The value of a house in Bristol, England may have skyrocketed from a few hundred thousand pounds to a few million overnight due to a Banksy mural that suddenly appeared on the wall.
The artwork, which the anonymous street artist later posted to Instagram with the caption "Aachoo!!", shows an old lady with a headscarf bending over and sneezing - all while her dentures fly out of her mouth.
An art expert has estimated that the new stencil mural, which appeared on the side of the house on December 10, could have boosted the value of the home from around £300,000 to as much as £5 million.
Joe Syer, the founder of MyArtBroker, said, per the Daily Mail: "Street art pieces are not sold with authentication by Pest Control - Banksy's authentication body, however with the right provenance in place we'd estimate this to be worth in the region of 3 to 5 million pounds."
The house with the new mural is at the bottom of Vale Street, Totterdown, which is reportedly the steepest street in England. As such, it gives the impression that the sneeze has blown the houses over.
However, despite reports that the owner of the home had pulled out of the sale as a result of the Banksy artwork, the sale of the property will still be going ahead.
Nick Makin told BBC Bristol it was not true that his mother, Aileen Makin, had taken the house off the market, saying: "When you wake up to tabloids saying your house is now worth £5m you’ve got to think about what you’re doing.
He added: "It does increase the value, and you have to take a moment to think about it, but it’s not changing anything in terms of the house sale for us."
Makin clarified that the process had been put "on hold" for 48 hours after the appearance of the mural and that buyers and estate agents were "completely understanding".
He also revealed there had been "lots of nasty comments" made online after publications reported they were pulling out of the sale.
"Not only has it not earned us £5m, as the papers said, it’s actually cost us money to protect it," he said. "We think it should be protected and stay where it is."
The family have since installed an alarm system and placed a clear cover to protect the artwork.
