It seemed as if tax savings announced in the Budget on March 15 were already being spent the next day at General Accident Property Services’ auction in West Malling, Kent, where guide prices were sent reeling.
More than £4m was raised on the 76 lots on offer, some 25% of them failing to sell.
“The demand for properties at auction did pick up very quickly after the October stock market crash,” said auctioneer Graham Turner.”
But today’s uplift in prices for the better type of property has been far greater than expected.”
One of the more dramatic prices was achieved on a 35,000-sq ft building plot on Warmlake Road, just north of Sutton Valence, Kent, with planning permission for a detached house and garage.
Guide price on the south-facing plot was £95,000, but it sold for £160,000.
A 7.5-acre site just outside Waltham Village, 8 miles from Canterbury, performed equally impressively. The fact that planning permission had been granted for the construction of a new dwelling to replace the existing bungalow helped push the price to £150,000, against a guide price of £100,000.
