An ex-council house has been sold for £1.2m – nearly 10 times the original price when it was purchased under right-to-buy rules, according to a report.
The three-bedroom flat near Covent Garden in central London was bought from Westminster Council in 1990 for £130,000, The Guardian said. The original buyers kept the flat until it was sold recently for £1.2m, just below the first asking price of £1.35m.
The property is in a mansion block - once entirely inhabited by council tenants - near the Royal Opera House.
Barry Marner, of estate agents Barnard Marcus, said: “With central London property prices at a premium and with demand for properties far outstripping supply, we weren’t surprised that this former council flat reached this impressive price.”
Tracy Kellett, an agent who buys properties for wealthy clients, said council houses were becoming popular with buy-to-let investors.
“Any stigma is waning fast as there’s a whole generation of people who don’t even know what a traditional council house is or was,” she said.
“Investors are keen as they often give great yields as purchase prices are lower than average.”
