An entire Georgian terrace has been put on the market for £15.5 million, in a “once-in-a decade” sale.
The row of eight Grade II listed townhouses at 46-60 Huntley Street in Bloomsbury is owned by the charity arm of University College London Hospitals. It is selling the houses to fund health facilities.
Agents Knight Frank said the terrace of late 18th-century three- and four-storey brick homes would make an ideal investment for a wealthy individual with cash to spare.
The houses have not been on the market for 55 years. They have been converted into 23 flats which pay a total annual rent of £608,000 — a yield of almost four per cent.
This compares with interest rates of little more than one per cent on most bank accounts.
Nick Pleydell-Bouverie, a partner at Knight Frank Residential Capital Markets, which is handling the sale, said the owner would probably keep the houses divided into flats.
Small properties worth between £500,000 and £700,000 are easier to sell in the central London property market than whole houses worth £2 million or more. The terrace is made up of refurbished studios and one- and two-bedroom flats, which together form 16,655 sq ft of living space. That means the terrace is worth the equivalent of £930 per sq ft.
Twenty of the flats are let on assured shorthold tenancies and contractual tenancies to UCL students and staff. Two are vacant and one is occupied by an elderly resident under a protected tenancy.
Mr Pleydell-Bouverie said he had not seen an entire terrace come on the market in the area in the past decade.
He added: “It comprises an extremely rare unbroken freehold terrace of residential properties in central London, offering an immediate and highly secure income stream.
“The investment also presents a range of exciting opportunities to further enhance value.”
The hospitals charity said: “We see this as the right time to use some of the charity’s existing assets to fund expansion and redevelopment elsewhere.”
