RESIDENTS are battling for the chance to own a beach hut at the wallet-busting price of £100,000.

The brick hut, located between Branksome Chine and Sandbanks beaches, is set to become the most expensive ever sold and already has dozens of people trying to outbid each other.

The six-figure sum buys you 14ft by 7.5ft of hut, with UPVC double glazed doors and fitted cupboards for the same price as a decent one-bedroom flat near Bourne-mouth town centre.

Danny Fudge-Harman, managing partner at Mitchells Estate Agents in Canford Cliffs, has already taken 75 enquiries about the hut since it came on sale last week.

He said: "There's been a lot of interest. The fact that it's freehold and brick-built makes it a popular buy. It's just a little bit different and that always attracts high offers."

Another hut in Branksome Chine last week sold for just shy of £70,000 through agents Goadsby.

But Mitchells have already had offers in excess of £85,000 and expect the price to keep rising.

"They don't come on the market very often, as you can tell by the response. We've had four times more calls about this than any other property."

The sale is another example of the ballooning cost of property on the exclusive Sandbanks peninsula.

A stand-alone garage in Sandbanks recently sold well in excess of its £50,000 asking price, while a six-bedroom house in the area is currently on the market at £11 million.