Homes in the most popular parts of town, near the best schools and shops, always command a premium. As a result, often all but the wealthiest buyers are priced out of these neighbourhoods.

But if you can see beauty within the beast of modern housing, you could tap into the area you want and make money at the same time.

Follow Andrew Feinstein and Simone Sultana’s lead. Feinstein, a former African National Congress MP in South Africa, and his young family moved to London in 2001. The couple, who met at Cambridge and moved to Feinstein’s homeland in 1991, fell in love with Primrose Hill and its great shops, parks, restaurants and schools.

“We were looking for a house, a freehold place, not an apartment or leasehold. And I’ve always liked mews houses,” says Feinstein. But in Primrose Hill, a period mews home with three bedrooms, outside space and parking costs from £650,000 upwards — out of reach for the couple, whose budget was £500,000. When they broadened their search, however, they discovered that homes built in the 1960s and 1970s were much more affordable.

Adele Basma, the assistant manager at Goldschmidt & Howland estate agency, says period homes command significantly more in price than a comparable modern home. “In Primrose Hill, you’re looking at about £750 per square foot for a period home, £650 per sq ft for a refurbished 1960s property and half that for newer blocks or unrestored modern properties,” she says.

Feinstein, who now works in the City, and Sultana, an economist, eventually found a 1970s mews house, but it took real vision to see its possibilities. Dark and shabby, the downstairs consisted of a pokey kitchen, a gloomy living room and a dank courtyard garden. Upstairs was the master bedroom, two single bedrooms and a bathroom. An overlarge staircase took up a large slice of the living space.

“The main bedroom was big and light but the rest of the house was dark; even on a sunny day we had to have the lights on,” says Sultana. But the home is in the catchment area for one of north London’s best junior schools and only a short distance from Sultana’s mother’s house.

After some deliberation, the couple bought the property for £499,999. Over the next 18 months, they saved more cash for renovations, bringing in architect Monique van den Hurk to oversee the work. Her solution, at a cost of £115,000, turned the 1,100sq ft house on its head. Today, there are two bedrooms and an open-plan family room downstairs, all with huge windows onto the courtyard, and a second lavatory and family bathroom.

But it’s upstairs that the new design comes into its own: a large, open-plan space serves as living room, kitchen and dining area, with sliding doors that lead to a roof terrace. The effect is spacious and airy. Sultana can watch Maya, 2, and son, Misha, 6, while she cooks, “and we can roll the table onto the terrace for entertaining. We’re always outside on the terrace”.

Instead of radiators, which take up valuable wall space, the couple have installed underfloor heating. The boiler, washing machine and dryer are hidden beneath the stairs.

The remodelling and renovation work included a small extension, which now houses the master bedroom and the roof terrace. But the biggest slice of the budget was spent on structural items: subtle steel stairs and huge sliding windows, whose tiny frames and high-quality glass keep the house light and economical to heat.

“Moving from a four-bedroom, 19th-century house in Cape Town to a 1970s mews house here might have been depressing. But it’s so different, so modern and light that it hasn’t been difficult at all,” says Feinstein.

The move has paid off financially, too. By Basma’s calculation, the house is now worth about £715,000. “The minute the renovation was finished, we’d made our money back, plus about 15%,” says Sultana.

Monique van den Hurk, 07960 994 601

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