‘Beautiful’ Scottish Island put up for auction with bids starting at $ 111,000

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(CNN) – With people now spending more time indoors than ever due to lockdown rectifications, many have reassessed their life choices and want to move to more spacious accommodation.

And city dwellers looking to flee to the countryside may be in luck.

An auction house is selling a very rugged Scottish island for an opening bid of £ 80,000 ($ 111,700), an amount that wouldn’t even buy a small apartment in London.

Deer Island, in the Scottish Highlands, has 11 acres of land and is “nestled” in a “beautiful and peaceful” lake on Scotland’s “dramatic” west coast, according to auctioneer Future Property in the sales list.

The uninhabited island, on Loch Moidart, is a space that can be enjoyed “with no chance of intrusion” due to its remote location, Future Property said.

It’s being sold after having been in the same family for 500 years, property manager Stephen McCluskey told CNN on Thursday.

The future owner will be a distant neighbor of the family of British businessman Richard Branson, whose sister Vanessa Branson owns Eilean Shona – the island closest to Deer Island, McCluskey said.

“They use that like a business Eilean Shona is bigger, considerably bigger, but they have chalets and a retreat there where some of the celebrities are going to stay, ”added McCluskey.

Closer neighbors include red squirrels, seals and the occasional dolphin.

Also nearby is the striking Tioram Castle, built in the 13th century and now in ruins.

Deer Island is close to Castle Tioram, pictured, which dates back to the 13th century.

Deer Island is close to Castle Tioram, pictured, which dates back to the 13th century.

Future real estate auctions

“It’s rocks and trees right now – there’s nothing on it – and there never was anything [built] on it, or some other application to have something on it, ”said McCluskey of Deer Island.

“There is nothing at all. It has been completely uninhabited for 500 years.”

The online auction will take place on March 26, but McCluskey has already registered interest, including from someone who wants to park his yacht somewhere and from another person who wants to use it as a base for kayaking, he said.

The buyer must seek relevant building permits to build anything on the island, McCluskey added.

He expects the land to be sold for between £ 150,000 and £ 200,000 ($ 209,000 – $ 279.00).

“With something like that, you get all different types of buyers – you get foreign investors, wealthy landowners, and you get the romantics who fall in love with the idea of ​​owning a Scottish island,” he said.

Real estate agents and travel industry experts told CNN last year that since the start of the pandemic they had seen an increase in potential buyers and renters looking to escape to an exclusive island.
Islands put up for sale in the past year include Little Ragged Island in the Bahamas, which has 730 acres of rolling wooded hills and pristine white beaches, listed at a minimum price of $ 19.5 million.

In July, an unnamed European buyer bought a 157-acre island southwest of mainland Ireland for $ 6 million. Horse Island, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, was sold after the negotiations were largely done via WhatsApp.

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