There were double-digit drops in both lots offered and totals raised across the UK’s auction houses last month, according to the latest figures from Essential Information Group.
During February there were some 3,394 lots offered and 2,569 lots sold across the UK, both down by 17% on February 2018. The total raised from
sales in February 2019 was £492m, a 13% drop on the same period last year.
There were a total of 115 sales held last month with an average success rate of 75.7%.
EIG’s David Sandeman said: “The subdued auction results are reflective of the private treaty market, which continues to remain sluggish. Several recent reports confirm that like-for-like sales are down in many areas of the UK, with buyers hesitant to commit against a cloud of political uncertainty.”
The residential auction market performed slightly less well than commercial, with total lots offered down by 16.3% to 2,876. Success rates remained largely unchanged, however, dipping by 0.6 percentage points to 75.6%. Totals raised dropped by one fifth to £338.4m, down from £425.9m in February 2018.
In the commercial market, lots offered were down by 17.9% to 518. Success rates edged up by 1 percentage point to 76.4% with totals raised rising by just over 10% to £153.6m, indicating a rise in the average values of property going under the hammer.
Across the regions only the South West and Yorkshire and The Humber recorded increases in totals raised and lots offered, up by 1.5% to £73.5m and 6.9% to 434 and 6.9% to £71.9m and 1.3% to 722, respectively.
Scotland and the North West Home Counties were among the worst performers. In Scotland lots offered fell by 16% to 142, with totals raised falling by 35.1% to £10.8m. In the North West Home Counties, totals raised fell by 37.4% to £73.9m.
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