Bruntsfield villa serving as homeless hostel changes hands in £3m deal

A council-leased Georgian villa in Edinburgh that houses a 20-bedroom homeless hostel has changed hands for more than £3 million in a newly unveiled property investment deal.

Offers over £2.92m were invited  but the Georgian property was sold off for roughly £3.4m. Picture: contributed.

Chartered surveyor DM Hall has secured the sale above the asking price for the 10,000 sq ft B-listed property in Bruntsfield that was built in 1826. It is wholly let to City of Edinburgh Council until November 2033, and it is sublet to a local housing association.

Ross Chinnery, a surveyor in DM Hall’s east commercial property team, based in Edinburgh, said the property was originally a private home that was granted a change of use to an unlicensed hotel in November 2000.

It spans basement, ground and first floor levels, and has about 0.4 acres of land.

“DM Hall was initially instructed by the landlord, an overseas private investor, to renegotiate the current lease with the City of Edinburgh Council where a new 15 years extension was agreed with an uplift in rent.

“On the strength of this, the client sought to move the property on, and DM Hall was then instructed to sell the investment. Initially, offers over £2.92m were invited for the benefit of the heritable interest but the subjects generated such a strong level of interest from investors, ranging from private individuals to large corporate funds, that a closing date was set, creating a competitive bidding situation.”

The property was eventually sold for £3.36m, reflecting a net initial yield of 4.33 per cent, “showing a significant uplift on the property, and evidencing the fact that there is a substantial market for this type of investment when properly marketed”.