PROPERTY investors have made thousands of pounds in profit within hours from a development designed to ease Bournemouth's affordable housing shortage.

One planner said he is "utterly sick" after speculators made up to £17,000 by re-selling the homes on the same day they bought them.

The Point 500 development opposite Castlepoint in Castle Lane West was completed in March this year in a bid to provide much-needed accommodation for key workers.

But while 18 of the 59 flats were sold for a below market £89,950 and can only be occupied by key workers or first-time buyers, the remaining 41 have been sold for up to £37,000 more.

And investigations by the Daily Echo revealed that two of the most expensive flats were sold twice in the same day, as they were snapped up off-plan by investors and then re-sold to first-time buyers for thousands of pounds more.

Two flats at the purpose-built development have recently been sold for £125,000, one has gone for £127,000 and two for just under £120,000.

The flat that was sold for £127,000 - the largest flat in the block - was originally bought by an investor for £112,500 and then sold for an extra £14,500 in the same day.

This was also the case with one of the £122,000 flats, which was bought by an investor for £104,950 and sold on the same day for a profit of £17,050.

Other flats have been bought for buy-to-let, being rented for up to £550 a month.

Ralph Williams, senior business development manager at Signpost Homes Ltd, said they made every effort to avoid this happening.

"We had a lot of interest from investors and tried to avoid them but unfortunately one or two slipped through the net," he admitted.

"It's frustrating because it was not our intention to allow investors to grab a quick profit. We wanted to help key workers and first-time buyers get a foot on the ladder.

"But we have learnt from it; we have talked to lawyers and with future developments we will find some clause to prevent this happening."

Independent councillor and vice-chair of the planning board Ron Whittaker said the revelation made him feel "totally and utterly sick".

"It makes a total mockery of us being forced to build small flats in high density developments," he said.

"To think speculators have come in and made £15,000 profit in one day when there are thousands of young people desperate to get a foot on the property ladder."

Mr Williams said that all of the 18 affordable studio flats and many of the others were occupied by key workers or first-time buyers.