How can this derelict property be worth £1.2 million?
A derelict two-storey building in St Ives has gone on sale for a jaw-dropping £1.2 million. It has been neglected for years and as a result lacks some of the things you might expect in a £1.2 million property - such as walls, floors and ceilings.
The high price owes little to the building itself, which started life as a pilchard press, before spending years as an artist's studio with a beach cafe on the ground floor. The neglect and being so close to the beach mean it's no longer anything to write home about - with sand covering the floor and a boarded up entrance.
The reason for the astonishing price is essentially the location on the beach in St Ives. The sellers have also invested in getting planning permission for the property, and some cutting-edge artists impressions of what the finished project could look like. The idea is that with enough work, an investment of less than £2 million could leave you with a property worth far more.
Certainly property in the area is worth a small fortune, and views of the beach command a big premium. A three-bedroom townhouse with a view of the harbour is currently on the market for £780,000. It's not hard to see how a house that's on the beach could be worth more.
Alternatives
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However, if you're after something on the beach in the area that constitutes less of a project, there's an alternative in St Ives. It's a two-bedroom terraced house on Harbour Beach, currently selling for £650,000. Given that you could move in tomorrow, it starts to make £1.2 million for a derelict shack look a little on the pricey side.
You'd have to be willing to live in an incredibly popular part of town, and share the beach with large numbers of holiday-makers, but if you intend to live on the beach in a huge tourist resort, then you'll need to get to grips with that challenge anyway.
Away from massive tourist resorts, the price of living on the beach drops significantly. At the moment, for example, you can buy a four-bedroom beachfront home in Pevensey Bay in East Sussex for £500,000. Alternatively, Saundersfoot in Pembrokeshire is home to a £197,995 beachfront one-bedroom-flat with a balcony overlooking the sand. It goes to show that you don't always have to pay through the nose for a slice of sea life.
However, if you think the St Ives property is a bit on the steep side, it always pays to compare it to the home of Britain's most expensive seaside beachfront properties - Sandbanks in Poole. At the moment, there's a five-bedroom townhouse, in a block of townhouses, and while it's an impressive property, it'll also cost you £1,975,000.
But what do you think? Do you fancy the St Ives project? And do you think it's worth the money? Let us know in the comments.
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