Lennon's first home makes over €500k

John Lennon’s modest first home has sold for over half a million euro despite going on the market for just £150,000 (€175,139).

The property at 9 Newcastle Road in Wavertree, Liverpool, where the Beatles singer/songwriter lived from his birth in 1940, went for £480,000 (€560,447) at auction in the Cavern Club.

An anonymous American fan of the Fab Four placed the winning bid over the phone, exceeding by far the guide price set at between £150,000 (€175,139) and £250,000 (€291,907).

The then suburban red brick terraced home where Lennon’s mother Julia brought up her first-born son is just a stone’s throw away from Penny Lane, which inspired the famous Beatles track.

It boasts a lounge, upstairs family bathroom, a sitting room, family room and kitchen which leads to a walled yard round the back.

Lennon made reference to the house later in life, and was quote as saying: “I lived in 9 Newcastle Road. I was born on the 9 of October. It’s just a number that follows me around.”

The previous owner told the Liverpool Echo: “I’ll be sad to leave John Lennon’s first home but I am retired now and would really like a property with a bigger garden.

John Lennon's first Liverpool home sold for £480,000 at auction - about twice the guide price http://t.co/4uZOZJE7yr pic.twitter.com/eFlSmIyGXQ

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) October 29, 2013

“I have made sure original features have been preserved so that they reflect the 1960s period, when the Beatles wowed the whole world with their rock and roll music.”

Lennon’s second home – Mendips, on Menlove Avenue in Woolton – was last year given Grade II listed status by English Heritage.