The award-winning team at Cluttons explains why they are market leaders in finding the right buyer for spaces with a story to tell.
Your home is your castle, so the saying goes, but your “castle” – could be a stunning Victorian school conversion, a funky warehouse apartment, a trophy penthouse or a quirky transformation of a former train station. “Exceptional one-off properties hold their value even in these uncertain times,” says James Hyman, Head of Residential at Cluttons, who leads a team with an unrivalled record in selling London’s most interesting properties.
“Our approach is property driven, not location driven. A fantastic, unusual building will always tempt a buyer to a postcode they may not have considered before,” says Hyman. A grand four-bedroom apartment currently for sale in The Village in Battersea is a case in point. With an open fire at one end and a fabulous open-plan kitchen at the other, its 50-foot, double height reception room (the original gymnasium of Lavender Hill School) has vast south-facing windows and two mezzanine levels containing a study and home cinema/family room. “It’s a fantastic entertaining space, full of light, character, and the potential for a buyer to still stamp their own identity on it. It would be perfect for someone looking for something unconventional, who is perhaps in the media, and values their privacy,” says Leora Kalley from Cluttons Chelsea office.
According to James Hyman, “This approach can also be said of new build. We work with developers, encouraging them to bring more interesting properties to market, properties that have a point of difference, rather than ubiquitous boxes.” The Bankside Collection in Southwark is a good example: a landmark building of eight duplex apartments with a communal 360-degree roof terrace and a triplex penthouse with a private roof garden. The development sold off-plan last autumn to an overseas investor drawn to the unique, Flatiron-style building which is refreshingly different to the rest of the city’s new-build stock.”
Cluttons’ reputation for selling unusual spaces in London stems from having a clear understanding of the opportunity the property presents to a specific buyer. Their forte is to see where a stand-out home sits in the market and assess how they can best present it. Identifying the right potential buyer is critical and thanks to years of experience the team has a considerable database of clients, ready to invest in a one-off opportunity when it arises.
“No other estate agent has sold more individual spaces in the last decade,” says Solly Strickland of London Lofts. The recent sale of The High Command Penthouse in Bermondsey, at £9.5million, is testament to Cluttons’ expertise in reaching the right buyer for extraordinary properties.
“We don’t assess a property purely in terms of square footage,” says Hyman. “We interpret the work that has gone into a property and we respect that individual vision. Often people have bought a derelict building and brought it to life informed by its history and character.” It is this ability to understand and celebrate a property’s point of difference that makes Cluttons the market leaders in matching one-off homes with the right buyers.
Article as seen in Vogue, Tatler, GQ and Homes & Gardens
