Healey & Baker’s assertions that the industrial market is on the up and up came good when the firm offered a 34-lot catalogue at the London Mart last week, 15 properties being from the industrial sector. Ten of these sold for a total of £2.8m.
Moreover, yields on some of the industrial lots to sell were down to single figures. In Bristol, units one and two, Avonmouth Industrial Estate, Avonmouth Way, sold for £601,000. They are let at £58,950 pa, giving a 9.8% yield. Vacant industrials also found buyers, with a vacant 22,285-sq ft factor in Lester Road, Little Hulton, Manchester, being knocked down at £175,000.
Among the most talked-about lots was the Cuban Embassy at 167 High Holborn and 17 Grape Street, London WC1. The 8,870-sq ft property is held on a long lease from the Prudential Assurance Co, underlet to Prudential Nominees and in turn sub-underlet to the Republic of Cuba. It produces £3,175 pa for the purchaser, after deduction of ground rent.
Other lots included the Griffin, The Broadway, Old Amersham, Buckinghamshire, shown here, being a bar, restaurant, two shops, offices and a flat which went for £485,000. Belgrave Road, Wade Lane, Leeds, a 16,350-sq ft office building let to Leeds City Council at £64,350 pa was knocked down at £805,000.
Commenting on the day, auctioneer Richard Pryce said: “The volume of good-quality properties that we are dealing with at the moment indicates the strength of the auction market. It is very rare that we have two auctions in one month, but to have the auctions with over 60 quality properties to sell is unheard of.
“Healey & Baker realise that auctions are now more than ever a very serious big business method of buying and selling property.”
Total realisation under the hammer at the sale was £8.429m.
