Auctioneer desires £10,000 for ‘airspace’ above Battersea flat

London‘s housing market might face a radical overhaul as a plot of ‘airspace’ goes up for public sale in Battersea.

The contemporary air above 47 Northcote Road is being bought with a information worth of £10,000. 

Although the three-storey constructing presently has no planning permission for an extension, bidders can put their cash on the vacant airspace above the second flooring within the hopes that one other storey might be constructed.

The ‘vacant possession’ in southwest London is up for grabs with a 150-year lease and a ‘peppercorn floor hire’.

Auctioneer Phillip Arnold is assured it can meet its objective, the BBC stories, though he admits including a storey wouldn’t be ‘an easy construct’.

He described how the neighbouring property was being renovated, with an extra flooring added. An extra property two doorways down has additionally been given approval to do the identical.

‘You’d wish to suppose there’s a greater probability than most with this,’ he mentioned.

The plot is located a brief stroll from Clapham Junction railway station, and hovers above two flats and a restaurant area on the bottom flooring – presently being remodeled right into a café.

Asked why anybody would bid on skinny air, Mr Arnold defined that it was an reasonably priced method to get a foothold within the neighbourhood – the place the typical flat sells for over £600,000 – and it could possibly be an excellent funding.

Mr Arnold, an auctioneer of 30 years’ expertise, added: ‘London has been by an enormous interval of flat conversions, purchase to let. You get phases, and I feel this will likely be one in every of them and other people will simply actively search for these items.

‘They’re like buses; it is the primary one I’ve had for ages however about 18 months in the past I had 9 of them.

‘I feel you are going to see much more of them. Sometimes should you’ve received a few folks bidding the worth will undergo the roof.’

The on-line itemizing provides: ‘The lot being bought is the airspace above with growth potential, topic to acquiring any vital consent required. 

‘The freeholder will likely be offering landlords consent to develop at no further cost to the purchaser.’

The idea of promoting airspace is believed to have been large in New York a decade in the past, however stays an anomaly in London. A plot of airspace in Russell Square went up for public sale in October however failed to achieve its information worth of £100,000. 

The public sale takes place on-line on 7 December.

Despite the draw of Battersea, not all latest property redevelopments within the space have hit their targets. 

In March, it was reported multi-million-pound residences in Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms had been being quietly diminished in worth after as much as two years in the marketplace.

Rightmove listings revealed others listed in the marketplace for years with out being bought, reminiscent of in Nine Elms, which was dubbed ‘Dubai on Thames’.

One four-bed condo on the St George Wharf growth has been in the marketplace at a worth of £15million since December 2019.

Another, within the close by Damac Tower, has been on the market for £12.3million since 2021. Both properties have lavish interiors and panoramic views throughout London.

When former London Mayor Boris Johnson launched what was named the Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea ‘alternative space’, he described it as ‘the ultimate piece within the jigsaw’ of central London.