AN investment in the city of Newport is firm evidence that there is lots of interest in property in the city of Newport.

A former police station in the Pill area of the city, now converted to luxury apartments, which was once the base for a fetish club, was sold by Newport-based Paul Fosh Auctions.

The substantial property in the former docks area, which has been converted to 10 flats, was listed with a guide price of £340,000 and sold for £438,000. The lot attracted a total of 83 bids from 10 interested parties.

The property's interesting 'risqué' former use, after its former life as a police station, doesn't appear to have put off potential investors to go equipped to finish the job at auction.

Sean Roper, of Paul Fosh Auctions, said: "This sale and the figure achieved is a great result. It is firm evidence that there is strong and growing interest in quality, well-priced property in the city of Newport.

"The property is an ideal investment as a number of the apartments have well-established tenants.

"The former police station building has had an excellent upgrade and is well maintained and managed. It is situated to the southern end of Alexandra Road and close to the A48 Southern Distributor road offering easy access to the M4 east and west."

The property, has four, one-bedroom apartments, one two-bedroom apartment and five studio units. There is car parking and a communal yard.

Fully let the property could return monthly income of £4,895, equating to £58,740 a year, according to the Paul Fosh team.

It was part of the business' recent sale which had 368 registered bidders from 76 countries, recorded 2,929 bids on the 101 properties listed for sale of which 77 per cent were sold for an auction total £5.7m .