Allsop Residential auctioneer Gary Murphy has predicted a sustained level of activity this year after the firm posted a 2016 total that was just 2% down on the previous year.
Allsop’s last residential auction of 2016 raised £46.6m to bring its year-end residential total to £436m. It raised £445m the previous year.
The sale’s success rate was 74%. Sixteen of the 214 December lots sold prior and 126 sold in the room.
Murphy said: “We are pleased, given the difficulties in 2016, particularly the Brexit vote. We were expecting a more modest success rate in December.”
Of 13 lots offered without planning approval, 11 sold. “The bargain-hunters were out in force,” Murphy said.
“The market is still active, but as always there is uncertainty going into a new year,” he added. “Events will test the markets, but we are confident that activity will remain sustained. There is an embedded mentality to do business as usual.
“We should see steady growth. London will slow a bit, but there will be no fall in values.”
Murphy said auction houses must ensure that reserves are set correctly. “The reserve is the number-one thing to get right, and that is done by giving the right advice to clients,” he said.
The sale took place on 15 December at the Cumberland Hotel, W1.
Terraces are snapped up
A terraced house in Hampstead, NW3, that had been converted into two flats and a maisonette, sold for £1.6m, while a terraced house in Bath, Somerset, sold for £940,000 off a guide price of £900,000-plus.
