Countrywide Property Auctions achieved a 71% success rate at its latest sale, raising £4.4m.
Out of 34 lots offered, 11 sold prior and 10 sold in the room. Director and head of London auctions Mark Tanton expected after sales to bring the success rate to 80%.
Highlights included a two-bedroom terraced house in Diss, Suffolk, which had a reduced guide price – from £75,000 to £49,000 – and sold for £88,000. A three-bedroom flat in Plaistow, E13, sold for £197,000 off a guide price of £175,000.
Only nine sales were held across the country in January, with some auction firms preferring a longer lead time after Christmas.
But Tanton said interested parties were showing up to viewings as soon as the business re-opened on 4 January.
“There is a great spike of activity that happens over the holiday period,” he said. “People have had enough of eating and drinking and many people start to browse online.”
He added: “It shows you can shed stock in January.”
The results are in line with those posted by Countrywide in the final quarter of 2015.
Tanton said the room was full, with 160-170 attendees, but that it was too early for the sale to have been affected by the upcoming stamp duty rise for buy-to-let properties.
However, he expected a “windfall of instructions” for the March sale, as the tax change will coincide with the end of the financial year and start of spring, when buyers are often looking for properties.
The sale took place on 27 January at Le Meridien Piccadilly, W1.
Countrywide is also planning a single-lot sale at the Cavern Club in Liverpool on 24 March, offering the childhood home of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr. The two-bedroom terrace has a guide price of £55,000 and is on the same street as the Empress pub, which featured on the cover of his first solo record, Sentimental Journey.
