A mixed-use estate in Pitsea in Essex sold for half a million pounds above its guide price, helping Allsop’s commercial auctions team to an 83% success rate at its December sale.
Allsop, the UK’s largest commercial auction house, raised a total of £43m at its final commercial auction of the year, selling 70 of the 84 lots offered.
The largest lot sold was an unbroken parade of 13 shops, offices and four flats in Pitsea with an annual income of £415,717 (pictured). It sold for £4.56m, off a guide price of £4m. It was one of 12 lots which sold for more than £1m.
“To get a success rate of more than 80%, we really felt we had nailed the pricing,” said George Walker, head of commercial auctions at Allsop. “We have been attracting buyers in droves, and that showed through in some pretty punchy numbers.”
Nonetheless, the amount raised was the lowest for Allsop Commercial since February 2015, due to the fact that the number of lots offered was the lowest for nearly five years.
“Volumes on the commercial side are still clearly a problem,” Walker said. “This auction showed that there is plenty of demand from buyers. Now we just need sellers to start coming back into the market. With greater political certainty in the months ahead, we’re expecting a strong start to 2020.”
The result helped Allsop’s commercial team to raise a total of £426m in 2019, down 17% on the £515m it raised in 2018.
Allsop’s next commercial auction will take place on 11 February 2020.
