£1m flat blocks, a £300k former shop and land sold for £60 at Kent’s latest property auction
Two Kent flat blocks with development potential have both sold for seven-figure sums at auction.
Rhodes House, on Beacon Hill in Chatham, was bought for £1.372 million after attracting six serious bidders.
The supported living accommodation had a guide price of between £950,000 and £1 million before the Clive Emson auction.
It has 17 studios, six one-bedroom apartments and communal living areas and gardens.
The potential to redevelop was one of the attractive elements of the plot.
Currently, there is no planning permission for redevelopment of the half-an-acre site.
Auctioneer John Stockey said: “It is considered the property is now suitable for remodelling, extension to provide additional accommodation or, alternatively, complete redevelopment, subject to all necessary consents being obtainable.
“It attracted developers and investors, and the interest shown is a good sign for the market.”
The second million-pound-plus sale was a detached block of eight purpose-built flats at 16-30 Bidborough Ridge, in Bidborough between Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells.
It sold for £1.225 million, against a guide price of £1.08 million to £1.1 million.
The flats are in need of refurbishment and could offer potential for further development or redevelopment.
Planning permission and other necessary consents would need to be obtained.
Mr Stockey said: “Builders, developers and investors were interested in this lot.
“Bidding began at £1 million and seven buyers drove the price up.
“The sale serves to show that there remains a buoyant market for these types of lots.”
The flat blocks were just two of 174 properties listed for sale at a Clive Emson auction that ended on Thursday, November 5.
Hayton Manor Barn on the outskirts of Stanford sold for £111,000.
The period barn, on a 0.41-acre site near junction 11 of the M20, has planning permission for conversion and reinstatement of a cow shed to create two dwellings, with associated landscaping and parking.
Meanwhile, an empty shop and two two-bedroom flats in Sandgate Road, Folkestone, fetched £300,000.
One of the flats is let at £5,400 a year, while the other flat and the retail unit are vacant.
The retail unit was home to Coastal Car Spares. Bosses told KentOnline in September that they were closing after being a fixture of the town since 1991.
Clive Emson director and auctioneer Kevin Gilbert said the mixed-use property, on Folkestone’s principal retail thoroughfare, attracted considerable interest.
Elsewhere, a block of 23 lock-up garages behind 126 High Street in Lydd, Romney Marsh, sold for £157,000, against a guide price of £150,000-plus.
The garages are currently let, generating £17,040 a year.
A detached cottage in Barham also sold well above its guide price.
Cherry Tree Cottage, in Valley Road, fetched £329,000 against a guide of £240,000 to £250,000.
The three-bedroom, three-reception-room house has a number of period features but needs total refurbishment, with its front and rear gardens also overgrown.
In Bexleyheath, a parcel of land at 295 Brampton Road, including part of the adjoining roadway, sold for just £60.
Russell Hawkes, senior auction appraiser, said: “This land was sold on behalf of the Co-operative Group and was offered with nil reserve.”
A pair of telephone masts on land associated with Knight’s Place Farm in Rochester sold for £131,000.
The investment is let at £18,333 a year and had a guide price of £90,000 to £100,000.
