London’s ‘smallest flat’ compared to prison cell sells for 80% above asking price

Final bidder paid £90,000 for property likened to a ‘prison cell’

The flat does not have a kitchen (My Auction)

A tiny “microflat” in east London, which measures under seven square metres and has barely enough room to stretch your arms, has sold for £90,000.

The first-floor flat in Clapton, east London, is believed to be London’s “smallest flat” but received bids from “all around the globe” when it sold at auction on Wednesday.

It sold for 80 per cent above its minimum listing price, which began at £50,000. The previous owner bought it for £103,500 in May 2017, but has already recouped the cost by renting it out for £800 a month, including bills.

According to The Guardian, the flat’s current tenant only lives there once or twice a week for work and lives elsewhere for majority of their time.

The guide price of the property, located in a converted Victorian house, was raised from its minimum asking price to a guide price of £75,000 after interest in it surged.

The bidding ended after three hours with 14 bids from seven different countries, including England, Ireland, Italy and Germany.

Dominating the space is an elevated single bed above storage space that contains shelves, a cupboard and a microwave. There is also a small standalone near the bed with extra storage above it.

The bathroom, described as a “separate wet room” on the MyAuction website, has a shower mounted just inches away from the toilet.

The size of the flat and its price tag was heavily criticised on social media, with some people describing the cramped space as a “prison cell”.

The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that the average house price in the UK rose by 10.8 per cent over the year to December 2021, when it reached a record level of £521,000.

Surveyors Barnes and Barnes said recent years have led to a rise in the development of more microflats in the capital, aimed at young professionals working in the city.