With the typical home in Brighton and Hove costing more than £217,000, a canny buyer might have their eyes on an unassuming building.

The former police box on the corner of Stanford Avenue and Ditchling Road in Brighton is to go under the hammer.

It could be the converted into the ideal home for a budget buyer, an artist's studio or a business satellite office.

The guide price for the 10m (33ft) by 13.7m (45ft) building is between £70,000 and £90,000 but if history was to repeat itself, investors could fork out twice as much.

The same police box was sold in 2004 for £92,000 and another in Margery Road, Hove, just off the Old Shoreham Road, was sold for £71,000.

They were advertised to go for between £30,000 and £50,000.

The businessman who bought the boxes intended to use them for storage, office facilities and possible future development.

Brighton office manager of Clive Emson auctioneers Sam Kinloch said: "The owner told me he didn't put in for planning permission to convert the building.

"There is a row of houses to the right and the question is whether or not the local authority wants the owner to keep it in the building line.

"If they would allow the owner to bring the front wall forward then it could be made into a nice residential unit.

"But I don't think as it stands right now it would be big enough for a home. It would need further extension."

The box was released by East Sussex County Council on the instructions of the Sussex Police Authority in 2004.

Police records show it was built about 55 years ago and used as a base for beat officers. It has running water, phone lines and electricity.

The average asking price for a home in Brighton and Hove jumped £27,000 last year. A typical home in the city costs more than £217,000.

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