Development companies were out in force at Roy Pugh & Co’s sale of British Rail Property Board land and premises held at Brighouse in south Yorkshire last month.
The auction follows the transfer to Railtrack last year of the real estate necessary to run the rail network. The balance now held by BRPB is being sold off in stages.
Some 41 lots – all in the north of England – were offered, and the sale, which achieved an 82% success rate, raised a total of £2.6m.
Principal Roy Pugh confirmed that a number of major development companies were represented in the room. He added: “Buyers are interested because British Rail has owned these properties for a long time, which means they are fresh to the market and they have realistic reserves.”
A ground lease on a retail scheme in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, where tenants include Kwik Save, Thresher and Going Places, sold for £410,000, the best price of the day. The deal reflected a 6.7% yield.
At Brook Street in Chester, a car park was bought by existing lessee Royal Mail Property Holdings for £205,000, giving a yield of 6.9%. The eventual sale price was almost double the reserve.
Roy Pugh & Co will hold a further sale of BRPB property on July.
