Allsop is using a new private treaty-auction hybrid approach to market a development of five homes in Acton, W3.
The homes are listed with a guide price of £1.6m-plus in the catalogue for its 20 July auction at the Cumberland Hotel, W1, but are also being marketed in a lengthier private treaty campaign launched around two months before the auction. The properties will go under the hammer unless contracts are exchanged prior to auction.
The approach was used successfully for five new-builds sold for Notting Hill Home Ownership prior to its March and May auctions.
“We have found it to be an effective way of raising awareness and interest in new homes for developers, because the auction provides finality,” said partner and auctioneer Gary Murphy.
The new approach was an unexpected result of discussions with housebuilders about Allsop’s plans to develop global online-only auctions for new- build homes.
“It wasn’t necessarily what we were aiming for, but that got us in front of housebuilders,” said Murphy. Overseas bidders can still bid in real time despite the sale taking place in the room, he added.
“We have an auction database of 220,000 subscribers who have opted in to receive our catalogues. That’s world-wide. We are also building a new homes purchaser database. Combining that with the finality of an auction date and the weight of our auction teams is a formidable method for new homes,” Murphy said. “For medium-sized housebuilders, this is a cost-effective way of getting enormous reach.”
Allsop’s July catalogue features more than 330 lots, its highest number this year. The highest guide price is £9m, for three office buildings in Newbury on the M4 corridor with permitted development rights to provide 129 flats.
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