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.