The sale of 17 UK Lloyds bank branches helped Acuitus to its highest single-day total last week.
The auction house raised £55.8m – a 90% success rate – at the 23 October sale, which took place at the Millennium Hotel, W1. The average selling price was £780,000.
The 17 branches, occupied by Lloyds and TSB and offered by administrator Zolfo Cooper, sold for a total of £4.4m – a 5% yield – to local and national investors.
Located throughout the South East and Midlands, the banks are let on leases expiring in 2021 with a break option in 2016. The portfolio has a combined rental income of £246,250 pa.
This week Lloyds announced it was to close as many as 200 of its high street branches.
The highest-priced lot sold at the auction was a 5,242 sq ft mixed-use investment in Highgate Village, N6, which sold for £3.8m, more than £1m above its guide price, and reflecting a 1.4% yield. It was bought by a local private investor.
The property, which comprises office, residential and warehouse space along with a children’s nursery, produces £54,000 pa.
Other lots included a 14,075 sq ft freehold supermarket and office investment on Ingatestone High Street in Essex, which sold to a local private investor for £2m, reflecting a 6.3% yield.
Auctioneer Richard Auterac said: “This sale found buyers for properties throughout the country. It was the most vibrant auction we have ever had.”
The sixth and final Acuitus auction of the year will take place on 11 December at the Millennium Hotel, W1.
