More London house price madness: a tiny pre-fab bungalow on a street corner in Peckham has sold for just under £1m.
The tumble-down bungalow, on the corner of Costa Street and McDermott Street, close to Peckham Rye Common, went under the hammer with a guide price of £590,000 - but sold for £950,000, at an auction on Monday.
Auctioneers Savills, which described the property as "a dilapidated pre-fabricated bungalow", added that it comes with "new build residential development potential" - subject to receiving planning consent.
Chris Coleman-Smith, head of Savills Auctions, pointed out that the home's locale had become increasingly upmarket.
"Over the past 10 years Peckham has become an increasingly sought after residential neighbourhood, offering a village atmosphere with plenty of local cafes, shops, bars and restaurants.
"The bungalow on Costa Street provided bidders with an opportunity to acquire a site with great residential development potential, situated close to the popular Bellenden Road. There was quite a lot of interest in it and bidding started at £600,000, so people weren't messing around. Average prices in Peckham Rye now exceed £550,000, so there is certainly scope for the buyer to achieve a good return.”
Richard Livingstone, a councillor for Southwark council, on whose behalf the home was sold, added:
“Although selling council homes is not something we would normally want to do, sometimes the costs for repairs and refurbishment to bring our older properties to a decent standard is simply too high. In these cases, we have the option to sell them when they become vacant and use the money to fund this housing investment programme.
“We are extremely pleased that once again we have managed to raise a significant amount of money from the sale of a property, that was far past its expected lifespan, to but back into creating better homes for our residents.”