Crowds inundated some of the UK’s biggest property auctions last week as auctioneers reported a “Boris bounce” in buyer demand.
Savills, Acuitus and Allsop Residential all reported packed auction rooms at their first major sales of 2020, prompted by the Conservatives’ landslide win in December’s General Election.
Allsop said it was forced to delay the start of its first residential auction of the year on 13 February to allow the hundreds of bidders queuing outside the InterContinental London Park Lane time to clear the venue’s security and gain access to the hall. As the sale opened, partitions had to be removed and the room extended to accommodate the increasing numbers.
“This was the liveliest sale that we’ve seen for years,” said Allsop auctioneer Gary Murphy. “Bidders now have the confidence to put up a real fight. Prices were strong, particularly where reserves and guides were set at attractive levels. Our results clearly indicate that the coming months will be a great time to sell. We expect a very full catalogue in March.”
Nonetheless, although Allsop Residential sold 159 of the 206 lots offered, equating to a success rate of 77%, total sales stood at £45.1m, 19.6% lower than the previous year when the firm raised £56.1m, selling 209 of the 272 lots offered.
Savills too reported a packed ballroom at its London and National sale on 12 February. “It feels like we’ve returned to a market that we just haven’t seen for some time, with results that took us back to levels we were seeing several years ago,” said Chris Coleman-Smith, head of Savills auctions.
“The room barely cleared out, and by the afternoon we still had a large number of bidders sitting and on the phone waiting for their lots to come up,” he added. “What that shows is the strength of the market, and it also suggests there’s an appetite for all types of asset classes and locations; plus we’re dealing with a range of buyer groups again, rather than the few.”
The firm raised £41m at its 12 February sale – a 24.8% improvement on the same sale a year earlier and the highest amount the auctioneer has achieved since March 2018. It sold 128 of the 152 lots offered, equating to a success rate of 84% – the best success rate for the firm since February 2016.
On the same day, commercial auctions specialist Acuitus raised £20.48m at its sale (pictured), selling 39 of the 48 lots offered, equating to a success rate of 82%. At the same auction last year, Acuitus raised £20.9m, selling 28 of the 40 lots offered, equating to a success rate of 70%.
“We went to the auction without knowing whether the increasing confidence in the residential market that has been reported in the press would manifest itself in the commercial property investment market,” said Acuitus auctioneer Richard Auterac.
“The answer was a resounding ‘yes’, with the room displaying a positivity that we’ve not seen for quite a while. High street investors are still selective, but this auction demonstrated that they have confidence where the trading prospects are sound and there is a good story from the retailer’s perspective.”
