The residential auction sector has certainly gone from strength to strength recently. Ignoring the anomaly of February 2016, when there was an unprecedented spike in transactions due to the impending stamp duty changes, the residential lots offered is the highest volume ever recorded in February; easily surpassing the previous record of 3.330 residential lots offered in February 2017.
The residential lots offered increased to 3,437 lots, and in the rolling quarter – up from 6,627 lots to 6,982 lots. A similar pattern is evident in the residential sale volumes – up 7% in February 5% in the last 3 months and by almost 3% in the past year. Apart from a very slight fall in the monthly sale rate; down half a percent to 76.2%, there were gains made in every other measurable parameter.
In the commercial sector, whilst all 12 metrics are down on their corresponding periods last year it should be noted that historically the London commercial auctioneers account for approximately 45% of all commercial lots sold and 75% of all commercial amount raised. Our records show that their results in February were down only 9% in lots sold and by just 4% in amount raised, indicating that the figures below are reflective of the drop in commercial stock being offered by residential auctioneers.
Auction House London raised £18.5m from 64 lots sold at its own February auction (a 70% success rate), showing there is still healthy demand for residential opportunities in the capital despite the overall market slowdown. A three-bedroom maisonette in Balham SW12 sold for £608,000 against a guide price of £475,000-plus. A four-bedroom house in Southgate N14 sold for £880,000 against a guide price of £750,000-plus. Small development sites were popular too – a 0.6-acre site in Tulse Hill SW2 with planning permission for 2 two-bedroom flats sold for £370,000.
On 7th March, the Dublin-based auctioneer Bid X1 held its first fully online UK auction. By the end of the day, Bid X1 had sold 37 of the 65 mainly residential and rural lots (a 57% success rate on the day). All lots were offered on an unconditional basis only and the total raised was £4.1m. A former pub in Langley Mill, Derbyshire attracted a lot of interest and sold for £126,000 against a guide of £80,000, attracting 46 online bids.
Bid X1 bought UK auctioneer Andrews & Robertson in January and managing director Stephen McCarthy hopes though to add one or two more traditional auctioneers to his business. “We are following a dual path to growth: by changing people’s perception of auctions through the online process and by buying traditional auctioneers. We don’t believe in-room auctions are finished, so we want to run an omni-channel business. The goal is to be all online – but only if that works for the vendor and purchaser.”
