Up to 800 people packed out Ward & Partners’ sale at the Ramada Hotel in Maidstone last week, buying 90% of the lots and spending more than £6.8m in the process.
Auctioneer Kevin Gilbert admitted that he had some apprehension before the sale after what he described as “a slump in the percentage of lots sold” by other auction houses.
“I was wondering, ‘Are we going too?’ but when we got to the room, it was ‘Wow’,” he said. “At the moment, people are still very active and very keen, particularly in Kent, although I’m sure other Home Counties are the same.”
Although he suggested that higher-value lots were going to be much harder to sell, Gilbert was pleased to have a lot guided at £1m under offer after it failed to sell under the hammer. The lot in question, Alderwood Equestrian Centre in Abridge, Essex, is a stable/barn complex in three acres with planning consent for conversion and extension into five residential units.
Commercial investment lots also performed well, including a shop in Windmill Street, Gravesend, producing £8,000 pa from a local covenant. It had been close to exchange prior to auction but by going to auction achieved more than £20,000 extra when it sold for £115,000. “That’s 6.9% for a local covenant, which we thought was pretty good,” said Gilbert.
The property next door – let to a local estate agency at £12,750 pa – was guided at £130,000 to £150,000 but was knocked down for £208,000, a yield of 6.13%.
