Record numbers of repossessions powered Harman Healy’s sale last week as residential investors chased properties for redevelopment, producing a total in the room of £12.6m and a sales rate of 80%.
Jamie Clarke, Harman-Healy’s business manager, said that its June catalogue contained 80% repossessed lots, the highest so far and that they were braced for more.
He said: “Our feedback from asset managers is that numbers are increasing all the time and in this auction we were inundated with repossessions. If over the next few months interest rates are raised then we sense that something significant will happen in the market. But now it is very buoyant.”
Post sales pushed results up to £12.8m and a success rate of 82%. Clarke said: “Bidders sense they may be able to get a good deal post-sale because they know what the reserve is and we are experiencing lots of interest post-sale.”
In the room, lot nine, a freehold house in Clapton, east London, split into maisonettes, beat its guide of £300,000 to sell for £481,000. “It was vacated by tenants the day before our auction. We had one viewing and 30 people turned up, which shows the level of demand in the area,” said Clarke. “It has potential for conversion into three flats, subject to consents.”
