I disagree anotherjohn.

Just because one property sells at a certain price does not mean it sets a benchmark for the area in anyway.

I agree that a property is worth what a person is prepared to pay, but providing that person has the means to pay.

Unfortunately for most sellers their buyers are prepared to pay a certain amount until the lender who is financing the move says its worth less. The deal invariably falls downs at this point.

Therefore the fact that most people buying in HOP and SE23 will require a mortgage will mean that the pricing benchmarking is still likely to be set by banks and their surveyors. Its still quite unusual to have sales complete where the buyer is paying significantly more than the valuation set by any financing source.

This seller - if a genuine sale, did extremely well. Developers have various methods of wrapping incentives in their sale to encourage buyers, still even in these difficult borrowing times. If you can still get a buyer to pay more than a property is valued at, then the person buying must have REALLY wanted it.

As for offering something different. If a character house stripped of all of all its original character is your thing, then great. It certainly isn't mine however we all have our own tastes.

I'm not sure I would agree it offered anything different from a couple of additional bedrooms from the many developer refurbishment projects you see daily on Rightmove, except it was a reasonably large house rather than the norm of a 2 bedroom flat.