From sky-high rents to ludicrously priced houses, it’s no secret that navigating the London housing market can be tumultuous, to say the least.
Many of us only dream of owning somewhere in the Big Smoke, with the average property selling for £689,722 over the last year, almost £400,000 over the figure for the rest of the UK. Ouch.
But now, London’s ‘most derelict house’ has finally been sold after a whopping seven years on the market – and to the tune of £2,000,000, despite the inevitable work the new owner will need to shell out for.
Nestled in Maida Vale on Pindock Mews – famously once home to Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols – the crumbling house has been a challenging sell, but now, a buyer has sealed the deal.
The area is famous for its towering Victorian homes, the quaint ‘Little Venice’ canal district and high-end boutiques, and isn’t far from Abbey Road Studios – AKA, the location of the famous album cover of the same name by The Beatles.
Though the agent has declined to specify just how much the new owners have paid for the property, Noah Pearlman, consultant at Harding Green, told the Express that it ‘isn’t far off the full asking price’ of £1,950,000, having first hit the market in 2017 for £2.5 million.
However, Noah has estimated that the new owners will need to spend approximately £750,000 to renovate it, recommending that they convert it into a three-storey home with three bedrooms – two more than it currently has.
This, as Noah notes, will inevitably up the value, as he estimates that this could see it skyrocket up to £3 million.
The condition of the property hasn’t changed too much since it was originally put on the market – besides the fact that it has a few more holes in the roof, and some of the windows ‘don’t have glass in them.’
‘The vendor really didn’t want to sell it, so in my opinion it was always on for slightly more than it was worth. It was very much an emotional rollercoaster,’ Noah told the Express.
In fact, Noah has been an estate agent for 18 years – and noted that this listing was a ‘particularly difficult sale.’
‘It was in really poor condition. It was terrible. There were probably more holes in that roof than Swiss cheese. It was pretty awful.’
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London’s ‘most derelict house’ is for a buyer who ‘wants a project’
‘It’s for a buyer who wants a project,’ Marlon Lloyd Malcolm of Lurot
Brand, the mews-specialist agent who originally managed the sale, told Metro when the listing went live.
‘However, it’s a project that could have a lot to give,’ Marlon explains. ‘On the street, there’s been basements and dormer attics put on. So it’s quite a good footprint.’
The current 1,484sq ft could be extended to 3,000sq ft with an attic and
a basement.
‘You’d buy it for £2.5million, you’d have to spend at least £600,000, then you’ve got various things on top of that which would take you to about £3.4million,’ Marlon added.
Homes with these 3 features are selling faster than the rest
Breakfast bar
New analysis from estate agents Yopa has shown that the most desirable design feature for today’s househunters is a breakfast bar, with 13.6% of all listings from the last month with a breakfast bar already finding a buyer.
Laminam describes this trend as ‘broken plan living,’ with the company’s research and development director, Claudio Corniola, saying it ‘creates a point of difference within a kitchen design while also adding a practical area for food prep, dining, entertaining, socialising and home working.’
Kitchen island
Along the same vein, kitchen islands are proving especially popular; 12.6% of all homes listed in the last month complete with this feature having already sold.
Space is naturally going to be a factor here, but if you have the room, an island is a practical addition that’ll attract buyers galore.
High EPC rating
EPCs have been making the headlines once again within the rental sector and it appears as though homebuyers are also prioritising a property’s energy efficiency.
12.6% of all homes listed in the last month which boast an EPC rating of C or above have already found a buyer — with this level of demand again sitting above the wider market benchmark.
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