THEY are set to become some of the most expensive council houses in the country.

Five homes, four of them Grade II listed and dating from the 1840s, are to be auctioned by Winchester city council. The windfall is estimated at about £1.5 million.

But with the Winchester property market still simmering, the auctioneer's hammer could bang down on far higher sums.

There are very few unrenovated period properties left in the city, especially ones with 14-foot high ceilings and many original features.

Agent Drewett Neate is hoping the auction at the Guildhall on October 31 will attract wide interest. Requests for the catalogues, available this week, has been brisk.

Lot 1 is a period cottage on Garnier Road, on the banks of the River Itchen, guide price £450,000; Lot 2 on Eastgate Street is a four-bedroom, four storey house of about 1,650 square feet, guide price £450,000; Lot 3, is one-bedroom ground floor flat on Eastgate Street, guide price £175,000; Lot 4 is a three-bedroom house currently divided into two flats.

By way of comparison, a modern townhouse, directly across the road, with four bedrooms and a bow-windowed frontage echoing the council houses is on the market for £650,000. A modern three-bedroom house a few doors down is being marketed for £525,000.

The Chronicle was given a tour of the Eastgate Street houses by Richard Botham, head of landlord services at the city council.

He said the houses were part of a group in the street bought by the city council in October 1948 as part of an improvement scheme.

The purchase price for 13 properties was £6,775.

Several of the houses in Eastgate Street, only a stone's throw from the statue of King Alfred, still remain in council ownership; others have been sold since the 1980s.

Mr Botham said he was keen to allay any fears that council tenants in other historic properties may feel nervous about their future "One of our concerns is not to give out the message that we want them out. They have secure tenancies," he said.

The council has introduced a new policy this year of selling up to 10 empty homes a year, if each needs maintenance work of more than £8,000.

The income from the sales will be reinvested in providing new homes, said Mr Botham.

He said the listed buildings were particularly expensive to maintain, especially the large 20 pane sliding sash windows at number 11 and the double bow windows of the others just down the street.

Mr Botham said the properties were sound but in need of some renovation and decoration.

The kitchen at number 11, although large, is rather gloomily in the basement.

The sell-off of the old houses has been supported by all parties on the council. Opposition councillors have expressed opposition to the sale of more modern family homes.

Peter Mieklejohn, of Drewett Neate, said: "There has been a very good response, primarily from local people.

"These houses are the genuine article, they are not modern pastiches.

"The guide prices are just that, a guide. They show we are here to do business."

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