The quaint two-bedroom weatherboard home at 6 Dorrigo Avenue went to auction on Saturday December 19, with 14 registered bidders.

Read more: Woonona's miracle boy: how Vincent survived falling down a cliff

Just a few houses walk from Woonona beach, the reserve price for the property was set at $1.4 million though it finally went under the hammer for $1,765,000.

"When the vendor bought the house in 1978 - paying $28,000 - his friends told him he was crazy and that his car would rust living so close to the beach," selling agent Vanessa Denison-Pender of McGrath Thirroul said.

"God's not making any more land close to the beach so people will pay the price to secure a piece."

Read more: Peek behind your plate: workers review their restaurants and cafes

The "competitive" auction came down to five active bidders vying for the win of the 552 sqm block, a local developer with plans for a duplex prevailing in the end.

"The competition between developers, buyers wanting to build duplexes and people wanting to get into the market that close to the beach drove the price upwards," said Ms Denison-Pender.

"The house was a total knockdown; seen as land close to the beach."

The vendor had lived in the house for 42 years with the abode still in original condition, the agent describing it as "a blank canvas" for buyers.

Read more: How Wollongong's Merrigong Theatre Company was brought back from the brink

As more people make the sea-change to the Illawarra's northern beachside suburbs from Sydney, prices are expected to continue on an upward trend while also causing flow-on effects further south.

"The whole area from Bulli to Towradgi is booming - all the northern suburbs of Wollongong," Ms Denison Pender said, noting anything north was in a hotspot zone.

"Prices will continue to be pushed up by people migrating south from Sydney.

"There seems to be a knock-on effect with our vendors then moving further south to Milton and Ulladulla. There's a general migration in the population."