Despite believing the West Country’s residential market to be at its worst since the early 1970s, Humberts ventured on to the rostrum with 31 lots on May 3.
The auctioneers’ faith was rewarded and the 600 people filling the Digby Hall, Sherborne in Dorset confounded any pessimism by buying 80% of the 31 lots offered — realising a total of almost £2.5m.
Among the properties to cause a stir was Spilsbury Farm, Ansty, near Tisbury in Wiltshire. The 18th-century farmhouse and its 10 acres of land sold for £248,000.
One property developer demonstrated his faith in the future of the market with the purchase of a 2-acre building site at Redlynch Park near Bruton in Somerset — with planning consent for one dwelling — for £202,000.
In Yeovil, Somerset, a building site of just over half an acre, with planning consent for three dwellings, went for what Mr Jones describes as an “incredible” £280,000.
