Despite coronavirus fears keeping some potential purchasers away, Savills has said it expects to see big-budget London-based owner-occupiers and portfolio investors coming back into the market and competing for bigger lot sizes at its March auction.
“In February, we recorded our best result in years and, with confidence returning, there are signs that the market could be entering a new cycle,” said Chris Coleman-Smith, Savills director and auctioneer.
“What has been clear from our recent sales is that certain buyer types are back and as keen as ever to trade. Portfolio investors and London-based owner-occupiers with significant budgets we just hadn’t seen as much of in the last 12 months or so, but it does seem that they are springing into action again.”
He added: “If our December and February sales are anything to go by, we would expect competitive bidding for the £1m-plus properties. The buyers are there, and so too is the stock as sellers who had been reluctant to come to market last year now feel that this is a good window to sell.”
Residential development sites in London have traditionally attracted strong prices at auction, with housebuilders and small developers attempting to cash in on the capital’s housing boom. However, last year transaction levels fell as political uncertainty surrounding Brexit dampened buyers’ appetites.
A Victorian former coffee tavern in south-east London with planning consent to be converted into luxury flats is the lot with the highest guide price in the catalogue for Savills’ 26 March auction.
Safa House in New Cross, SE14 (pictured), a freehold light industrial unit with planning consent to be converted into 14 flats and a ground floor shop, will go under the hammer with a guide price of £2.5m.
The property, which is believed to have been one of a string of alcohol-free public houses established by the temperance movement across the country in the 19th century, is one of 114 lots catalogued by Savills for its March sale and one of 10 guided at more than £1m.
The lot with the second-highest guide price in the Savills catalogue comprises a corner plot of four terraced buildings in Streatham, SW16, with potential to be reconfigured and extended as more housing. It is guided at £2.2m.
The Savills auction will take place on 26 March at the London Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square, W1.
