Auctioneer John Barnett left his 1951 Alvis at a charity car rally in Gothenburg to fly back for the June auction at London’s Radisson SAS Portman Hotel this week where sales in the room peaked at more than £26m from an 85% conversion rate.
“It was worth the effort because this was a very good result,” said Barnett. “The largest lot of the day, a multilet office residential investment that had been in the same ownership for more than 40 years, in Marylebone, W1, produced fierce competition from registered bidders to sell for £4.25m. The guide was £2.75m-£3m.”
A shop, basement and self-contained maisonette let to a local tenant in Finsbury Park, north London, at £19,000 a year with a rent review in December and potential to create an extra floor, sold for nearly £200,000 above its guide at £580,000 – an initial yield of 3.2%.
Investors chased residential development opportunities. A vacant garage/workshop and former blacksmith’s forge in East Finchley, N2, sold for £155,000, despite a disclosed reserve below £50,000 and no planning permission for a residential unit.
Barnett said: “There is pent-up demand for certain types of property that do not come to market often. But, for run-of-the-mill properties, it’s a question of getting the gap right between the reserve and what the market is willing to pay.”
