Strettons sale attracts keen value-add investors

Strettons raised £10.9m at its February property auction, with an 84% success rate. Some 42 lots out of 50 offered found buyers. A further 20 lots were withdrawn prior to the sale. Lots with the potential for investors to add value were in demand, especially land sites or development projects that could be changed to residential use. Black Horse Yard, a freehold vacant site with development potential in Hayes, Middlesex, started the sale and sold for more than double its guide price. The site, which was sold by order of the London Borough of Hillingdon, achieved £400,000 off a guide of £175,000-plus. In East Ham, a freehold vacant plot of land on Leigh Road also performed well, selling for £280,000 against a guide price of £45,000-plus. Currently a commercial site, the land has the potential for residential development, subject to planning.  A plot of land containing two partially built chalet-style bungalows in Rainham, Essex, sold for £458,000 against a guide of £270,000; and in Polegate, East Sussex, a freehold vacant former public house with  separate 10-bedroom HMO accommodation sold for £682,000 off a guide of £550,000-plus. There was strong demand for numerous residential properties in London, including a vacant two/three-bedroom first-floor maisonette in Canning Town, E16, which sold for £214,000 against a guide of £150,000, and a freehold end-of-terrace property arranged as two self-contained vacant one-bedroom flats in Ilford, which sold for £488,000 off a guide of £350,000-plus. In Greenwich, a two-story mid-terraced house in a popular residential area sold for £526,000 off a guide of £400,000-plus.