London house prices: Allsop to auction new-build London flats online – so you can bid on a home from your sofa
Bargain hunters are used to getting their hands on decrepit "fixer-uppers" at auction. But for the first time ever next month, they will be able to get their hands on a set of sparkly new flats – in an online auction.
Auctioneers Allsop will sell off homes at the West Drayton Waterside development, on the outskirts of West London, on 10 June.
The flats, which range from one to three bedrooms, are due to be completed in Autumn this year, according to developer Clearview Homes. Crucially, they're also within five minutes' walk of West Drayton rail station – which means when Crossrail comes along in 2019, it'll take just over half an hour to get to Liverpool Street station.
The auction will allow bidders to see the price being set, and then see how much is being offered for the homes.
Gary Murphy, Allsop's residential auction partner, reckons it will "incite healthy investor competition" as well as "putting products on a worldwide stage".
Could this mean the end of the traditional auction? Murphy suggests not. It will "co-exist harmoniously alongside our traditional ballroom auctions," he suggested.
Stephen Murphy, the chief executive of Clearview Homes, added: "We feel sure that this will be the future and are excited to be a part of it."