Acuitus raised almost £31.4m from its September auction – its highest since the Covid-19 pandemic, with an 85% success rate.
Five trade counter investments let to Travis Perkins sold for prices ranging from £1.22m-£1.95m, with yields of between 5.6%-6.8%.
Acuitus director Charlie Powter said: “Investments like these are very popular with investors. In this instance, all the lots benefited from a strong covenant which has a consumer-resilient business, good unexpired lease terms and low site coverage.”
Elsewhere, a motor trade investment, operating as a Kwik Fit, in Nottingham city centre sold for £955,000 at a yield of 4.9%.
The growing popularity of leisure assets was demonstrated in the sale of an Odeon cinema in Hastings for £2.25m, while five public houses let to Stonegate sold prior to the auction in excess of their guide prices.
Investment direction Jon Skerry said: “Both the cinema and the pub investments are let on leases with RPI-linked rent reviews and these are very attractive to investors looking for progressive rental streams. This type of property also tends to occupy large city centre sites with potential for alternative use.”
The focus on sustainable income was further shown by the sale of a geared ground rent investment of an east London industrial property. The freehold interest in units 1 to 4 Shaftesbury Court in Leyton sold for £412,000, a yield of 3.6%. The property is let with five-yearly rent reviews geared to 15% of rack rental value.
The sale featured a range of retail assets. There was strong demand for three lots in Cheltenham. A retail/residential asset on Ormond Place sold for £1.5m while two adjacent assets on Cheltenham High Street achieved sale prices of £830,000 and £772,000.
The continued repositioning of the shopping centre sector was illustrated by the sale of the 215,000 sq ft Kingsway Shopping Centre in Newport. The centre, which is a complex leasehold asset, occupies a substantial site and sold for £615,000.
Acuitus chairman, Richard Auterac said: “This was an extremely strong result for high-quality institutional-grade assets, the calibre of which the auction market hasn’t seen for a number of years.
“There is clearly a substantial amount of latent demand in our market and an increasing group of committed sellers. The challenge remains in ensuring that pricing is precisely calibrated to meet the expectations of both parties and the success of this auction showed our ability to do this.”
Acuitus’ next live-streamed auction will be held on 2 November.
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