A parade of shops in Carshalton, Surrey, that sold for £4.4m was the top lot at Allsop’s latest commercial sale, which raised £82.3m – an 84% success rate.
Tenants that include Sainsbury’s and Ladbrokes occupy the seven shops which, together with separately let flats, bring an income of £272,930 – a gross initial yield of 6.1%.
The lot was bought by a private London family property company and had a guide price of £4m to £4.2m.
Auctioneer and partner Duncan Moir said: “I think the sale brings to a close a very interesting first season of 2015, having had the election in the middle, which put quite a lot of inertia in the market in the first two quarters.
“The pick-up has been encouraging. I’m not saying the market is back with a vengeance [but] there are plenty of buyers. We just have to look at the margins we got over guide prices.”
Other lots that sold well included the first of the day, a freehold building in Kingsbury, NW9, arranged as a ground-floor takeaway with a flat above. Guided at £500,000+, it sold for £850,000, with a gross initial yield of 4.3%.
Nearly all the lots from two separate regional portfolios were sold, including properties located in Bournemouth, Bognor Regis, Aldershot, Louth and Barrow-in-Furness.
Moir said there was still a strong preference for London lots, but added that demand was slowly spreading out to the regions.
Moir said: “A lot of the regions had been looking depressed. That has changed in the past six months.”
Among the unsold lots were two banks in Sheffield and Halifax, and several industrial units.
A building in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, comprising a gym and takeaway, also failed to sell.
The auction took place on 6 July at the Dorchester, W1.
