Property auctioneers are expecting a market revival in 2020 as greater political certainty ends the market paralysis seen in 2019.
Three major auction houses which held their December sales after Boris Johnson’s landslide election victory all saw an increase in their success rates compared with the previous year.
Allsop Residential, which held its final sale of the year on 17 December, five days after the General Election, reported that its success rate was 83% – selling 165 of the 199 lots offered – compared with 81% a year earlier (when it sold 194 of 241 lots offered).
Savills, which held its London and National sale on 16 December, said that it had sold 80% of the 86 lots it was offering, compared with 70% of the 142 lots it offered in its 26 November 2018 sale.
And Barnard Marcus, which also held its final sale of the year on 16 December, reported that its success rate increased to 71% of the 238 lots it offered, compared with a success rate of 65% for the 151 lots offered the previous year.
“This sale was on a completely different scale to any other that we have experienced for a while,” said Allsop auctioneer Gary Murphy. “For most of this year, we have really had to work the bidding in the room. Sales percentages and totals have been respectable but it has been challenging. The wind has changed. 2020 looks very promising now.”
“The room was at capacity from the first sale of the day, and there was a sense that people were committed to trade,” added Chris Coleman-Smith, head of Savills auctions. “Certainly, what we have seen over the past few months is that some buyers have seen opportunity in the uncertainty while others have held back, but what was clear from today was that there were buyers who simply wanted to get back to business and transact.”
With no major auction houses now due to hold sales until February, and with volumes for most auction houses still at historic lows, the market will have to wait well into the new year to see whether official data backs up these findings.
Last week, property auctions data specialist Essential Information Group published a gloomy set of figures for the UK auctions market in November 2019.
But nonetheless, EIG founder David Sandeman said he was expecting that auctions volumes would rise this year as the UK finally leaves the EU in January.
“There is no doubt that the entire property industry has been adversely affected by Brexit over the past 12-18 months, so one hopes that the outcome of [December’s] election will bring an end to the uncertainty and reinvigorate the market in 2020 and beyond,” he said.
According to EIG data, both the total number of auction lots offered and the total number of lots sold were down by around a quarter in November 2019 compared with the same period a year earlier, while the amount raised totalled £116.5m – 28% lower than in November 2018.
