Samantha Jenkins
Vendors should resist the temptation to force up reserves, warned Strettons after its London sale this week.
Having sold 88% of its 119-lot catalogue for £8.6m Strettons auction director Graham Slyper explained that, although the recent interest rate rise appeared not to have affected demand, higher reserves could remove the prospect of a bargain, and slow the market.
“The auction market is the place to sell,” he said. “People come to auctions because it’s instantaneous and they know if they’ve got a property, and because they’re tempted by the prospect of a bargain.”
He added: “Yes, we know that often they end up paying over the odds, but there’s always the possibility of getting a bargain.”
With a pre-auction guide of £375,000-£400,000, a commercial investment with conversion potential and £45,500 pa income in Martello Street, London Fields, E8, must have looked like a potential bargain. But the bidding opened at £425,000 and went right on up to £760,000.
A pair of semi-detached houses in Woodberry Grove, Finsbury Park, N4, offered by the London Borough of Hackney, which had each been guided at £125,000-£150,000, sold for £217,500 and £237,500 respectively.
And a house in Hoe Lane, Enfield, Middlesex offered by the London Borough of Enfield with a guide of between £85,000 and £90,000 made £124,000.
The first third of the catalogue sold at an average 20% over reserve, said Slyper, who is confident that post-auction deals will push the sale’s success rate from 88% up to Strettons’ usual percentage of 90%-plus.
