The anonymous buyer has plans to knock the six garages down

May 1, 2014 15:15 GMT  ·  By

A series of disused garages in south west London sold for a whopping £700,000 ($1.18 million/€851,000), although their value has been estimated at £75,000 ($126,630/€91,200).

The six lock-ups, located on Fulham Road, in Parsons Green, have been bought by an anonymous bidder who has plans to knock them down and replace car parking with carpeting, although they were put up for auction without planning permission for development.

The auction house advertised the row of garages as “suitable for redevelopment subject to planning permission.”

However, the buyer, who is believed to be a developer, paid the staggering sum for the garages, which is almost ten times the guide price and four times as much as the average cost of a house in England, according to Metro.

Prior to the auction, the owners were renting three of the garages out for £65, £80 and £85 per month ($109/$135/$143 or €79/€97/€103).

The auctioneer who conducted the sale said everyone involved was quite surprised by the outcome of the auction.

“We price things very well. [...] They had a guide price of £75,000 [$126,630/€91,200] and ended up selling for £700,000 [$1.18 million/€851,000]. I’ve never seen anything like this before. It is a first. The garages were owned by a couple who inherited and they couldn’t believe it. They were pleasantly surprised,” Andrew Binstock of Auction House London said.