It was a quiet March for UK auctioneers, with the number of sales tumbling and the overall amount raised from auctions shrinking by one-third, according to the latest figures from Essential Information Group.
Just 79 auctions were held across the UK last month, some 37 fewer than the 116 auctions held in March 2018.
Lots offered and lots sold also fell, down by 28% on 2018. The average success rate remained largely flat at 73.2%.
Totals raised in March were £279.3m, a 33% decline on the £416.5m raised in March 2019. For the 12-month period to March 2019, totals are currently running around 14% down on the previous 12-month period at £3.9bn.
The number of residential lots offered and sold dropped by 22% in March, with residential auction receipts down by almost £90m to £210.9m.
The commercial market fared worse still, with fewer than half the number of lots offered and sold in March when compared with last year. Commercial receipts dropped by more than 41% to £68.3m.
EIG’s David Sandeman said: “There were several major auctioneers that choose to hold their spring auctions in April this year compared with March last year and while this doesn’t fully account for the large falls, it’s certainly an attributing factor.”
He added: “As another Brexit delay looms over us all, it is likely that the entire property market, through no fault of its own, will remain under pressure for some time to come.”
In the regions, only Wales recorded an increase in totals raised, and by just 0.2% to £26.9m. In London, the number of lots offered dropped by 19.6% to 520, while success rates rose by one percentage point to 74%. Totals raised fell by 18.1% to £188.4m.
The poorest-performing region was Northern Ireland, where lots offered and sold were down by 55.9% and 59.5% respectively, with totals raised tumbling by 73.3% to just £3.6m.
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