英国房产跳楼价甩卖 仅售1英镑

Small change ... houses in Liverpool are being sold to residents for £1

THESE are Britain’s cheapest homes – set to go on sale for just a POUND.

The Victorian terraced houses were originally bought for as much as £70,000 EACH – but are now being offered at the rock-bottom price to DIY enthusiasts.

Each buyer will have to prove they can bring the house up to scratch using “construction skills” before they can own the property.

Homes in the Granby Triangle area in Kensington, Liverpool were part of former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott’s plan to destroy thousands of homes across the country.

Under his regeneration Pathfinder scheme, around £2.2bn was blown on buying and demolishing homes – but not enough new homes were built for the displaced occupants.

Residents in the Granby area fought to save the properties and now the city council has agreed to sell them to locals who will be able to revamp them.

As part of the initial pilot scheme, 20 houses will be offered for sale to residents for £1.

Liverpool’s Deputy Mayor and Finance Chief Cllr Paul Brant said: “This allows people who may be excluded from mortgages but have construction skills to play a part in the regeneration of their communities.

“We’ve seen that the private sector model has not succeeded so far and, through this way of doing things, if there is any profit it will stay with local people.”

Jonathan Brown, spokesman for the Merseyside Civic Society, said: “We fought against Prescott’s scheme and it’s great to have won all these years later.

“Local people have been let down over and over again for decades.

“I hope this now rolls out to other areas of the city in desperate need of regeneration.”

(Read by Brian Salter. Brian Salter is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

双语资讯

(Source: The Sun)

英国最便宜房屋即将出售，仅卖1英镑。

维多利亚式排屋每间最初售价高达7万英镑，而现如今却要以跳楼价卖给DIY热衷者。

每位买主必须在购买前证明自己“有能力”翻修这些老房子，使之达到合格标准。

这些房屋位于利物浦的肯辛顿格兰比三角区，属于前副首相约翰•普雷斯科特提出的铲平全国数千座老房屋计划中的一部分。

根据他提出的“探路者”重建方案，政府将斥资约22亿英镑用于房屋购买与拆迁——但新购置的房屋数量不足以满足未予安置的住房者的需要。

格兰比地区的居民一直在争取保留自己的房产，如今市政议会已经同意将这些房屋卖给有翻修能力的当地购房者。

作为最初试点方案的一部分，有20座房屋将以1英镑的价格卖给当地居民。

利物浦市副市长、主管财政的议员保罗-布兰特表示，“这一举措可以使不具抵押贷款资格但拥有翻修能力的人在其社区房屋重建中发挥一定的作用”。

“我们已经看到，私营模式至今还未收获成效。不过采用现在这种方式，如果有利可图的话，受益者也将是当地居民”。

默西赛德郡公民协会发言人乔纳森•布朗表示，“我们一直反对普雷斯科特的计划，经历了这么多年的抗争能取得胜利也算是大快人心。”

“过去几十年，当地居民一次又一次地陷于失望之中。”

“我希望当前这种做法也能推广到本市其他一些亟需重建的地区。”

Vocabulary:

rock-bottom price: 最低价

up to scratch: 达到标准，合格