A HOUSE that was first put on the market for offers of just £1 vastly surpassed expectations during an auction tonight.

Twenty-nine Church Street, Ferryhill Station, County Durham, was originally touted as potentially the UK’s cheapest house by agents, Robinsons.

Lot number one finally closed at £8,250 during The Great North Property Auction at Hardwick Hall, Sedgefield County Durham.

Minutes before the live auction took place, at 7pm, an online auction ended with just one bid of £501 and offers were invited from the floor.

The winning bidder, who did not want to be identified, said he had bought the property on behalf of somebody else.

“They are a young family and they want to live in the area,” he said.

The two bedroom terraced property has been empty for more than a decade and the agents admit it is in need of a full refurbishment.

It is currently boarded-up and daubed with graffiti, but most houses in the street are lived in and neighbours said the area is quiet and welcoming.

A house further up the street, in similar condition, sold for £18,500 in December, but one occupying a similar spot to No 29, in relation to the East Coast main line, has been demolished.

Robinsons said No 29 presented a “golden opportunity” for someone to climb on the property ladder and has a potential value of £30,000 once it has been refurbished.

Ferryhill Station has been the subject of a major clearance and redevelopment scheme and once dilapidated areas have been revitalised.

Hope Rise, a new estate nearby that was built on some of the cleared land, is understood to be nearing full occupancy.