News / High price paid for run down bungalow
SHETLAND estate agents have been shocked by a house sale in Lerwick that realised 70 per cent more than the asking price.
The poor condition two bedroom bungalow at 23 Kantersted Road was put on the market this summer for offers over £90,000 by local estate agents Dowle, Smith & Rutherford.
In July it sold to an undisclosed buyer for £152,500.
Eric Peterson, of legal firm Tait & Peterson, said that he had occasionally heard of houses in Shetland selling for well above the asking price, but this was “pretty unusual”.
“We are seeing properties selling for around 20 per cent above the asking price at the moment, but obviously things can go a bit wild for individual properties,” he said.
“Some change hands for considerably more than the asking price because individuals want that particular property.”
According to the property website Zoopla the average price of a house on Kantersted Road, near Tesco, is just over £155,000.
Peterson said it was likely the buyer would be more interested in the house site than the bungalow itself, which Dowle, Smith & Rutherford said “required major refurbishment”. Serviced sites in the town were being sold for around £60,000 at the moment.
The steepest inflation in the housing market is with rented properties, with some two bedroom houses that would normally fetch £600 week being rented out for as much as £2,000.
According to estate agents, the biggest problem facing house buyers in Shetland at the moment was the length of time it was taking for banks and building societies to agree to handing out loans and mortgages.
Lerwick South councillor Amanda Westlake said that she was aware that houses in the town were being sold for around 20 per cent above the asking price.
“This is boom time in Shetland and the best time to sell your property, but I wasn’t aware houses were being sold for such ridiculous prices. I suppose it’s a case of supply and demand,” she said.
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