Price: $519,000

Jan 24, 2007

Price: $519,000

For sale: London apartment

Size: 1/10 that of HDB 3-room flat


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SMALL BUT PRICEY: The former storage room is being marketed as an investment property in the exclusive Knightsbridge neighbourhood, and Mr Scott has already received three offers on the property. -- AP


LONDON - A PRISON cell-sized apartment without electricity is on sale for &pound170,000 (S$519,000) - another sign that London's property market is booming despite rising costs and stagnant salaries.

Tiny, dilapidated studios do not normally attract big money, but this is London, where a tiny former storage room is being marketed as an investment property in the exclusive Knightsbridge neighbourhood.

At 7 sq m, or 77 sq feet, the room is one-tenth the size of a three-room Housing Board flat.

The asking price of the London flat is slightly more than that of a 1,300 sq ft executive condominium in Singapore, which averages about $500,000 each.

Real estate agent Andrew Scott compared it to a small compartment of a ship 'permanently anchored to one of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in the world'.

At more than &pound2,200 a square foot, the mortgage buys a spot within walking distance of Harrods department store and 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 25-cm deep shelves cut into the wall. Two hot plates and a small sink make up the kitchen. Two dirty windows allow the light to filter into the basement apartment, and the fire escape could conceivably double as a shared patio.

With no functional heating, Mr Scott said it would cost &pound30,000 more to make the room habitable.

Ultra high-end property prices in London are the highest in the world, with some recent sales hitting about &pound3,000 per square foot - making the Cadogan Place studio a bargain by comparison, according to a property research report.

ASSOCIATED PRESS