Savills raised £55.1m and achieved a 78% success rate at its 2 November commercial auction, lifted by a Covent Garden shoe shop that sold for £2m more than its asking price.
The five-storey corner building on Neal Street, WC2, which is let to Crocs, sold for £6.2m off a £4.2m guide – a 2% gross yield. It helped the firm achieve a £10m improvement on its previous July sale.
However, the sales total was £16m down on Savills’ November 2014 auction.
Auctioneer Chris Coleman-Smith said the central London market remained “ballistic”.
He said: “I wish we had more central London properties because auctions have the potential to hit a much better market.”
The Neal Street building was sold with planning consent to convert the top four floors into three flats. It was bought by a West End-focused developer.
Other notable lots included two neighbouring houses and a paddock near St Albans, Hertfordshire.
The houses were guided at £290,000 each and sold for £414,000 and £430,000 respectively. The land – which has development potential – was guided at £20,000 and went for £265,000 – a “pretty astonishing” price, said Coleman-Smith. All three were bought by a private buyer who used to live there.
A string of terraced houses in and around London also exceeded their guide prices.
A six-room unmodernised house in Croydon, south London, was sold for £367,000 off a £265,000 guide; a three-bedroom house in Sydenham, SE26, went for £407,000 off a £300,000 guide; and a house in Enfield, Middlesex, guided at £250,000 sold for £308,000.
The auction was held at the London Marriott Hotel, W1.
