Barnard Marcus has posted a 23% year-to-date increase in capital values despite a dip in sales at its 12 April auction.
At the sale, the firm’s third of 2016, 72% of the 176 lots offered sold, raising £20.3m.
That was its lowest success rate since December 2014. Sales were also down on Barnard Marcus’s five previous auctions.
But overall in 2016 instructions and lots sold have increased. Lots on offer rose by 18% to 591, while those sold reached 450, a 14% increase. The capital value of sales rose by 23% to £84m.
Divisional managing director Chris Glenn said his firm “did detect a degree of caution from some buyers”, about the 1 April change in stamp duty rates, but added that “quality, well-located lots were being snapped up through competitive bidding”.
“Buyers recognise that any additional costs they now face with their purchase will quickly be dissolved by continuing house price rises driven by demand,” he said.
An unmodernised nine-room house in Tooting, SW17, sold by the London Borough of Wandsworth sold for £1.4m off a guide of £1.2m.
A block of nine garages in New Malden, Surrey, guided at £130,000, sold for £387,500 on behalf of the Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames. The same council sold three garages in Kingston for £127,000 – nearly £100,000 over the £30,000 guide price.
The sale took place at the Grand Connaught Rooms, WC2.
