'£250k for a beach hut? That's bonkers'

A beach hut in a coastal town has hit the market for an eye-watering £250,000 - just £19,000 less than the average price of a home in the UK.

Described as "beautifully presented" by estate agent Durrants, the grey and white wooden hut is located at South Green in Southwold.

While a quarter of a million pounds for a seafront cabin may seem to be a staggering amount of money, demand for beach huts has soared since the Covid-19 pandemic.

The average cost of a beach hut in the UK is £45,000, so does the price tag attached to Helluvathing simply reflect a surge in popularity or a market spiralling out of control?

Claire Baldwin purchased her beach hut in Southwold five years ago when they were "not worth as much as they are now".

"Southwold is just a really beautiful place and Suffolk is a lovely part of the world but the prices have gone crazy in the last few years," she told the BBC.

"A quarter of a million pounds is a bit ridiculous but people will pay it - it is bonkers."

Mandy Moyes added: "I'd love to have a beach hut myself and if money was no object then I would definitely buy one," she said.

"I recently bought a shed for a £1,000 and I thought that was a lot of money."

Holidaymaker Annette McCullian described the price of beach huts as "shocking".

"When you think people cannot afford houses but people are spending that money on beach huts, she says.

"It is the price of a house but if somebody wants it, and they have the money, then they will buy it.

"Even £40,000 sounds a lot… but I've got a nice little spot here, in the shade, for free."

Claire Brier, 69, who has lived in Southwold for 25 years, said owning a beach hut was "becoming a competition and not one I am prepared to go into".

"It's just bonkers and really anyone who has got that sort of money should be having a serious talk with themselves about how they spend it," she said.

Poppy Scale, 34, said being able to use her friend's beach hut four times a year was a practical option when heading to the beach with her young children.

While she loves what beach huts can offer, she told the BBC that £250,000 for one was "an outstanding amount of money that could be spent on something better".

"I think beach huts should be valued at about £10,000 because at the end of the day it is just a shed on the beach – the cost has gone up astronomically."

Charlie Papworth, head of residential and commercial sales at Diamond Mills estate agents in Felixstowe, told the BBC "they are so much more than a shed".

"It is a luxury and some people remortgage their houses to buy these things so it's worth what people are willing to pay," he said.

"Is someone willing to pay £250,000? Time will tell."

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