Manor house with own cinema boosts bids for SDL

SDL Auctions Bigwood finished its 2018 season raising more than £5.3m from its 12 December Birmingham auction. Commercial lots and buy-to-let residential investments performed well at the sale, held at Villa Park Stadium. A lack of supply of commercial property in the Midlands saw competitive bidding, with many lots achieving well in excess of their guide prices. Notable commercial lots included a former Santander bank at 25 Market Place in Nuneaton, which sold for £330,000 off a guide of £295,000, a mixed-use property that once hosted the Royal British Legion at 25 Station Road in Kings Heath, Birmingham, which sold for £415,000 from a guide of £200,000, and a two-storey unit at 1722 Bristol Road South, where the ground floor formerly traded as a car spares business, which sold for £134,000 from a guide of £105,000. In the residential sector, the buy-to-let market remained strong, with three-bedroom, mid-terraced houses proving particularly popular. Notable lots included 184 Short Heath Road in Erdington, which sold for £136,000 from a guide price of £100,000, and a fire-damaged property at 54 Prosser Street in Wolverhampton, which sold for £57,000 off a guide of £30,000. Andrew Parker, auctioneer and managing director at SDL Auctions Bigwood, said: “The auction was particularly popular with investors with buy-to-let portfolios as a number of ideal houses were up for sale. The excellent prices raised show just how beneficial it can be to sell properties by auction, as even houses needing repair and renovation prove popular for landlords with money to invest.” One of the most in-demand lots at the auction, however, was the Grade II-listed Wordsley Manor in Stourbridge (pictured above). The 18th century manor house, which comes complete with its own 49-seat cinema, sold for £318,000 off a guide of £230,000. The six-bedroom property boasts around 7,464 sq ft of accommodation and 1.5 acres of grounds, and has planning permission to build and sell 14 houses on the site as long as £400,000 of restoration works to the manor house are undertaken. SDL Auctions Bigwood’s next auction is on 14 February at Villa Park. To send feedback, e-mail samantha.mcclary@egi.co.uk or tweet @samanthamcclary or @estatesgazette