The sinkhole, which appeared in Charlton at around 3.20am this morning, was put on the market within an hour and had dozens of viewings before an offer was made.

Foxtons, the estate agent representing the sinkhole, described it as a “compact characterful subterranean one bedroom property with sort-of parking in a highly desirable area of south London.”

“When my wife showed my the listing I wasn’t sure if I could ever live in a dirty great hole in the ground,” said the buyer who eagerly queued up at 5am this morning for a viewing.

“But it’s close to a train station and a nice deli, so it didn’t take too much convincing for me to want to part with nearly a million pounds so I could live in a large, muddy, geologically unstable hole in the ground.”

“Plus, it will probably collapse and bury us both alive before the mortgage payments get too much.”