A busy September for the auction market has pushed the total raised in the third quarter to its highest level since 2007.
The latest figures from auction data company Essential Information Group show that £1.11bn was raised from residential and commercial auctions during the three months to end September, nudging close to the Q3 2007 total of £1.37bn.
The latest quarterly figure is up 15% year on year.
“Given the challenging times the industry has faced for the past 20 months, it is good to see the highest third quarter amount raised since 2007,” said David Sandeman, EIG managing director.
Sandeman said an “exceptionally busy” September for the commercial auction market had played a key part in bolstering the quarterly figures.
In a clear indicator of private investor appetite for commercial property and the sheer weight of cash looking for a home, the total raised during the month climbed more than 40% year on year, from £107.8m in September 2020 to just over £154m.
It was the larger lot sizes which really drove the growth, rather than volume. Indeed, the number of lots sold nudged up by only 1.5% to 340.
The commercial market performance was heavily reliant on Allsop’s bumper commercial sale in September, which raised £94.6m from 113 investments sold (£62.5m in 2020). Thirty-four lots sold at £1m or more, at an average of £1.67m, helping Allsop to its biggest total raised since pre-Brexit in October 2018.
Acuitus accounted for the next biggest slice of the commercial market, raising £24m in September (£29.2m in 2020).
The success rate across commercial auctions in September remained constant year on year, at 76%.
The sharp rise in receipts from commercial sales was largely responsible for driving up the total raised across the residential and commercial markets during the month by 15% year on year, to £539.5m from 77 sales held in the UK.
This was up even more dramatically (by 60%) on the pre-pandemic September total of £338m. However, it should be noted that Allsop and Acuitus held their first commercal sales of the autumn in October 2019, rather than in the September.
EIG’s Sandeman said the latest September data showed growth in 25 of the metrics it covers, and a decrease in only 11. While the number of lots offered and sold was down 3%, the overall success rate rose very slightly to 78%.
Quarterly figures for stock by region show increased sales across the country for July to September, with the exception of London and the East Midlands.
The strongest growth was in Wales, the West Midlands, the South West, Yorkshire and the Humber. In Wales, the total raised over the quarter was up almost 50% to £50m, with almost £20m of this coming from commercial sales (up 77% on 2020). In the West Midlands, the total raised was up 45% to £111.2m. Again, commercial sales showed strong growth with £28.1m raised. This was an increase of more than 160%.
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