These acclaimed renovated homes will sell with the requirement that they only change hands below market value Last year, the much-buzzed-about British design collective Assemble became the first architecture practice to win the Turner Prize?a prestigious U.K. award for artists?with their ongoing renovations of formerly abandoned homes at Granby Four Streets in Liverpool. To date, eight of the once-derelict buildings on Cairns Street have been transformed into sustainable and modern living spaces with the help of community members.

Three of those homes are about to hit the market for £92,000 (about $116,000) with the stipulation that the buildings will forever be affordable to locals. A clause in the contract requires that each structure can only be resold at a price below market value and affordable for a median-wage worker in the city. Prospective buyers must also have an existing connection to the neighborhood. These requirements are a natural outgrowth of the values of both the Granby Four Streets community and Assemble, which aim to revitalize the neighborhood without driving away current residents. The rehabilitation of deserted-but-architecturally-significant buildings is often a wellspring of gentrification, but more and more urban planners and architects are trying to find ways to have their revitalized cake and eat it too.
?Once you take a house out of being primarily an asset, it makes a very different attitude to who buys it and why they w...