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?Camden’s council homes are sold off by auctioneer Chris McHugh |
Council homes auction raises only £1m in ‘difficult’ market
Housing chief considers switch from sell-offs to renting empty properties
GOING… going… and just about gone. Four more council homes – including a flat on a Euston estate – went under the hammer at auction on Monday, sold to private bidders in an attempt to raise funds for the Town Hall.
But the council’s Liberal Democrat housing chief admitted he was disappointed at the amount raised at the sale in the headquarters of the British Academy of Film, Television and Arts in Piccadilly.
It brought in just over £1million for the housing department.
The sales – considered controversial as they eat into the number of properties on offer to the thousands on the housing waiting list – are meant to raise money to improve the rest of the housing stock spared from auction.
Three properties were sold for only a few thousand pounds over the guide price, and one spacious council-owned, two-bed maisonette in Penhurst Crescent, Chalk Farm, received no bids at all.
The lot was withdrawn to raised eyebrows from auctioneer Chris McHugh, who had described it as “ideal for rented or owner occupation”.
The sales included:
• A Grade II-listed former caretaker’s house in High Road, Finchley, sold for £250,000.
• A two-bedroom maisonette in Iverson Road, West Hampstead, sold for £232,000
• A maisonette in Goldhurst Terrace, West Hampstead, sold for £455,000.
• A flat on the top floor of Patterdale council estate in Osnaburgh Street, Regent’s Park, sold for £130,000.
Interest in the properties did not compare to the energetic bidding war that has defined similar auctions of Camden council homes over the past 18 months, but Mr McHugh insisted the Town Hall had got a good price for its properties.
“The market is getting stronger and stronger,” he said.
“Last year’s auction was the peak. If you imagine a cliff, that was at the top of it and then it fell down the hill a bit. It’s climbing up again.”
Lib Dem housing chief Councillor Chris Naylor was more cautious. He said: “The feedback I’ve had is that one of the properties didn’t sell and most of the rest were only just over reserve price. Clearly, the market is getting much more difficult.
“We wish we weren’t in a position that the only way of bringing decent homes up to standard is by selling other properties.”
He blames the government for not providing enough investment to improve council homes.
Cllr Naylor said the poor return from the auction would not stop the council pressing ahead with more sales – even though the government had instructed him to investigate ways the council could raise cash without losing council homes.
“We might be able to raise the money we need by renting out some of these empty properties rather than selling them,” he said. “These are new proposals we are discussing with Camden’s housing committees.” |
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