Hardbopjazz Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 Tiny London apartment on sale for $335K By RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Associated Press Writer Mon Jan 22, 6:12 PM ET LONDON - Location, location, location. Almost anywhere else, the tiny dilapidated studio wouldn't attract much more than mice. But this is London and the 77-square-foot former storage room — slightly bigger than a prison cell and without electricity — is going for $335,000. ADVERTISEMENT The closet-sized space in the exclusive Knightsbridge neighborhood may be only "about the size of a ship's galley, said real estate agent Andrew Scott, who's handling the sale. "But it's permanently anchored to one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the world." At more than $4,340 a square foot, the mortgage buys a spot within walking distance of tony stores like Harrods and London's iconic Hyde Park. Originally conceived as a maid's room, the apartment at 18 Cadogan Place hasn't been used for years and is littered with trash bags and crumbling paint. A coffin-sized shower is en suite, and storage is provided by a shallow closet and 10-inch-deep shelves cut into the wall. Two hot plates and a small sink make up the kitchen. Two dirty windows allow light to filter into the basement room, and the fire escape could conceivably double as a shared patio. With no electricity or heating, Scott said it would cost an additional $59,000 to make the room habitable. "It is an investment," he said, as he stretched his arms the width of the room, laying his palms flat on opposite sides of the wall. The sale of this dark, mildewy room illustrates the astronomical rise in property values across London, which in the past year has seen average residential property prices increase 22.4 percent, to about $703,000, according to figures released Monday by Rightmove, which tracks the British property market. Prices in London's most desirable neighborhoods have grown even faster, with average house prices in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea — where Cadogan Place is located — rising 61.8 percent over the past year to a jaw-dropping $2.2 million. Ultra high-end property prices in London are the most expensive in the world, with some recent sales hitting $5,900 per square foot — making the Cadogan Place studio a bargain by comparison, according to research published last year by CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. Similar properties in New York can go for about $5,300 per square foot, while those in Hong Kong sell at around $3,950 per square foot. Scott said he already had three offers on the property, which might go to auction. Size, he added, is in the "eye of the beholder." "If you thought of this as the cabin on a boat, you'd say, 'It's pretty spacious,' " Scott said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 (edited) You just know a property crash is imminent here when this sort of crap gets put on the market for £170k plus £30k 'conversion costs'. Last time this happened in the 1980s I remember a broom cupboard near Harrods getting listed for £80k and - sure as eggs is eggs - the property market in London collapsed within 2 years. Total and utter greed ! Edited January 23, 2007 by sidewinder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted January 24, 2007 Report Share Posted January 24, 2007 You just know a property crash is imminent here when this sort of crap gets put on the market for £170k plus £30k 'conversion costs'. Last time this happened in the 1980s I remember a broom cupboard near Harrods getting listed for £80k and - sure as eggs is eggs - the property market in London collapsed within 2 years. Total and utter greed ! Indeed - though I thought the broom cupboard was in Mayfair. Booms happen because there's more than one born every minute - a lot more. MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gould Posted January 24, 2007 Report Share Posted January 24, 2007 I want to see the "After" picture in a few months! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcy62 Posted January 24, 2007 Report Share Posted January 24, 2007 (edited) In italians cities like Rome, Milan and Florence, houses' prices has more then triplicated in the last six/seven years. My explanation is that after 9/11, stocks market wasn't a safe investments for a lot of people, included speculators, so they putted the money in estates. Now the stocks market is growing and there are good forecast and the houses' prices has a stop in the last year. The other face of the coin is that, because of this boom, a lot of people has empty houses to rent. Rent's prices are collapsing. Edited January 24, 2007 by porcy62 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardbopjazz Posted January 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2007 Some more photos. You can better understand how small it really is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted January 24, 2007 Report Share Posted January 24, 2007 This was 'conceived as a maid's room'?!? Where was she supposed to sleep? Standing up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gould Posted January 24, 2007 Report Share Posted January 24, 2007 This was 'conceived as a maid's room'?!? Where was she supposed to sleep? Standing up Well, clearly the first renovation has to be the installation of one of those beds that folds into the wall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Larsen Posted January 24, 2007 Report Share Posted January 24, 2007 There was an article in the NY Times recently about how co-ops have been able to install something like 50 square foot storage rooms in their basements and get well into the six figures for them. The thing with NY and London is that this kind of stuff has been going on for such a long time that you almost have to wonder if it really is sustainable after all. Virtually every very rich person in the world has/wants to have an apartment in at least one of those two cities, plus you have a fairly large population of seven-figure a year bankers in both towns. I know plenty of people here making enviable salaries and living in tenements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcy62 Posted January 24, 2007 Report Share Posted January 24, 2007 There was an article in the NY Times recently about how co-ops have been able to install something like 50 square foot storage rooms in their basements and get well into the six figures for them. The thing with NY and London is that this kind of stuff has been going on for such a long time that you almost have to wonder if it really is sustainable after all. Virtually every very rich person in the world has/wants to have an apartment in at least one of those two cities, plus you have a fairly large population of seven-figure a year bankers in both towns. I know plenty of people here making enviable salaries and living in tenements. Do you think that there is any difference with the real estate in Bombay, Shanghai, Hong Kong or Tokyo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzypaul Posted January 24, 2007 Report Share Posted January 24, 2007 There was an article in the NY Times recently about how co-ops have been able to install something like 50 square foot storage rooms in their basements and get well into the six figures for them. The thing with NY and London is that this kind of stuff has been going on for such a long time that you almost have to wonder if it really is sustainable after all. Virtually every very rich person in the world has/wants to have an apartment in at least one of those two cities, plus you have a fairly large population of seven-figure a year bankers in both towns. I know plenty of people here making enviable salaries and living in tenements. While not on the same scale, the same thing is happening in Chicago. Teardowns in okay neighborhoods are running for $400K. An empty plot of land in my old neighborhood (the not at all posh Paseo Boricua on the west side) was going for $170K. Even semi-affordable condos become outlandish once you figure in the $500/month assessments. And this in one of the, ahem, more affordable big cities in the country. Big city living is not what it's cracked up to be. That said, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Larsen Posted January 24, 2007 Report Share Posted January 24, 2007 Not too familiar with the situation in Bombay or Shanghai, but I know that it's a similar story in Hong Kong or Tokyo. However, I hadn't recently seen a news story on the selling of sub-100 square foot storage spaces for large multiples of a normal annual salary in either of those cities and hence did not mention them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcy62 Posted January 24, 2007 Report Share Posted January 24, 2007 Not too familiar with the situation in Bombay or Shanghai, but I know that it's a similar story in Hong Kong or Tokyo. However, I hadn't recently seen a news story on the selling of sub-100 square foot storage spaces for large multiples of a normal annual salary in either of those cities and hence did not mention them. China and India has the fastest growing economies and among the largest, today. In the best neighbourogh of Shanghai and Bombay, prices sky rocketed in the last two or three years. If you consider that China is at the moment the second largest market for Ferrari. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted January 25, 2007 Report Share Posted January 25, 2007 Wow - thought this would be just a London/NYC problem ! Couldn't even think of living in London these days. How I did it for all those years as a student 20-odd years ago now amazes me ! (living in pretty good areas too). Those rich Bankers can keep to their nice bijou tenements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted January 27, 2007 Report Share Posted January 27, 2007 What would Wodehouse say? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted January 27, 2007 Report Share Posted January 27, 2007 What would Wodehouse say? "There are no apartments in the market today, sir; not even for... ready money." MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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