British House First to Be Up for Sale with Bitcoin

With cryptocurrencies increasingly becoming part of normal life for many people, it appears to be only a matter of time before the first British house is sold in a bitcoin transaction.

Indeed, a house in Essex could soon be the very first in the country to be paid for in bitcoin. The Colchester property is a brand new 4 bedroom house that is being marketed for a price of either £375,000 or 82.55 bitcoin.

At the time of writing, that bitcoin price relates to around £350,000, meaning that paying for the house in cryptocurrency equates to a lower price than paying in cash, as well as the distinction of being the first person to buy a UK home in this way.

The house is being marketed by Go Homes. Their group sales director, Ed Casson, said that selling properties in bitcoin transactions “will become common in the next five years.”

He carried on by saying that this might be an opportunity for someone who “took a chance when Bitcoin were launched” and who now plans to cash in on their investment. The house is located in a new development called Elmstead Green, just outside of Colchester.

Mr Casson said that they are, “essentially taking a risk” by accepting payment in this way but that they want to embrace the change that they can see happening in the property market.

London Townhouse Also to be Sold for Bitcoin

However, the title of the first property in the country to be sold for bitcoin might not be this Essex house. This is because a townhouse in London has also recently been put on the market in the same way. It is a six storey property near Portobello Road in Notting Hill.

The £17 million property in the west of the capital is being sold by Lev Loginov, who is the co-founder of the London Wall property investment company. He said that they want to “shift all the perceptions on cryptocurrency” and that in the future this payment method could remove the need for solicitors and property titles.

Mr Loginov continued by saying that they want to be the first property company to carry out transactions in bitcoin, citing the fact that house sales can be done quicker, more efficiently and more easily in this way rather than by dealing with banks.

In this case, the seller is only going to accept bitcoin payment for the house, with no cash payment option given. At the time of writing the price is around 5,050 bitcoin. The buyer would then need to pay in the region of £1.95 million to HMRC in terms of stamp duty.

The growing trend for paying with bitcoins has also led to another world first, with Italian auction house accepting this payment method. Sant’Agostino auction house will be accepting the cryptocurrency for the items sold at an auction to be held at the end of November.

Around 600 items from Italy and around the world will go under the hammer at the event, with furniture, paintings and jewellery among the objects to be sold.