Two London auction houses achieved healthy success rates in sales held this week despite uncertainty created by the General Election.
Andrews & Robertson raised £10.5m with a success rate of 74% from its sale on 6 June. Of 118 lots offered, 87 were sold, with 78 in the room and eight prior to auction.
On the same day, Harman Healy achieved a success rate of 85%, raising £2.2m from 19 lots, with 16 sold, 11 in the room and four prior.
Chairman and senior auctioneer at Andrews & Robertson, Robin Cripp, said: “In an ideal world we would not have held an auction two days before a General Election. The property market, like most markets, does not like uncertainty, and with the latest polls showing that the gap between Labour and the Conservatives has narrowed, with Labour just one point behind the Tories, this is a week of great uncertainty.
“However, we deal with the cards we have been given, and as always there were plenty of savvy investors in the room to snap up the lots with development potential. Interest is already high on those lots which were unsold in the room, and we expect more buyers to come forward at the end of the week once the election has passed.”
A former vicarage on a corner site with planning permission for seven houses in Pollards Hill, SW16, proved popular and sold for more than £2m at the Andrews & Robertson sale. A semi-detached property in East Dulwich, SE22, divided into two maisonettes, was bought for £1m.
At the Harman Healy sale, an unmodernised semi-detached house in Carshalton, Surrey, sold for £336,000.
The Andrews & Robertson sale was held at the Montcalm Hotel, W1, and the Harman Healy auction at Chelsea Old Town Hall, SW3.
