A garden worth £150,000 has been sold for £1.26 million in Primrose Hill

A small back garden in Primrose Hill has been sold for over £1.26 million at auction.

The plot had a guide price of around £150,000, but after a vicious bidding war the hammer came down at over a million pounds.

The land sold for £200,000 more than the average price of a two bedroom flat in Primrose Hill, which is currently £1,002,283.

It sits in a desirable area behind a house on Elsworthy Terrace, just off Elsworthy Road, but is only 20 metres square, or 0.02 hectares, and surrounded by houses.

It was put on offer at an Allsop auction by a north London residential property developer and subsequently sold to another developer.

In addition to the cost the buyer had to pay a further £68,750 in stamp duty, and the 45 foot long piece of land has no current planning permissions.

Chris Berriman, a partner at Allsop, said the day was particularly strong for the auction market.

“There was a lot of confidence and competitive bidding, not just in London particularly. We raised over £56 million,” he said.

“I think the purchaser and competitors were taking a speculative and long term view as to what sort of planning potential the land might have in the future. It was entered into the auction in the most traditional way – they wanted to find out what it was worth.”

He added that while he had seen similar situations in the past this was an unusual occurrence, likely motivated by surging north London house prices.

“Primrose Hill is a very popular area of London where demand consistently outstrips supply,” he said, “but it was surprising that it beat its guide price so significantly and that the market decided it was worth a lot more than £150,000.”