

The state was named after Queen Victoria, the British monarch who reigned for most of 19th century.

The rigid moral code of Queen Victoria’s era contributed to the creation of bathing boxes in Melbourne in the 1860s.

The boxes were to preserve a bather’s modesty when the law prohibited changing clothes on a beach and walking the streets in a swimsuit, local historian Jo Jenkinson wrote in her 2015 book, "The Lure of the Beach: A History of Public Sea Bathing in Brighton."

Similar beach structures with similar origins still survive in other parts of the world.

There are no private beaches in Australia, so beach shacks were built on public land.

Views have long been mixed on whether such private property has any place on public beaches.

All the sheds have been removed from Australia’s coastline over the decades except for around 2,000 in Melbourne’s vicinity.

The most expensive can be found in the wealthy tourist town of Portsea, a 90 minute drive from Melbourne.

Portsea boxes often sell for AU$1 million ($660,000). A record AU$1.2 million ($800,000) was set last year.

The mean price of a Melbourne dwelling was AU$803,194 ($530,378) in August, according to property research firm Cotality.

AP Video by Rod McGuirk