Auction revenues dropped 31.5% year-on-year in March, as the coronavirus lockdown brought an abrupt end to the growth in activity evident at the beginning of the year.
Revenues fell from £279m to £191m year-on-year, according to the latest data from Essential Information Group. Lots offered were down 9.8% for commercial and 27.2% for residential.
The falls in the residential sector were exacerbated by some auctioneers – including Allsop – moving their March sale back a few days into April to give more time to switch to online sales. The commercial sector saw the second-largest auctioneer, Acuitus, cancel its sale in consultation with vendors.
Residential revenues dropped 31.8% to £144m and commercial was down 30.6% to £47m.
February had been a particularly positive month for auctions, probably due to greater certainty over Brexit and a strong government in office, with an uptick in lots offered and sold and only a 0.8% dip in revenues year-on-year. This has helped to offset the March falls in the quarterly figures.
At the beginning of March, most auctioneers were still planning room auctions. But by the end of the month virtually all were looking to the internet to conduct their sales with remote bidding only. EIG found itself working with 75 auction houses in one week alone to enable them to host their auctions online.
Managing director David Sandeman said: “Since we started reporting on auctions almost 30 years ago (11/5/1990) I have never known a period like it. The adaptation to new ways of working has been incredible to witness, and all of us at EIG are proud to have been a part of it.”
As expected, EIG’s March data shows significant drops across all metrics. Sandeman said this was “far less than what has been seen in the private treaty market, where exchanges are significantly down”.
“Going forward, the important point to note is that the industry has access to viable online alternatives to room sales. We are seeing similar sized catalogues coming through all the time, and there is a clear route forward to allow auctioneers to continue to conduct auctions in the current climate,” Sandeman said.
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