To the casual observer, it could have been any other three-bedroom detached house in a cul-de-sac in Bracknell, yet to the Harry Potter fan the house was none other than No 4 Privet Drive, where the boy wizard spent his childhood in a cupboard under the stairs (Tom Knowles writes).
Rightmove has revealed that when the home used as the Dursleys’ household in the Harry Potter films went up for sale at £475,000, it was one of the ten most viewed properties of the year on Rightmove, which receives about 127 million visits to its portal each month. Nick McKittrick, its chief executive, has acknowledged that “not everybody [visiting the site] can be moving home.”
The Napoleonic fort of Thorn Island off the Pembrokeshire coast was one of the most viewed listings of the year. The grade II listed garrison designed for 100 men in 1854 was sold by the state in 1932. It has had several owners since then but has not been lived in for more than ten years.
Anthony Clay, a partner at Knight Frank, said that the £550,000 island and fortress had received a lot of interest after going on the market in November.
He said: “The idea of owning an island and fortress has brought out the Enid Blyton in us all. It’s a magical place.”
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Also popular was the grade II listed seven-bedroom terraced Regency home in Eaton Square, Belgravia, on the market for £55 million. The property features a gold-plated swimming pool and a winter garden with retractable roof. Yet, in a sign that even the wealthiest can balk at such prices, the house was reduced from its original asking price of £70 million.
Nationwide forecast that house prices would rise by 2 per cent next year, supported by low interest rates and a shortage of homes.